I call this meeting of the Township High School District 211 Board of Education to order. May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Baron >> here. >> Miss Cavell >> here. >> Mr. Dumbrossski >> here.
>> Miss Lopez. Miss Russell >> here. >> Mr. Van Djk >> here. >> Mr. Rosen Bloom >> here. Please stand and join me in the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. >> The United States of America >> to the republic
>> to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. The next item on our agenda is
close session and the action item is that the board enter close session to discuss minutes of meetings lawfully closed under the open meetings act. Appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees. setting of a price
for sale or lease of property owned by the public body and matter pertaining to an individual student. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> May I have a roll call? Any discussion? May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Baron,
>> I. >> Miss Caval, >> I. >> Mr. Dumbrossski, >> I. >> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> I >> Mr. Rosen Bloom. I the motion passes.
So, welcome. The first item on our agenda at this time is that the board of education return to open session. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Baron, >> I.
>> Miss Caval, >> I. >> Mr. Dumbrossski, >> I. Miss Russell >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk >> I. >> Mr. Rosen Bloom >> I. The motion passes. Next item on the agenda is that I'd like to ask you to
please join me and stand for the pledge of allegiance immediately followed by a moment of silence. to the flag of the United Americ. Thank you. The next item on our agenda is
recognition. And we have quite a bit of recognition for this evening's meeting, which is a wonderful thing. First on our agenda is the National Merit Scholars. Dr. Campbell. >> Yes. Thank you, President Rosa Bloom. Good evening, District 211 board
members, students, staff, and community members watching and community members that are in our audience. It's with great pride that we take time to recognize a total of 43 district 211 students that are either national merit
semi finalists and or are being recognized as having the highest possible ACT score of 36. Did you all hear me? ACT score of 36. As we prepare to acknowledge these this
amazing work that has been accomplished by our students, I will turn it over to Mr. Josh Shoemaker, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. Mr. Shoemaker, >> good evening. For more than six decades, the National Merit Scholarship Program has recognized
the nation's most academically accomplished students. those whose curiosity, determination, and commitment to excellence distinguish them as leaders among their peers. This evening, it is my honor to introduce members of the District 211 class of 2026 who have
earned recognition as National Merit Semi- Finalists. Each year, more than 1.6 million high school juniors across the country take the preliminary SAT or PSAT. From that extraordinary group, only
about 16,000 students nationwide, roughly the top 1% of all test takers, achieve semi- finalist status. To put that in perspective, these 29 students here with us tonight represent not just the top of their class in district 21,
but the top academic performers in the entire United States. Reaching this level requires an exceptional level of intellect, focus, and perseverance. It also reflects years of curiosity, discipline, and a deep love of learning. Qualities that will
serve these students well beyond high school. In district 211, we celebrate not only their achievement, but also the people who have helped them reach it. Behind each of these students, sta student scholars stands a network of support. parents, guardians, teachers,
mentors who have nurtured their curiosity, encouraged their effort, and modeled the value of persistence. To the parents and guardians who are with us tonight, we recognize and thank you for the countless hours you have spent guiding, listening, driving, and
cheering them from the sidelines. This recognition belongs to you as well. To honor these achievements, each student will receive a District 211 Robert Creek Excellence Award, named for longtime board of education President Robert Creek, whose 20 years of service,
19 as the board president, exemplified an unwavering belief in the power of education and the pursuit of excellence. As I read each student's name, I also invite their parents to stand and be recognized for the encouragement and support that they have provided
throughout their child's academic journey. As you can imagine, our students are deeply involved in their schools and communities, and a few of us were unable to be with us this evening, but we are proud of each one of them for this extraordinary accomplishment. It is with
great pride that I introduce our 2026 National Merit Semi-finalist. Palletine High School, Charlie Bourgeoa, Palatine High School. James O. Sullivan friend High School. Sata Bim Maraseti
Friend High School. Syramra [Applause] FM High School. Kabir Ayenar
[Applause] FM High School. Stephen Long High School. Dita Mandal High School. Mantra Mattal High School. Hannah O'Keefe
High School. Malavika Piser Odi Friend High School. Anuka Pella from High School. Ronic Roy friend High School. Andrew AJ Song High School. Sophie Zo, Conit High School. Nandini Indragottney,
[Applause] Conet High School. Dylan Ja Konet High School. Anuva Shakar Konet High School. Cooper Julian, Conet High School. Elizabeth Kim, Conet High School. Priyanka Rosden,
Conan High School. David Shu, Shamberg High School. Jack Alton Shamberg High School. Nick Draami, [Applause]
Shamberg High School. Abraham Thomas, Hoffman Estates High School. Saud Khan and those are your national merit semi-finalists. We want to say con congratulations to our students. We would like to take a picture with the
students. If board members could please students find your window, scrunch in and we will join behind you for a big photo oper. right here. One, two, Sorry. Good evening again. It's my privilege to
be back this evening to recognize and accept a different exceptional group of students from district 21, class of 2026, who have achieved one of the other rarest academic distinctions in the nation, a perfect composite score of 36
on the ACT. Each year, more than 1.4 4 million students across the United States take the ACT as part of the college admissions process. Of those test takers, fewer than onetenth of 1% I'll say it again. Fewer than onetenth
of t of 1% earn a perfect score. To achieve a 36 requires extraordinary ability, focus and persistence. Mastery across English, mathematics, reading, science, and writing. and the composure to demonstrate that excellence in a
single setting. These students represent the very best of what it means to be a District 211 scholar, inquisitive, disciplined, and deeply motivated to reach their fullest potential. We also want to take a moment again to honor the parents and guardians who have supported
these students along the way. Behind every perfect score is a foundation of encouragement, families who value education, model perseverance, and provide the balance and belief that allow your young people to thrive. To the parents and guardians who are with
us tonight, thank you for your partnership, your patience, and your unwavering support. You share in this accomplishment tonight. To commemorate this achievement, each student will receive the District 211 medallion, which demonstrates excellence in a milestone achievement during their
four years in high school. The 28 students invited to be honored tonight will join the previous list of 167 District 11 students who have earned a perfect score on the ACT before them. As I read each student's name, I invite parents to stand again and be recognized
for your role that you've played in supporting your child's educational journey. Again, a few of the students were unable to be with us this evening due to other commitments, but we proudly recognize each of them for this extraordinary distinction. It is my honor to introduce you to the district
211 students who earned a perfect score on the ACT. And I may just say if you saw 11 of those students who were up here before are also joining their colleagues to get this second distinction. So, first on our list from Palatine High School, Charlie Bajois,
also from Palatine High School, Dave Duper from FM High School. Sirram Bitra from High School. Eshwaria Ether [Applause]
Friend High School. Meen Guofour [Applause] from High School. Neil Huff from High School. Riley Quan
from High School. Samuel Malcolm FM High School. Dita Mandal High School. Vichak Nilamana Friend High School. Hannah O'Keefe [Applause]
Friend High School. Malavika Pesarodi from High School. Katherine Chin from High School. Ronic Roy from High School. Andrew AJ Song from High School. Milesc [Applause]
from high school. Mari Thodm from High School. Sophie Zo, Conan High School. Nandini Indraatti, Konet High School. Dylan Jaw, Conet High School. Cooper Julian, Conet High School, Jiho Park, Conet High School. Rian Patel,
Shamberg High School. Michelle Bujacovska, [Applause] Shamberg High School. Sophia Michler, Hoffman Estates High School. Yasmina
Kokava, your district 211 perfect ACT scholars. So, we are we again we're going to take another picture and I must apologize because this first picture should have included all of the amazing principles that are
providing the award. So, charge it to my head, not my heart, but please join us with the board to take the picture with these amazing students. Get yourself a little closer. Well, first of all, I want to congratulate all of our scholars and
perfect ACT score students. What a phenomenal phenomenal achievement. And thank you parents because I know it's not easy being a parent because I got two myself who are Saxon alumni. And so I know the sacrifices
that you and your family have made to get these students to where they are today. And it doesn't just happen in our schools. It also happens in your homes and in our community. So thank you very much. We're going to take a five minute
break for pictures up here on our podium stands area or anywhere else in this boardroom that you'd like to take pictures of your students. Uh so we're going to take a fivem minute break and then we'll begin our board business. As I mentioned, we have one more item for recognition and for this I will turn it
over to Dr. Campbell. >> Thank you. Could I ask Miss Rebecca known as Becky Mcnami to please come forward? if you could face the audience. We have some important words to state.
Thanks to the quick thinking and calm response of Miss Rebecca, known as Becky Mcnami, a valued member of Shamberg High School support staff, a serious situation was safely resolved. When a student began choking during lunch, Miss
Mcnami quickly noticed something was wrong and stepped in to help, performing the Heimlick maneuver without hesitation. I want to add, not only did she perform the Heimlick maneuver without hesitation one time, she did it
twice. Her quick action and care made all the difference that day. We are so grateful for her courage, kindness, and dedication to keeping our students safe. Joining us tonight is Chief
Fabio Puchini from Shamberg Fire Department, who will assist us in recognizing Miss Mcnami this evening. Chief Poini, could you please come up?
[Applause] I like to say thank you for inviting me out here. This is a uh a special deal for us. Also, we teach CPR and first aid and him maneuver to many people every
year. And it's not often, fortunately enough, that we have these opportunities to come face to face with a first responder, a civilian who actually performs it. Uh I did some quick research. The last data I could find was from 2023. Choking took the lives of over 5,000 people. 5,500 people in the
year 2023. >> Um, so from your actions, you definitely prevented a statistic from happening. We do have a civilian life safety award on behalf of the Shamberg Fire Department. Give me a moment here. We'll read what the award is. We'll be happy to present it to you. So Shamberg Fire Department
civilian life safety award presented to Rebecca McMe. Is that correct? >> McMe. Okay. In testimony of their contribution and service to the village of Shamberg and Shamberg High School, this individual was awarded the civilian life safety award for their quick thinking and composure under pressure at the
below described incident. When a student choked on a piece of food, Miss McMini quickly and calmly took control of the situation, performing the himlic maneuver and directing another staff member to call for help. When the obstruction reoccurred, Miss McMe persisted with remarkable courage and
determination, utilizing every possible method until the food was dislodged and the student can breathe again. Miss McMe was quick thinking, composure, and refusal to give up exemplify true heroism and compassion. Her actions embody the highest ideals of care, courage, and services to others.
Congratulations Rebecca, on your successful efforts. They're resuscitating a life. >> Thank you so much. We would like a picture also with chief also with princip. Romocon. [Applause]
Thank you. And thank you, Chief. And thank you, thank you, Becky, for all that you've done. and in saving a life of one of our students and a member of our community. Thank you all very much again. We're going to proceed with board
business. You are more than welcome to stick around if you'd like. >> Yes. >> I think there's some parents that didn't get a chance. >> Oh, so we're going to we're going to take another pause before we move on for anybody who was really in line to get
photos. Okay, the next item on our agenda is public comments. The board welcomes your participation and values hearing from our community. Please remember this is a meeting of the board held in public and not a dialogue.
So board members will not respond or answer questions during this time. Comment should focus on school district matters and to protect privacy, please do not mention or identify individual students. We ask everyone to speak with respect and civility so each voice can
be heard. Vulgar, obscene, libalist language or interruptions will not be tolerated. If you have concerns about district staff or board members, please follow the district's communication protocols so they can be addressed appropriately. Please note the meeting
is recorded and being livereamed. It's being watched by people from across our community including neighbors, staff, parents, and students. Therefore, we ask that you value the procedures and decorum of our meeting, being nice and respectful of those at the podium so
they may be heard. When I call your name, please come to the podium and state your name for the record. You may also choose to state if you are a resident of the district. You'll have three minutes to share your comments. Please note that your time may not be
given to another speaker. The timer on the screen will guide you. If you'd like a response from the superintendent, please leave your contact information with Teniper at the end of the table. Thank you.
The first name on the list is Kathy Reeseberg, followed by Lee Bennett. Good evening. My name is Kathy Ridberg and as a resident of Palentine for the past 47 years, I want to thank you and the entire D211 staff for valuing and
respecting and protecting all of our students, no matter their zip code, the color of their skin, their faith, their gender or gender identity, and for making the safety of every student a priority in D211. Since October is domestic violence awareness month,
tonight I wanted to share a few thoughts and facts about domestic violence, more than 70. According to research, that's how many women are shot and killed by an intimate partner every month in the US. It's so heartbreaking to read the research and learn that each and every
month in the US more than 70 of our most cherished nick daughters, beloved sisters, dearest best friends, fun-loving cousins and colleagues have their lives tragically and needlessly taken from them and from us and from our world by domestic violence in one of the
most violent forms through the use of a gun. The impact of guns in the hands of abusive partners, according to the same research, has a ripple effect on all of us. The children who witness or live with it, the family members, co-workers, and law enforcement officers who respond
to it. And the research is clear. Domestic violence often hides in the darkness of silence and shame and is a tragic public health crisis impacting countless of families in our country and our very own D211 community. We know from the research that a woman, including our teens, cisgender and
transgender girls, are five times more likely to be killed by an abusive partner if the partner has access to a gun. We also know that secure gun storage that is so wisely being promoted by D211 and local police departments can prevent unintentional shootings and
delay access by someone who wishes to harm themselves and others. Fortunately, thanks to Wings Program, Inc., the largest provider of domestic violence related housing, integrated services and advocacy in Illinois. Here in this room, all of us here in this room and
listening to this live stream can go to wingsprogram.com or call the Wings 24hour hotline 847-519782. That's 847-5197820 to learn how to break the cycle of domestic violence, including teen dating violence that research indicates impacts
up to 19% of her teens. So, my thanks again to you, Dr. Campbell, and all of you on the board and the D211 staff for looking out for the safety of every student and for this chance to speak tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lee Bennett.
Hello Dr. Campbell, Mr. Shoemaker, Mr. Rosen Bloom, Miss Caval, Miss Baron, Mr. Dumbroski, Miss Lopez, Miss Russell,
Mr. Van Djk, staff whose long workday will hopefully end before long and other regular attenders. I'm Lee Bennett, proponent of a particular change. I've used this forum to ask our district, or rather our
athletic conference, to add a team. An older, wiser friend of mine advised that this might not be an effective use of my time. In his experience, it's usually difficult to convince a large organization to change course. especially regarding traditions like
sports, the sports we play, which change very slowly. Now, I ask each of you a question you can personally act on tonight. Would you sign a petition for more boys volleyball at your local public high school? Hundreds have already signed petitions
for the MSL school districts requesting another boys volleyball team, the highest cut sport. This includes many expressing opposing views regarding our girls volleyball program. Please add yours as well. As this
petition is from the voters, you need to sign it in the district where you live. In addition to the petition to our district, there are petition pages for the M other MSL districts, Arlington Heights 214 and Bington's 220. Anyone
living further west can sign a petition to start boys volleyball program in Algangquin's district 300, Crystal Lakes District 155, Mckenry's district 156, and Wakanda's district 118. Would appreciate your support for
aligning our athletic offerings with the interests of our students. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. The next item on our agenda is a presentation regarding district academic goals progress report for the 2024 2025
and I will turn it over to Dr. Campbell. >> Yes. The mission statement continues to guide our priorities, programs, and practices of district 211. Um this evening we will lean a little bit into the continuation of the opportunities, innovative teaching and exceptional
learning that our students um we serve have. I will turn it over again to Mr. Josh Shoemaker um assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction in addition to our five principles from each of our high school sites. Mr. Shoemaker. >> Good evening. As Dr. Dr. Campbell said,
"Township High School District 211 serves the needs of our diverse community by providing rigor, relevant, and rigorous learning experiences, opportunities for involvement, and strong support systems that empower all students to reach their full potential. This mission statement serves to guide
the priorities, programs, and practices for our district staff as we seek to provide extraordinary opportunities, innovative teaching, and exceptional learning to the students from our community. The district academic goals serve as performance measures through which we can analyze the strengths of
our systems as well as our opportunities for growth. They also serve as an indicator of what matters most to our students, staff, and our community. Now, it does not escape me that we have the opportunity tonight to present to you the performance on the academic goals
right after we just presented 48 of the top academic scholars in the United States. Because we believe that a culture of high expectations that is clearly communicated to our students and parents is fundamental to creating and fostering the most effective school
environment. Our goals were developed with a holistic, comprehensive, and coordinated approach to ensure that every district 211 student is prepared with the skills, knowledge, and experiences for success after high school. The goals mirror our state
accountability measures and also parallel what we know from both educational research and the experiences of our students in our schools and our community. We know that student learning is complex and nuanced and is thus affected by a myriad of factors. We have
planned for this in the construction of these goals as we know that our diverse students come from many backgrounds and home experiences. The multiple components of each goal allow students to demonstrate performance in different ways while still providing overall accountability as a school and a
district. The goals are structured as an overarching goal statement that describes both what we desire and what we expect from students. Because of the diversity of our school community, each overarching goal can be achieved through multiple measures. The use of multiple
sources of evidence gathered at different times during the year and across areas of performance allows a clearer representation of what student success looks like in district 211. Tonight we will present to you the goal performance for school year 2024 2025.
During that year, our school staff worked exceptionally hard to establish a sense of belonging in classrooms and school communities, foster academic curiosity and growth, and provide intensive interventions while expertly navigating the context of the world that our students live in. The devotion of
our staff allows us to not only reach the estimated yearly targets for our goals, but also to exceed our own expectations for student performance in the multiple facets of the high school experience. While the while the report you were provided has multiple data
points, tonight's presentation is about the humans behind the data. We know that each number represents one of our students. And we want to tell you the stories behind these numbers, those that include the programs, the staff members, and the student performance that you
won't see in a report. Tonight, you will hear these stories from the leaders that organize and facilitate learning, connection, and belonging. Each one will explain the goal, the overall district performance, and then share information about what happened in their school in
the 2425 school year. but perhaps more importantly what we have learned and how we will move forward into this year to achieve even higher levels of success. Starting us off is the principal of Shamberg High School, Tom Mocha. Thank you, Mr. Shoemaker. District 211's
involvement goal is intentionally designed as a tiered approach, ensuring that every student has a meaningful pathway to meet this goal based on their individual circumstances. Students can fulfill this goal in a variety of ways. Through consistent attendance, participation in a sport or activity,
completion of service hours, or through employment in the community. Every student's journey looks different, and this tiered structure allows us to meet students where they are while still emphasizing the importance of being connected and engaged. We continue to encourage involvement in our clubs and
activities. And we also recognize that engagement can take many forms, each contributing to personal growth and community connection. This goal is measured through four indicators. Attendance, participation, service, and employment. As you can see on this slide, since implementation of the
strategic plan, our student performance in this area has increased by 4 point 4.8% over the past four years. As a district, we have consistently improved the extracurricular opportunities we provide students, explored various interventions to support student attendance, and
continue to enhance resources in order for our students to service their community and prepare for the next step in their journey. Tonight, I'll focus specifically on Shamberg High School success with strategic goal number one. Last year, 93% of Shamberg students were connected in at least one of the four
indicators. 72% of Saxons participated in a club or sport. And we saw strong growth among our low-income students who increased participation by 5% and our multilingual learners who grew by 4%. These gains reflect intentional efforts from coaches and sponsors who adjusted
practice schedules, offered flexible meeting times, and expanded transportation options to remove barriers so more students can have the best possible experience at Shawnberg High School. As for community service, 59% of our students met or exceeded grade level service expectations, a 3%
increase from the previous year. Many students go beyond school requirements, volunteering through clubs and community partnerships. A great example of our community of service to our community is our football program's annual September Fest cleanup where more than 120
students dedicate their time to service their community in the tall task of cleaning up at the conclusion of this massive annual community event. This example highlights how our students give back when offered purposeful opportunities to serve. Attendance remains a focus area with 73% of
students meeting our attendance expectations. What is most striking is how students involved in extracurriculars have attendance rates 25 percentage points higher than their uninvolved peers, which is clear evidence that connection drives engagement. However, every student's story is different and not all of our students are able to participate in
extracurriculars based on their needs at home. One example is Cindy, a student who struggled last year with attendance and grades because of external factors impacting her ability to concentrate on school. Through the ALOP attendance support program, one of our tier three interventions, she connected with
trusted adults who believed in her. They equipped her with strategies to help her handle the challenges in her life that were making school difficult to navigate. This year, her attendance and grades have improved dramatically, and her confidence has grown. She's standing taller, both literally and figuratively,
showing how belonging and encouragement can change a student's trajectory. and now she's in a place where she's considering joining one of the over 60 activities we offer at SHS. We also recognize that many of our students work or intern outside of school. About 12% formally reported
employment. And for many, these jobs are more than a paycheck. They represent responsibility, family commitment, and preparation for the future. Through our passion to profession framework, we're helping students see how their work experiences connect to future career goals. This year, we're building on that
momentum by continuing our partnership with North Cook's ALOP team to provide consistent attendance outreach, expanding involvement opportunities such as our Dungeons and Dragons Club and Majorettes Club that grew directly from student interest, and using my learning to capture and celebrate the full range of student involvement across
activities, service, and employment. We're also strengthening how we communicate and celebrate connections through our weekly this week at SHS smart newsletter which showcases classroom innovation, student achievements, and community partnerships. At Shamberg High School, we are proud of the progress we've made and committed to continuing this work
because when students are connected, they thrive. Up next to share about district goal number two is friend High School principal, Mr. Mark Langanger. >> Thank you, Mr. Moan. District academic goal number two's focus is on academic growth and the belief that every student
in district 211 will demonstrate meaningful progress during their time in our schools. This growth can be measured in multiple ways. One, by meeting or exceeding proficiency levels for all course CLS's on the district benchmark assessments in every course. Two, by
meeting yearly GPA benchmarks that are aligned with Harper Promise. Or three, by successfully completing advanced placement, dual credit, or accelerated coursework. When we step back and look at the data, it tells a clear story. The district met its target goal of 89% of students
demonstrating academic growth using at least one of these measures. That's no small accomplishment. It reflects the strength of our systems and the dedication of our staff across all our schools. But the true value of this goal comes to life inside our classrooms where growth happens student by student.
As the principal of FM High School, I'm proud that nearly 94% of our Vikings met this academic goal. One of the most impactful factors behind this growth has been our focus on acceleration, our commitment to placing students who demonstrate readiness directly into higher level courses. This work aligns
with the statemandated accelerated placement act legislation which schools across Illinois began implementing last year. The goal behind that legislation and our goal at FREM is the same to ensure that opportunity isn't limited by circumstance. Automatic acceleration
helps to remove barriers and the gatekeeping that can sometimes keep capable students from accessing advanced learning. And we've seen this already make a real difference at FEM. I'd like to talk to you about one class in particular, AP English Language and Composition, commonly referred to as AP
Lang. In the 2324 school year, 295 students took AP Lang. That number rose to 426 students last school year, and the results were remarkable. Not only did students take on the challenge of this rigorous course, they excelled at it. The number of students earning at
least a C went up from 294 to 425. Now, you might be saying, "But the percentage of these students had to have gone down." But in fact, we saw an increase in the percentage of students earning at least a C. and the number of students who earned a three, four, or five on the AP Lang exam jumped from 235
to 366. These numbers send a powerful message. When students who have demonstrated readiness are given the opportunity and the right supports, they can succeed at the highest levels of rigor. That's 131 more students with potential to earn college credit than in the previous
year. Now, none of this happens by accident. The success of these students is the direct result of the intentional work of our teachers. These educators have built a true community of learners made up of readers and thinkers where discussion, analysis, and reflection drive deeper learning. The AP Lang team
has created an environment where all students thrive. Now, let's look at the growth of one student in particular, who I will refer to as Carrie. After transitioning out of our multilingual program at the end of her freshman year, Carrie was placed in English 2 her sophomore year. At that point, she was
still finding her footing, building her writing skills, learning the language of analysis, and gaining confidence in her speaking. However, her teacher saw her potential and effort, and she quickly became a student they would point to as an example for others. For second semester, Carrie moved up into accelerated English, too. And as a
junior, she enrolled in AP Lang. At each stage, she not only kept pace, but excelled. By now, her skills were so strong that her teachers regularly used her work as an exemplar for her classmates. Think about that growth. And although Car's journey wasn't a result of automatic acceleration, it reflects
the same belief system. As a multilingual learner, she went from transitional English to an AP Lang exemplar in just a few years. Car's story is powerful because it shows how access, support, and belief in students can completely transform their academic path. Acceleration gave her the
opportunity. Our teachers intentional practices gave her the tools. And in the end, it was Carrie's perseverance that made it all come together. She is now positioned for success in high school and beyond. And Car's story is not unique. It represents the larger truth we see across not only FM but across the
district. When we open the door to advanced learning and when we provide the right structures of support, students rise to the challenge. This is what district goal number two is all about academic growth. At FEM, we are proud of all our students, especially those who are meeting this goal. But even more than that, we are proud of how
they are achieving it through the intentional supports of our staff and by embracing rigor and persevering through challenges. And to talk about goal number three, here's Hoffman Estates principal, Mr. Michael Alther. Thank you, Mr. Linger. Good evening. I'm here to share our progress on district
goal three, ensuring that all district 211 students demonstrate college and career readiness. This goal is measured through four indicators. ACT proficiency, access proficiency for our multilingual learners, which is the ill Illinois
State Board of Education required assessment for proficiency in college and career readiness in both math and English. Tonight, I will focus on Hoffman State High School's results in access and in English readiness, where we saw encouraging growth this past
year. The access assessment measures reading, writing, listening, and speaking. And a 4.8 composite score is required to exit English language acquisition supports. In 2025,
141 Hoffmanates High School multilingual learners students met that benchmark. That's 38% of our multilingual population, representing a 4% increase over the prior year, or an additional 32
students reaching proficiency. This growth reflects our students resilience, the shift to a bilingual program model, and our staff's innovation. One of our class of 2025 graduates approached me at the start of last
school year, concerned about the transition to a new bilingual program. She had already exited ESL programming, and she wanted her peers to have the same opportunity for success she had experienced in the now retired ESL
program model. Through her own journey, she demonstrated grit, self- advocacy, and adaptability, the very skills that we hope all students develop. I'm happy to share that she graduated last spring and is now attending Harper College. And as
I stated earlier, I'm happy to report that we had more students meet proficiency last year than the previous. Our multilingual students were challenged to speak, write, and think in both their native language and English daily, receiving individualized feedback
that accelerated growth and even some advancing two proficiency levels. Behind this success is our multilingual team of educators who built the bilingual program and curriculum over the summer of 2024. They integrated access prep into daily
instruction and created lessons targeting all four domains of the access assessment. For the first time, multilingual students received instruction in math, science, and social studies in their native language. earlier in the year,
transitioning to nearly all English by year's end. We will continue to refine our access administration and build on the bilingual program momentum through teacher creativity and collaboration. Students meet English readiness
indicators by scoring an 18 or better on English or reading score of 22 or better on the ACT, earning two or more English credits with grades of C or better, or maintaining a 3.0 0 GPA or higher as juniors and seniors.
In 2025, 831 students met this indicator, an increase of 3% or 90 more students than the previous year. This growth represents more than test scores. It shows students ability to read critically, communicate clearly, and
sustain academic success across multiple measures. Two key factors contributed to this progress. First, the Illinois Auto Acceleration Act expanded access to honors and advanced English coursework, giving more students, especially those
previously overlooked, the opportunity to take rigorous classes that build post-secary literacy skills. Second, English professional learning team uh groups of teachers align curriculum, assessments, and grading practice
practices around critical learning standards, improving consistency and feedback for students across all English courses. We recognize that literacy is a crit is critical and extends beyond English classrooms. It's the foundation for all learning.
That's why this year we launched a literacy focus across all content areas, reviving our elite 8 comprehension strategies. These strategies, which include questioning, summarizing, inferring, visualizing, and eval evaluating, are designed to help
students read, write, and think deeply in every subject area. They equip students with the cognitive tools needed to engage with complex texts, analyze information critically, and express ideas effectively. The very skills that signal college and career readiness.
We've extended this work to families as well, encouraging parents to ask about their students uh what their students are reading, nurture curiosity through dialogue and questioning, and celebrate growth. In short, our approach to English readiness is both comprehensive and
collaborative. Together, we're preparing students not only to meet benchmarks, but to think deeply, communicate clearly, and realize their full potential for college, a career, and beyond. I would now like to introduce Miss
Novak, who will speak to district goal four. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Alter. Academic goal four is focused on ensuring that every student is on track to graduation throughout high school. It's been stated, "A dream written down with a
date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan, and a plan backed by action makes your dreams come true." This captures the heart of our work in keeping students on track to graduation. While the on-track goal
leads to perhaps the most concrete outcome of any other goal, graduation day, we know that graduation is not a single event at the end of four years. It's the culmination of intentional steps, monitoring, and supports before students even start their freshman year.
Our goal is not for students to only reach the finish line, but to stay on a wellsupported path, one step, one credit, and one success at a time. Research shows that students who meet the benchmark of being on track as freshmen are nearly four times more
likely to graduate on time. It's about building the habits and structures that lead to long-term success. To be on track for graduation, students must earn at least five credits each year. This includes passing specific courses and students must fill additional
requirements throughout high school such as passing a 300 level math course and participating in a state accountability assessment. When we examine our data at the district level, we see strong performance along with areas for continued growth. Last year, the
district exceeded our targeted goal for students on track to to graduation by nearly 3% with only with nearly with just over 90% of students remaining on track. Over the past four years, performance on this measure has improved by 7%
reflecting sustained progress. One noted area of growth in all schools is the sophomore dip for on-track progress. While most students recover by senior year, focused efforts on sophomores who are navigating increased academic rigor
along with the benefits and challenges of growing independence is one area of focus. At Coned High School, we're proud that our students consistently perform at or above the district a for on-track measures. While each year's
cohort is unique, our trend remains consistent and strong. Last year, 97% of both freshman and seniors at Conan completed their years on track. We also closely examined subgroup data at Conan.
We are very proud of one significant outcome, and that is that our Hispanic and Latino students have nearly closed the gap for on track from 84% to 96% over the past four years. We recognize that graduation and
on-track status are lag measures. They tell us what's already happened. We're also mindful that sometimes the goal for a student is not a completion rate of four years. For example, some students with disabilities remain eligible for services until just before their 22nd
birthday. While these students plans are reflected in our lag measures, they demonstrate our district's commitment to honoring each student's IEP goals and personalized pathways towards independence and success. While lag measures keep the score, at
Conentit, our focus is on the lead measures, the proactive steps that we can take. These include strengthening our multi-tered system of support framework by continuing to expand tier one classroom supports through through impactful professional learning for all
educators. Enhancing our tier 2 and three systems to provide more targeted interventions for students who are demonstrating needs with attendance, behavior, academics, and social emotional well-being. Regular
monitoring of indicator of early indicators for students who are struggling through our student support teams and deepening partnerships with families, particularly for multilingual and immigrant eligible students to ensure that all learners remain engaged and supported and to make the
schoolhouse a safe and comfortable place for all. By aligning our efforts with our strategic plan and a shared commitment to equity, we continue to move closer to our vision. And now to Mr. from Medina who will speak to district goal five. >> Thank you, Mrs. Novak.
In district 211, goal number five focuses on student wellness, which is measured through two components, physical wellness and social emotional wellness. The physical wellness component is assessed using the fitness gram test, which measures students across four key fitness areas.
The pacer test consisting of 20 meter shuttle runs that assess cardiovascular endurance. The sit and reach which measures flexibility and sit-ups and push-ups which measure uh core and upper body strength. Students can meet this portion of the goal by either achieving the national fitness gram standards or
by demonstrating improvement on all four areas on the fitness gram post test. The social emotional wellness component is met when students either report a favorable sense of belonging on the panorama survey or by selecting a trusted adult within the school. To meet the overall student wellness goal,
students must satisfy the fitness gram standards or show growth from their pre-EST and meet one of the two social emotional benchmarks. Across district 211, 78% of students met the student wellness goal, representing a 7% increase from the 2024 school year.
At Palatine, we are proud to report a 19% increase in the percentage of students meeting the student wellness goal during the 24-25 school year. This growth is a direct result of intentional collaboration among our students and our staff, particularly within the wellness department, which has focused on helping
students familiarize themselves with the national standards as well as setting personal fitness goals. This combination of clear expectations and personal motivation led to the significant progress. In addition, sense of belonging has been a long-standing focus for Palatine High School. Supported by
our student services team, clubs and activities, and athletics programs, we continue continually encouraged every student to get involved in at least one outofclass activity during their four years with us. In the previous school year, our administrative team used Panorama survey results to identify
students who were struggling not only with belonging, but also academically or behaviorally, allowing us to provide more targeted support. Our staff has taken initiative to expand tu student connections through groups such as the advancement of black leaders and the organization of Latin American students.
Both are led by staff members who are frequent frequently identified as trusted adults by students. These groups provide meaningful community representation and leadership opportunities while celebrating the diversity of our student body. Through these organizations, students
have helped organize cultural celebrations that highlight both history and identity. events such as Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Women's History Month, and our annual culture fest, which brings students from all backgrounds together to share and learn from one another. These events,
often designed and led by students with staff guidance, reflect the deep sense of connection and pride that defines Palatine High School. And finally, last school year, 100% of Palatine High School students selected a staff member as a trusted adult, a testament to our
school's commitment to relationships and student support. From the moment students enter as freshmen, we emphasize the importance of having a trusted adult through advisory programming and ongoing reinforcement throughout their high school experience. Our efforts are also reflected in the five essentials survey
where the student teacher relationships category was among our highest areas of growth. Please listen to the following prompts and the percentage of students that agreed or strongly agreed. On our first prompt, my teachers treat me with respect. 95% of Palatine High School
students agreed or strongly agreed with that statement. Next statement is I feel comfortable with my teachers. 95% of Palatine students agreed or strongly agreed with that statement. And finally with the statement, I feel safe with my teachers. 97% of Palatine High School students
agreed or strongly agreed with that statement. These results affirm that our students not only recognize the dedication of our staff, but also feel supported and valued in our school community. At this time, I'd like to return the presentation over to Mr. Shoemaker, who will review district goal
number six. >> District goal number six seeks to provide measurable ways through which we can increase equity in our schools and across the district. Similar to previous goals, this goal includes four different ways to measure equity. The first is to assess our assess our percentage of
diverse staff members. The second is to monitor the percentage of students taking non-developmental courses. The third is to reduce the rate of racially disproportionate referrals and suspensions. And finally, we seek to continue to improve the number of underrepresented students who meet
district goals one through four. Performance on this goal is calculated differently with individual calculations necessary for each component. One of the things that we utilize to determine the progress on the overall goal is the overall number of district 211 students meeting goals 1 through 4. This data is
shown on the slide projected. Overall 59.6% of all district 211 students met the goals significantly above the target this year. Our district goals are the product of years of careful analysis, feedback, and a clear understanding of
what student success looks like during and after high school. As you heard tonight, our performance data on each goal, when compared to both the yearly benchmarks and our previous year's performance, show positive results. These results, which on your report are
numbers and graphs, represent both the amazing staff members that build and foster student relationships as well as the students that engage, attend, and consistently improve their performance. We are honored to have five of those staff members with us this evening to
share the successes and stories from each of our large high schools. The principles before you represent the driving force behind the programs and efforts that they shared with you this evening, but also the strategic planning and countless interactions they have with students, parents, and staff
members. We are incredibly grateful for their diligent work and passion for our schools and students. As a district-wide team, we continue to analyze the data in order to develop and refine our current programs and practices to more effectively meet the needs of our
students. Thank you for your time and your attention this evening. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate the presentation and the time it took you to put this all together. Um, at this time I would like to open it up for any
comments, questions, or discussion. Start to my left with Mr. Van Djk. we go over some of the um the struggles to get the the students that aren't there yet. What are what are some of the things that we're doing to get them to
that point? I mean, we could talk all night about that one. So, it depends how deep you want to get into it. What I would say is overall uh we have a what as an overall district, we have what we call a multi-tered system of support. And so there are three tiers uh that we put
supports in place for students. And so I think really the the ones you're referring to, those would be what we call our tier three students. Uh students that for whatever reason the first two didn't work for and we have to put an indivi individualized intervention in place for them. And so I
would say that's our highest level of support uh that we that we put in place. And a lot of times what that looks like is an individual counselor meeting with a student or an individual teacher meeting meeting with that student or setting up a situation where there's
reteing. Before that though, there's lots of other things that are going to happen to get up there. So I know it's a broad example, but it gives you a sense overall of how we organize and put our efforts in place. And like just a followup as as far as the students that aren't at the point of of being ready
for graduation. What systems do we have in place to get them there after the fact? Um GED or what have you? >> Sure. We offer all of those programs and so uh probably the most specific one is
just our prevention program and our graduation rate is is very very high uh in the high 90s for every school. And so there's a really small number of students that don't make that fouryear. Uh so we put in what we call audit, senior audits and junior audits in place
prior to that to identify when students may be missing the credits. And we work really hard to get them credits during the junior and senior year, could be through summer school, could be through a credit recovery program. If students do get to that senior year and they don't make it to the fourth year in May,
we can also utilize summer school or utilize a credit recovery right away after that day in May to try to get them done as soon as possible. The longer it goes, the less likely we find that they are to finish it. We also have uh adult
night school that we offer in District 211, which is an opportunity for any adult really in our community to come back and finish a diploma with us. Yeah, that that high 90s is very impressive. I don't want to downgrade that at all. I just looking for that
extra data. Thank you. >> Yeah, they do great work on that. >> Thank you, Miss Baron. >> Well, thank you so much for taking the time to um present tonight and give us um this is my favorite presentation of the year. So, thank you. Um thank you to
our principles. Thank you to our teachers, our support staff, um anybody who really contributes to our student success. Thank you so much. Um these are really positive trends that we are seeing after COVID. Um I think we're heading in the right direction and so I'm really excited to hear and see the
data. Um let's see here. I love how we are continuing to um use data to make sure that our activities are representative of the time. So, like Dungeons and Dragons, who would have thought, amazing. Um, thank you to our bilingual
team who really took on that challenge. I think those were some of the biggest challenges that we saw in 2024. And so, I'd love to see um that our students are learning in their language and then getting to um you know, learn more in English and and succeeding in that. I
love to see that. And um congratulations, Mr. Roan, on your first presentation um as a principal. So, I think that is all. I'm really happy with um what you all presented today. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Russell.
>> Very impressive. Uh thank you very much for all the staff um all the work that's being done to help all of our kids. I just have one question. Do we follow our students beyond graduation?
And do we follow all of them? That's a it's Yeah, I was going to say it's a really good question. Uh the system that we have in place right now is every student is going to they take a survey literally the day before they graduate with us and it's a post uh
district 211 survey and some give us their contact information and want to be reached out to others don't. But we have them put down what their plan is at the time. And so we have a sense literally the day they graduate from us of where they're going to go and what they're
going to do. And then there are systems, they aren't perfect systems, but they rely on something called the clearing house, which is data that uh colleges and universities put together and share about where our graduates attend and then potentially graduate or finish. And
so we can use that. But we also have increased our use of alumni surveys based on the information we get before they leave us to reach back out at certain intervals and try to gain information about what you're doing now, how successful are you, and h what are
your perceptions of how District 21 prepared you for that future. >> Thank you. I would love to see some of that information. I really would. Um, I know that doesn't make it easy on people, but and I'm particularly interested in those that um go on to a
career um maybe that well they don't necessarily go to a college or a university, but they do something else. And I'm with the emphasis in the state on uh career college and career and multiple kinds of things. I just wondered if students are getting into
the kinds of things that they want to go into. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Caval. >> Yes. Uh, thank you um, also for the presentation. Um, much appreciated. I
record this one every year. Um, I, as usual, I do have some questions. So um during the presentation I heard that 73% of students at Shamberg High School are
meeting attendance goals and uh so next year I'm hoping that um because this presentation rolls on an annual basis. I'm hoping that uh like other metrics in the presentation the district-wide um attendance percentage is given um as
part of the presentation. So, I appreciate the we got the one for Shamberg High School, but I'd also like to see a district-wide attendance statistic um like some of the other district-wide statistics that were given about other goals in the presentation.
Um, so my question about that attendance goal specifically is, is it really just talking about students who are absent from the school day either in whole or in part or is it also applicable to
students who are regularly tardy to their classes? So this is Josh. The particular attendance goal is based on the 90% attendance and so it does not include tardiness uh only class or whole day
absences. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you for that clarification. Um I also like to hear that 12% of Shamberg High School students are employed. That's fantastic. Um my one of my children is attending Palatine this year and as a parent I got
an email from um I can't remember exactly who it was but I got an email talking about some career fairs and then also there was a job board where a couple of local employers had posted they were actively seeking um student
age employees and had posted within that job job board for Palatin High School students who were of age and interested and I was wondering if that sort of thing has been implemented at other schools or if that was just something that was being done at Palatine High School because I found it, you know, I
really I really like that. I know my son was interested. So, I was wondering if that's districtwide or if that's just a Palatine High School thing. >> Well, what I will say is this is Josh again. Palatine High School does an amazing job of that. I will agree. Kudos to Mr. Medina and his staff, but every
district 211 school does do that. And we actually just hosted our first skills skills trades fair on Friday, last Friday. And we had over 500 students attend there. It was amazing. >> That's fantastic. I love hearing that.
That's fantastic. Um so then you know I I am going to talk just about kind of there were there's a lot of good good stuff in here. A lot of good the presentation. Um a lot of our metrics most of our metrics are going the right direction obviously. So that's fantastic
and I'm really happy about that. Um there are from from what I saw like three areas that are opportunities for improvement for sure. Uh and I just kind of want to ask some clarifying questions about those in act in and goal number
three the college and career readiness. what I'm reading. Um, so it's the third bubble down on the right. We're looking at the district-wide performance for the 2425 school year was 65.8%.
You know, that number is certainly not what um I'm happy to see and I'm hoping that we see some movement from that number in the positive direction when we see this presentation um next year. And so I was wondering if
um the data that makes up that statistic could be made available to the board. I'm not exactly sure um you know the amalgamation of statistics that produce that overall 65.8% number. Um I would be interested in seeing. Is that a
combination of all of the numbers from the bubbles on the left? >> Are you working in the report Miss Caval? I'm looking at the presentation slide here. I'm sorry because I'm not So I'm on number 12 of the 25 slide deck.
I'm on number 12. Sure. So the the college and career readiness goal was affected this year by the switch in the state accountility measure from the SAT to the ACT. The way the goal the way the goal is set up,
>> students can achieve performance on the goal in two ways. Number one, they meet the benchmark that the test has set. So in this case, let's say the ACT because that's our set. Illinois's benchmark is very was very high for this. And so students can either meet the benchmark
or the second way they could meet it was to show growth from the previous test. And so our freshman take a test the preacct 9, our sophomores take a test the preacct 10, and our juniors take a test the ACT. And so if they didn't meet
the benchmark, but still made the recommended yearly growth, then they meet that goal. And so the problem with this year is we only had one test because we've only given the ACT one time. And so we aren't able to gather that growth metric which is why the
percentage went significantly down. So it's not necessarily a represented representative of the actual student performance. It's highly affected by the fact that the growth component isn't calculated in it what we expect. So I would say two things one what we expect
is that number to be significantly higher next year as we have two tests to show growth from. And the second thing that I would compare it to is if you look at the first year of this goal in the report, the first year we did this, we also did not have a comparative or a
growth test, but we're still above the first year, which I think shows our students are still growing. >> Fantastic. I appreciate that. Um, so in goal number five, so let me get to the right slide so that I know it makes it difficult that I'm having to do this
from home. So, I'm looking at number 20, um, student wellness. So, a lot of a lot of really good stuff in here, too. Um, the one that stuck out to me as kind of like a I mean, it's a mild concern, but I also see it as kind of like a a really
lowhanging fruit in terms of opportunities for improvement is that um 66% uh baseline. So when we see um it's to the right of number two. So the baseline for studentto peer relationships is 84%.
The district by performance is 66%. Because that really has to do it says at least here um on the left that it's directly correlated with the results of the five essentials survey. So first of all is my understanding is that right? Is that number produced by the five
essential survey? >> That is correct. It comes directly from the five essentials. And that's another one where the way that the University of Chicago who facilitates and scores the five essentials, they actually changed their benchmarks uh because they had not
changed their benchmarks since 2015. So they're on a 10-year cycle. They changed their benchmarks. Uh and so what happened is every single score went significantly down because of the new benchmarks that they set in place. So certainly we've been on trajectory to
hit all of our targets on that until they changed the scoring system on us. >> Yeah, that's what I was that's why I wanted to ask about it because it seemed um uh not in fitting with other metrics that we've seen from um this
presentation in the past. Uh because I'm not familiar intimately with exactly how those benchmarks have changed. um in your professional opinion, do you feel like um I don't know if it's benchmarks that talk about really the quantifying
of the the data gathered from the survey or if it directly impacts the way that the survey is administered to students because if it's the latter, then to me that would be lowhanging fruit. I know sometimes, you know, our students and our parents get lots and lots and lots and lots of
emails and the five essential survey, you know, by the time uh their student is in high school, they've been getting these emails, sometimes many emails, you know, since the time their student was in kindergarten. So, I I don't know if um it's just kind of easy to be like,
well, oh, we have to do this again. It doesn't really matter. I didn't know if it was um impacting the way that the stu the survey is actually given or received by the students or it has more to do with the way that the data is extracted from the survey on the back end which
makes our metric low this year. Certainly both of those are valid hypotheses and we have had many conversations about ensuring that when we do give our surveys that we try to make them as valid and reliable as we can by implementing them and
facilitating them with fidelity. So we've had a lot of conversations on what does it look like to take a survey seriously and to demonstrate that to our students. And so that could be part of it. I think a majority of the change was due to the rebenchmarking and again what
we're seeing and experiencing from our students is still that really high level of positive relationships between them and so we're we're expecting to see a growth again um and also digging into further what does it look like with the new benchmark.
>> Okay, perfect. And my last question for number six, the equity goal. I'm looking on slide 24. Um, and it's that second bubble down on the right. And so I would just like um clarification, especially for some of
perhaps our newer board members this time around. Um, more clarity on what what the district means by nondevelopmental coursework. If you could clarify that, I'd appreciate it. >> Sure. So another way to say that the best way I could describe it I think is
uh credit bearing coursework. And so the idea that uh that course is going to get you the credit towards graduation uh or in if we were to parallel it to a college setting that course is going to get you credit towards a degree. And so a lot of uh the students in our
non-developmental courses are potentially put there based on their individualized education plan. And so really looking at that particular group of students and seeing how we can also accelerate them into other coursework.
>> Perfect. I know um I appreciate your you know everybody's willingness to answer my questions. I appreciate and I I really do appreciate the presentation and all the principles being here. Um I think in a lot of ways the principles have the hardest job of the district. So it's much appreciated. Thanks. So thanks
so much. Thank you, Miss Caval. Mr. Dumbrossski, >> I have nothing at this time. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, a couple things. One is thank you very much again for putting this presentation together and delivering it. Um I was mentioning to
our superintendent um in the last few weeks um leading up to this presentation that one of the things that um I always look forward to is hearing about individual student examples that you pull from your schools. uh it is a
regular annual or se or you know every time you do this presentation it's great to hear about very specific students uh for a couple reasons. one is um I know that you all work very very hard on building relationships with your
individual students and I see that when I come to your schools uh to be in your buildings and I see it when I come to your sporting events and see you fist pumping or high-fiving or just even saying hi to students and you know them by name, you know about them and some of
the struggles and successes that they've had. So kudos to you for those relationships. Um, and thank you very much for um pulling together the the 29 pages of information and data that is in
public comments. So, anybody who's in our in our audience or watching this on video or live stream know that in the public comment section, if you want to see some data, there's charts, there's numbers, uh there's graphs that really
get into some of the guts of what the slides are showing. So, thank you very much for that. Um, Mr. Medina, you you had mentioned um about the the trusted relationships, and I know that that's something you're
usually the one that talks about that when when you're doing this presentation because I know it's something that that is very valued and uh and your school tends to do a very very good job of that. Um could you share some of the ways that uh that we encourage and help
our students get relate with and maintain those trusted relationships and trusted adults in your school? >> Well, thank you for the question. I appreciate it. Um oftentimes it does happen just naturally, right? Students
gravitate to certain teachers, certain coaches, um you know, certain sponsors. It's, you know, if you have an interest in band, you know, I know you're going to probably have Mr. Esville as your as your trusted adult. But we oftentimes we uh as freshmen, you know, during our freshman advisory program, we do discuss
trusted adults, talk about what it means, give them the definition, um, and try to find them somebody, you know, and when we have students who don't, we have, you know, we call them down, talk to them a little bit about that. Is there somebody you talk to? Is there somebody you can connect with um, in the school? oftentimes, you know, some a
group that is underutilized is our teacher assistants. Some of our multilingual teacher assistants are some of our highest selected uh trusted adults by our multilingual students. And this year, we've actually made a stronger focus on getting our our teacher assistants to go with these
students to get connected, to go try out for a club, to go or to try out for a sport, to be in an activity, and we'll send somebody with them who speaks the language and make them feel part, make them feel comfortable within the school community. Thank you very much. Um,
all right. I'm going to repeat something that was said earlier on slide number 24, which is the equity goal. Um, under number one, um, it talks about the the staff and and I know you all have heard
me talk again before um, sometimes at adnauseium about the importance of our staff diversity and our staff uh, and part of that is around the trusted adults too with staff that represent and can relate to our student population and
that's in many different ways. Um, so my my question is um I I'm not seeing I'm seeing the the percent numbers of our staff here, but I'm not seeing that in relation to the students maybe at the
same location for instance um where it says percent of of diverse teachers is 16%. Let's say at one school it was 8%. Right? My question is how does that how does that compare to the diversity of our students in the same location so
that we can do some some comparisons and um and the the goal is to increase the percentage of diverse staff members across the district. So, I'd be interested in seeing how we're how we're doing in
in trend for that goal and what efforts and and and ways and methodology are we doing to impact that. >> Sure, that's >> sorry for all that. No, that there's a lot there to guide.
>> Um what I would say over the way I would answer it overall is the the principles and under their direction the department chairs who are kind of the first two stage of the of the hiring process are are intentional about knowing the diversity of the school and seeking
candidates that will represent the school diversity and that people that students can see theirelves in. So they're kind of the first line that is very intentional about understanding the student makeup and also the current staff makeup to improve the diversity.
But then also Mr. Lieutenant Burr and his team uh to do some recruiting uh efforts along with Miss Sander uh and really going out and identifying um colleges and universities that are building our pre-ervice teachers uh and
finding them getting them excited about coming to District 21 and then finding good candidates and good fits. >> And thank you very much. And I know that um something that we've we've been doing for several years now and I know we're going to continue doing that is um is
work with our students and encourage them to become staff right look at them especially if they're identifying a trusted adult who's an educator having that relationship and continuing that relationship and um and you know as was
was asked earlier about following the student after they graduate um making sure that those students who have expressed an interest in education, right? It's a recruiting tactic, too, kind of selfishly, but helping them and and guiding them and maintaining that
relationship with them through their college experience and then encourage them to seek opportunities that we have um and encourage them to come back. One thing that has always always amazed me is when I'm in our schools and I'm
meeting staff and we hear it here in the boardroom during recognition um when when we have coaches coming up the number of staff members who are are graduates from our district and it
speaks volumes when they they actually you know it's they're not running out running away from school at graduation. I'm never going back to that school. But they they're encouraging to come back to teach where they learned and that is so wonderful and encouraging. Um so kudos
to all of you. And finally, I want to thank um as was mentioned before, not just you all for being here and thank you. It's great to have our our school leadership here, but to everybody in our schools and everybody in our district
that supports our goals of of helping our our students, our adults with the adult education programs that we offer and the parent education programs that we offer and our community at large um and the impact that our district has. So, thank you all so very much and
really appreciate the presentation tonight. Thank you. >> All right. Well, thank you very much. We will move on to the next item on our agenda, which is the consent agenda.
And we have three um we have two items that we're going to be removing from the consent agenda this evening. One is item A, which is the
approval of minutes of the regular meeting of September 18th, 2025, and the other is item F, the state property tax appeal board resolutions authorizing intervention in proceedings.
Those two items will be voted on separately. So, um, with that, the first suggested motion is that the consent agenda with the removal of the minutes of the regular meeting of September 18th, 2025
and the removal of the state property tax appeal board resolutions author authorizing intervention in proceedings be approved as presented. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion or comments?
May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Baron, >> I. >> Miss Caval, >> I. >> Mr. Dumbrossski, >> I. >> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> I. >> Mr. Rosenlum,
>> I. The motion passes. Next is that the minutes of the regular meeting of September 18th, 2025 be approved as presented. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Baron,
>> I. >> Miss Cavl, >> abstain. >> Mr. Dumbrossski. >> All right. >> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> I. >> Mr. Rosenlum, >> I. Motion passes.
Next item is that the board of education approve the resolutions authorizing intervention on proceedings before the state property tax appeal board which seek assessed valuation reductions in excess of $100,000 for property tax year
2024 docket numbers 2024-37737 2024-37883 2024-459 941 2024-52417 2024-51209 2024-44115
2024-51243 2024-50386 2024-45863 2024-511204-51828 2024-5287 73 2024-48782 2024-51121 2024-53273 and 2024-53284
and further authorize Franic and the board of educations as the board of education's legal representative to file request the request to intervene in appeal proceedings forms with the property tax appeal board on
the properties for which the district receives notification of appeal as submitted by Lauren Hmel, chief operating officer and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second.
>> Any comments or questions? May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Van Dyk. >> Hi. >> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Mr. Mr. Dumbrossski. >> No. >> Miss Caval >> I.
>> Miss Baron. >> I. >> Mr. Rosen Bloom. >> I. The motion passes. Next on our agenda is Freedom of Information Act request. This is an information item. Next is a 2025 2026 free and reduced
priced meal eligibility. This is an information item. Next, we move into unfinished business. The first item under unfinished business is a 2025 tax levy information and presentation. Dr. Campbell.
>> Yes, thank you. Districts are required to prepare an annual tax levy that sets the amount of revenue necessary through local property taxes to support school district operations for the following budget year. At this time, I'm going to turn it over to Lauren Hmel, chief
financial officer, and Kathy Zalowski, controller treasurer, as I present the levy recommendation and financial forecast update. Miss Hummels, thank you. Uh, and good evening. Uh thank you for
the opportunity to speak tonight about our upcoming tax levy proposal which is vital to provide financial resources to help maintain highquality education and essential services for our district. Tonight's levy provides a recommendation for funding that will continue support
continuous programming and align with our district's strategic priorities while recognizing that ongoing budget refinements will still be necessary to maintain an appropriate fund balance over the next five years. Property taxes make up approximately 84%
of our district's total revenue, making this levy a crucial component in sustaining funding for our programs and operations. In addition, about 80% of our district's budget is dedicated to staffing costs, highlighting the direct connection between levy funding and our
ability to recruit, retain, and support the people who serve our students every day. The levy process in Cook County is subject to the property tax extension limitation law often referred to as PEL or the tax cap. PEL rule was implemented
to establish a cap on the amount that taxing bodies may levy each year. This cap is equal to the lesser amount of either the consumer price index from the prior year or 5%. PEL also allows for new construction growth to be levied for in the year in which it is added to the
tax rules. For the current tax year, the rate of CPI was 2.9% and will be used as the limiting rate for the 2025 tax year. There is a lag in the measured rate of inflation and the time by which property tax funding impacts our budget. For the
current year, the 2024 CPI limits the growth of the 2025 levy and the levy drives 2026 tax collections with those dollars receded next fiscal year. Under the PEL limitation for the 25 tax
year, the allowable increase is capped to 2.9% plus any new construction added to the tax base. For the 25 levy, new property will not be known until next spring, but is estimated as at 7% based upon current
trend and tiff assumptions. Taxes levied for new property growth do not increase taxes for existing taxpayers. The amount is added to the tax base as new property, meaning it generates additional revenue for the district on new property added to the tax roles without raising the rate on existing
properties. New property growth may only be captured in the year and that it comes onto the tax roles or it will be permanently lost as revenue into future years. In 2022, the district intentionally levied $3.6 $6 million less than the maximum allowed under PEL and filed the
required resolution to preserve the ability to recover those funds later. State law allows the district to look back and add those unclaimed funds plus annual CPI growth up to 5% to future levies for up to three years. Last year,
the board utilized $2 million of that capacity, and this year's recommendation includes $1.8 8 million to continue restoring the district's tax base to the PTEL maximum. The 2025 tax levy is the final year that the district can levy under this provision to recapture funds
that were not levied in 2022. The levy recommendation is made with consideration of both the upcoming fiscal year as well as considering the long-term financial impact on the district. As we begin to discuss our recommendation, it's important to note key considerations in both the
recommended amount as well as future financial assumptions. Inflation is projected at 2.9% for the upcoming uh year for 2025 with modest decreases between 2 to 2.5% in CPI rates uh for
the the outgoing years. While while the district continues to invest in staffing, competitive salaries, and high-quality programs, costs are rising faster than revenues in many other areas outside of the district's control, especially as state funding, investment, income, CPPRT
revenue are projected to decline. With reserves expected to dip as expenses, and facility improvements continue, this levy supports our goal of maintaining long-term financial stability for students, staff, and our community. Good evening. Uh, tonight we are
presenting three levy scenarios for your information. All scenarios assume the same CPI factor and new property growth. As previously mentioned, we have assumed 2.9 CPI for the current calendar year,
2.9 for 2026 calendar year, and 2.5% for years from 27 to 29. The first scenario illustrated in by the blue line, it is our recommended model and it's based on the current economic situation and the district's operational and capital
needs. It also assumes a status quo in terms of staffing, student enrollment and programs. It assumes that we will levy the full amount allowed under PEL which is 2.9% plus new property plus the
remainder of the look back levy of 1.8 8 million. The 2025 levy is the last levy. This amount can be recaptured and added to the tax roles uh as well as the recapture levy. The recapture levy
amount is unknown at this point and will be released by the county next month. Notice the projected decline in fund balance to 21% by the end of five years. The second scenario represented by the green line that's the middle one. Uh we
included the maximum CPI. We only included the maximum CPI under PEL and new property but no look back amount or no recapture. That means that the look back levy will be lost in per perpetuity and the district won't be able to
recapture it in the future. With all that uncertainty uh in national and state economy, decreasing revenues and persistent inflation, this is not recommended. Please note that the projected fund balance at the end of uh
fiscal year 30 uh 31 will dip below 20% to 16.9%. In the third and final scenario, the yellow line uh depicted in the in the graph, we assume no CPI increase, just new property, no look back or recapture
levies. Under this scenario, our operating fund balance will drop below 30% in just two years. This scenario will require drastic budget cuts to be implemented as soon as next year. I would like to point out that our models
include the estimated recapture levy revenues of three approximately 3 million in subsequent years. Without that amount, the scenarios would look far worse. We are recommending a levy of $27
million, a 4.3% increase over the prior year extension. This represents a levy in the full amount under PTO new property growth of.7% and an additional 1.8 million million
from the look back levy and the recapture levy. While you see a separate line for the recapture levy which is still unknown and it never becomes a part of the base levy, the look back levy is incorporated into the levy
figures. On this slide, we also break the proposed levy by fund. As you can see, we are starting to levy uh in the IMRF fund due to decreasing fund balance. It's a shift from the educational fund, not additional
allocation. Our projected fund balance in the IMRF fund is getting low and we would like to ensure um and make sure that we have uh sufficient funds to cover the district's obligations related to district's portion of IMRF, social
security and Medicare. We do not levy in the working cash fund due to sufficient funds each year. When preparing the levy, the amount recommended is determined by ensuring that the taxes levied support our instructional and operational
programs. The funding must support not only the current year operations but ensure the district maintains its stable financial position in the future. These priorities include supporting high quality student experience, creating
system of support of support for current and future students, employees, community, and the board of education, allowing discussion and implementation for multi-year budget efficiencies to maintain a minimum fund balance of 33%
and finally continue to fund capital building projects while remaining debt-free. These priorities ma may be accomplished at a levy amount that equates to an increase of approximately $9 per month to uh the average homeowner
in our community. However, despite the levy recommendation, uh the forecast mo model predicts that our fund balance policy will not be maintained in the long term. Therefore, discussions are under the way to
identify and implement budget efficiencies to slow uh the rate rate of growth in expenditures and declining of the district's reserves. At the time of the 2022 levy, financial projections
were uh determined to assess the recommended levy amount for that year with a goal of sustaining operations for years to come. The approved levy was $3.6 million less than allowed under PEL as I previously stated. And since that time, several key factors have changed
that have brought us to our recommendation over the past two years to recapture these tax dollars. The costs shown on this slide were not included in the fiscical year 22 projection assumptions and have since been reflected in our most recent long-term financial cost updates and
projections. The increased expenditures reflected on this side paired with declining revenue sources and uncertain state and federal aid are conditions that are leading to tonight's levy recommendation to utilize the recapture levy provision.
The district has committed to ongoing facility maintenance and improvement across the improvement costs across all of our school campuses. Priorities are outlined in the board's strategic plan in the tenure plan and now included in
those in the uh our most recent facility audit. A comprehensive report on these items is included on tonight's meeting agenda, but the cost detailed here are included in our five-year financial projection model to provide funding for ongoing completion of these priorities. Capital spending will be an area of
review when identifying budget reductions and changes in annual costs would impact this category of expense in our five-year projections. While the district levies a specific amount each year, we do not actually receive the full amount of property taxes that are levied. The chart on this
slide illustrates the annual property tax refunds that reduce the district's collections. These refunds result from property tax appeal board decisions, court-ordered tax objections, certificates of error, and other adjustments, each representing revenue
that the district ultimately does not receive. Because these funds occur after tax bills are issued, the shortfall is not redistributed amongst other taxpayers prior to tax bill distribution. Instead, the refunded amounts are simply removed
from the district's current year collections as they are processed by the county. Over the past eight years, the district has averaged approximately $7.1 million in refunds annually. After a declining trend in refunds in fiscal years 23 and 24, property tax refunds
were at an all-time high last fiscal year, ending at $14.8 million. A portion of these funds are automatically levied for taxing bodies under public act 1020519. As we take a look further into public
act 1020519, it is a supplemental levy that the county calculates and assesses to help offset a portion of the tax refund burden for taxing bodies. We also refer to this and as Cassie described the recapture levy. Refunds issued for select certificates of error, tax
objection complaints, and property tax appeal board decisions are levied outside of PEL. While the district will not know the amount of this year's recapture levy until after November 15th, we are assuming that funds will be levied in the financial projection model. For the most recent tax year, the
recapture levy amount for district 211 was $4.2 million. We have updated our projections with the levy recommendation to analyze the impact on our financial position for the next five years. Preparing a multi-year projection requires making many
assumptions, a lot of which are subject to change. Several of these assumptions are fixed other as subject to other as subject to board decision. I wanted to specifically call out a few of these before we get into the numbers. One, we
assume the board will approve the recommended levy presented tonight. Um, two, we assume student enrollment and programs will guide staffing. The projections assume the instructional fee fees are reinstated at $170 uh dollars
starting with the 2027 school year. We assume CPI will be 2.9 for the 2025 levy, 2.9 for the 2026 levy and 2.5% for future years. We assume recapture levy
will be received every year. And finally, we assume the capital projects will be funded in the future with budget savings and reserves. And here's the slide with updated long-term projections.
Uh the the table illustrates the current ta uh budget which is the yellow uh column and the five um the five yellow and the next five rows includes beginning fund balance, projected revenues, project projected expenditures
and surplus or deficit. We are projecting operating deficits primarily due to the schedule capital building projects funded with district's reserves and expenditures outpacing revenues. The next row is the ending fund balance.
As you can see, we are projected to go from 15 56 million fund balance projected at the end of this fiscal year to just 85 million in fiscal year 31. Finally, the last two yellow rows are
fund balance percentages. Uh the first one total operating fund and then education fund balance. I would like to point out that the recommended levy scenario which includes the full CPI, the look back and the recapture
levy was used in this table to estimate property taxes. Please note that even under this scenario, the projected fund balance in education fund is projected to dip below the recommended 33% in
FY27. While the district is has very limited options with growing its revenue base, uh we can control a lot of our re expenses. Over 80% of our budget is spent on staffing. The the administration will have an ongoing
review of its operating expenses related to capital improvements, salaries and benefits, technology purchase purchasing efficiencies and other large ticket items. the growth in several items such as third-party transportation,
specifically homeless and special education transportation. Special education tuition or utilities that have been growing much faster than the rate of inflation um have race have rates set by outside
entities. benefits is another area that has far surpassed the rate of inflation. Through the targeted review process, budget reductions will continue to be implemented to more closely align revenues and expenditures. The district
implemented several staffing efficiencies this year already reducing certified staffing through attrition. In any year that a taxing body requests a levy increase of 5% or more, the truth
of taxation requirements apply. This mandates that the taxing body determine the levy amount 20 days prior the adoption and publish the amount in the local newspaper. A public hearing must be held to allow for comments from the
community. While the 2025 levy does not exceed the 5% level, we believe that it's prudent. It's a prudent step to promote transparency and community awareness. We have followed this requirement in the past even when the
truth in taxation statute did not apply to us. This this is the case with the 2025 levy as well. However, we recommend a hearing be held at the December 11th board of education meeting.
The 2025 um levy uh information 2025 levy information is presented to the board over a series of meeting. Introductory uh information was first presented at the September board meeting. Tonight's agenda will provide the board with additional information on
the levy, including the the uh 2025 levy recommendation. The board will then set the amount on the tenative levy in November, followed by the public hearing and levy adoption in December. The levy must be adopted and filed with the
county clerk by the last Tuesday in December. The levy uh recommendation set set forth tonight supports our strategic goals and puts on puts us in the best position possible to create financial stability in the future. We recognize
that adding the look back amount of 1.8 million is a big ask of you and of taxpayers. We are also aware that we are asking for additional revenue before implementing expenditure reductions. We believe we need both tax increase and
expenditure reductions in order to accomplish our financial goals. But due to the tax laws, it is our final opportunity to ask for this revenue before it expires. Expenditure evaluation and interaction will be ongoing. This slide concludes
our livey presentation and we will be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. So, at this time, I'm going to um ask board members if they have any questions or comments. Thank you very much for putting this together and
providing us with the information and your recommendations. Um I'll leave my comments for the end and I will start with um on remotely. Um Mr. Dumbrossski. >> Uh yes, thank you. Um, I understand that
you're asking us to, you know, trust that there's going to be expenditure reductions after we approve what would be considered the maximum under the PTEL allow. I'm just looking at your projections here and I don't see
any cost reductions considered at all. We have to submit to the state board of education a balanced budget. And from what I see, you're giving me projections of increased expenditures of of 14% over that time frame while you're only
looking to increase revenue by 10.6%. I I don't understand why your projections would continue deficit spending beyond the revenue uh of a compound of a compounding amount of 14, you know, an additional well 3.4% if if
I'm looking at this with with the accuracy that that I see with the uh CPI. Um at some point you you have to say you you you can't spend money we don't have. Correct. >> Yes. The projection that you see is
showing our continued assumptions in our expenditure categories as was uh described in the slide. So we have a large task ahead of us to be able to go through and identify reductions some of which um were detailed tonight. Um I can
tell you that you know we are underway right now to look at um you know what are the highest level priorities in our facility plan that we need to accomplish in the next 5 years and where can we make cutbacks that we are always looking
to make um you know our our first charge is to take a look at things outside of our classrooms. So that is a big area. um our insurance committee I I've shared information with the board that our insurance committee is meeting right now to um take a look and make reductions.
The reason that these reductions are not shown in and really what it's doing is it's showing here's the amount that we believe that we need to reduce with the information that we know today to maintain a balanced budget. So that's that's the information that we're
showing to the board with regard to the the levy recommendation that we're providing. We we know and we will uh continue to make these changes. The um I'll use the insurance as an example. There are some uh items that are
underway uh that we are working on. One of which is an RFP for our prescription drug coverage. I don't know what that number is going to be yet. So once we have that information, we will continue to update our financial projection. Um you know, there are other things that we
can look at. We've shared with the board we have a number of retirements over the next several years. How do we um work through attrition to uh reduce our staffing costs? We are looking at different purchasing efficiencies. Kathy mentioned um special education
transportation and I'm talking with our transportation department right now about creative ways in which we can possibly um be more efficient with the the services that we're providing to our students. So as we have information and we make these decisions, we will continue to update the projection. This
is just showing you right now uh so that you have an understanding of the charge ahead of us with regard to um making efficiencies to better align. The other piece that I will share is that we are making a lot of assumptions in this projection model. CPI could be more or
less uh which you know drives I would say that you know based upon um even with our historical trend with 5% um CPI increases in there we're showing pretty high rates of CPI if they were to come in less we have a a a larger charge
obviously I can um say that from the opposite as well that you know CPI could come in higher than 2.9% next year but that's what it's trending through August right now so um I understand your question and your um you know the the
charge ahead of us to make these reductions, but wanted to be able to show you what that looks like with our current trends and assumptions so that we um all have the the common understanding of of what our charge is in front of us. >> So I have one final point and question.
For as long as I can remember, we've always received projections that show that we're going to dip below our fund balance and then we wind up with surpluses at the end of the year and we have a growth in our fund balance. Um, so in my mind
the the question I have then is if the BOE the board of education adopts a lower levy than recommended, how does that impact future bud budgets? You're going to have to find the cost savings regardless. it it then becomes mandatory and not optional.
>> I would say the cost reductions under any of the three scenarios that we presented tonight are mandatory from a standpoint of we need to maintain fund balance above 33%. So
we will be looking at those um under if the board were to adopt a levy that is less than what is recommended tonight. You saw a couple examples in front of you um that provide what the fund balance does.
Really what we're looking at then is a a far greater amount of um reduction. I will share last year's budget came in um unfavorable compared to our budget plan. So and we had a deficit budget as well.
the areas of um surplus that we were recognizing in the past years um a lot of which were in the categories of revenue are things that we are seeing drastically drop off CPPRT was close to $10 million we are projecting that and
this year it's budgeted at four um that is a year-over-year um decrease from where we were showing you know surpluses in in recent years postco >> so I I'm confused. So, if the board
approves a recommendation lower than the recommendation presented tonight, the fund balance will dip and it'll be even more than what's being dipped even though this doesn't take
into account any expenditure reductions. So I guess my point was if we adopt a levy lower than recommended, we should see expenditures reduced to
recapture that deficit and reduce the deficit. But what I'm hearing the response being is that it would all come out of the fund balance and we wouldn't see any expenditure reductions. >> No, that is not what I'm saying. Um I've said that under any of the scenarios we are making budget reductions. What I am
showing to you in the financial projection is that with a um with our levy recommendation which includes the look back and the recapture levies that we will that is the highest amount of revenue
that the district can seek from property taxes next year. With that you can still see the deficits. So we will work very diligently to reduce those deficits. Um but that is with the maximum amount of revenue. Any amount less in that revenue
category um further impacts our bottom line and you know we're looking at alternate solutions um with our expenditures. when you look at the amount of our expenditures that are tied up contractually or things that are really um again as as Kathy stated,
there's many things that are outside of our um control. We did not know that our utilities were going to go up 38 and 56%. Uh in our most recent bid renewal, um there are just things like that that have been, you know, special education
tuition costs up 20%. things that we are required to provide services for um that were not included in our projection. So we are working with the items that we believe that we can control that don't impact the programming for our students.
>> And if I may add uh Lauren, we are hearing we actually Lauren and I we attended a seminar with uh PMA uh a financial advisor that uh services basically every single school district in Illinois. And we are we were hearing
from them that basically next year every single source of revenue will be negatively affected starting with interest rates uh uh uh grant funding uh CPI of course will is projected to go down uh so we will probably feel it in
many many areas um of the budget. So this still may be um optimistic and again as Lauren pointed out uh the uh projections are built on assumptions and these assumptions are pretty much good as of today. I mean they something may
change tomorrow and if we rerun them using new assumptions uh this will um uh look very differently >> and and I I appreciate that point. My my again my issue is with presenting me
assumptions that show increased spending above and beyond revenue compounded every year with no course correction in there over the next four years. I I brought this up when we were voting on the budget and what we were pushing forward for our capital outlay budget
and you know at some point I'm I'm looking for some sort of action from the administration that shows they recognize that the expenditures are exceeding the revenue and they're going to present a plan and what I'm hearing tonight even
after we had our budget discussion is that yeah just approve this and the plan will come later and and to to me that's not satisfactory. Um that's all I have. Thank you Mr. President. >> Thank you Miss Cavl. >> Um
thank you for the presentation. I'm uh you know it's a real bummer um as is most economic information honestly these days. So, um I'm not surprised. Um and I I appreciate you putting it all together
in a way that makes it very very easy to understand what our position is. Um, and I'm glad to hear that the administration is obviously going to
uh take the revenue efficiencies conversation uh very seriously because obviously with projections um like we're looking at in this presentation and the fact that um
the budget was already operating at a deficit and that part of the spend down of the reserves that we were expecting um going to be very necessary. I mean I I think that we also have to remember that
when we're talking about these kinds of efficiencies um you know none of this is these aren't hypothetical numbers. you know, we're talking about uh local money that affects local staff
and local families and local kids, you know. So, there are a lot of human beings behind each of these numbers and projections. So, it's easy to sit at a board table and
talk about finding revenue efficiencies. It's a lot harder to sit down and start making cuts that take loved and um like beloved programs from the people
that in the community that we serve. You know, cuts to programs and students and the services that they use and uh the staffs that are there to serve them. particularly the staff that are in
direct contact with those students every day, classroom staff, instructional staff, assistant staff, student services staff, custodial staff, etc., etc. Um, you know, looking for ways to save money by
driving up uh like teacher to student ratios. Uh, cutting the breadth of programs that we offer, cutting the extracurriculars that we offer, skimping on our facilities and making them less functional and less safe for the kids
that use those spaces every day and for staff that are required to teach them. like these aren't things that are are popular and these aren't things that our community wants. So, um even though this conversation is very necessary when
we're talking about projections and managing the budget and the fact that facing projections like we are um we have to have conversations about finding places to save money. I think um it's important to remember that uh you know
just banding figures about the percentages at a board table sounds a lot more palatable um until you start to communicate to community members and to kids in particular exactly what you're trying to take away.
So, I appreciate that the administration is um having the locus of these decisions as far from the classroom as possible, but with numbers like we're looking at um I think it's really important to take our financial position
seriously and uh remember that um every cut that we're making or proposing to make or particularly casual references to budget efficiencies aren't casual to the kids that go to our schools every day and to the families who send their
kids to our schools every day. So, um it's something to bear in mind as we go forward. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Caval, Miss Russell. >> So, thank you very much. I appreciate this. And um you made it easier to
understand as I've reread things several times, wanting to make sure I understand everything that is being suggested or being said. um as a retiree um you know I understand that taxes go up and um but what's more
important I'm okay with paying those taxes because we have kids our students that are going to graduate and if I need a paramedic or if I need a doctor in the area I want to make sure that those are those kids have the appropriate
education that they need and by that we need to continue to provide all of the different kinds of services that we have been so far. So, I appreciate everything that you've said and there's still a lot to digest. I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions as I look over things, but um
we are looking at the worst, but we can hope for the best. >> Thank you, Miss Baron. >> Thank you so much for the presentation. um numbers do not look good. Um but when do numbers look good, right? So I
appreciate the effort and I want to see more effort and more discussions being brought to like um or information being brought to the board as to what expenditures we are reducing, what are we looking at. Um I think it'll make me feel a little bit better um when making
um a decision and right. Um, so I do want to see kind of those what those discussions look like. Um, you talked a little bit right about prioritizing our highest needs when it comes like to our facilities and those projects. I just
want to make sure that we're not cutting anything or making our buildings unsafe, right? like I just want to make sure that we're continuing the highest level of education and programming and our facilities um state-of-the-art facilities for our students um and
keeping that level of that we've kept all these years. Um grant funding, you touched a little bit about that. We don't know where grant funding is um going with this administration. So those are things that we also have to consider. Um and so I,
you know, ask that we or the community take a look at that too that we don't know where that's going. So when we're looking at these numbers, um you talked a little bit about surplus and we to Mr. Deusky's point, right? There's been surpluses and I believe there's that
sometimes has to do when payments are coming in. Is that true? Or >> uh sometimes we we have had times where we receive extra state aid payments for example in a year. Um >> it's not that it's extra money, it's just the timing of when it's received.
Same thing with um you know a several a myriad of things, tiff surplus payments, things like that that can kind of fluctuate between years. >> Um but again, last year we did end in a deficit position. >> Yeah. So, I just ask that the community
also take a look at when we're looking at surpluses, really looking at is it really a surplus or is it just when payments are coming through the district? Um, this is not an easy decision. It never is when we're asking um when we're
increasing taxes, but um to those in the community, right, everybody sitting on the board is also a tax player in the community. So, these are hard decisions um that we do not take lightly. Um, and so I think that is all my comments and
my one question. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Van Djk. >> Could we touch a little bit on the 33% that I keep hearing? 33%. Is that $100 million sitting in accounts someplace that we're not touching for anything or
is that something we're drawing on right now because Cook County uh real estate taxes have been so far off balance that we had to tap into that 33%. Um so the 33% is um
a somewhat arbitrary number that is in our fund balance policy um that was decided by the board of education at a point in time that said we want to preserve uh you know cash in the bank right that we can use in the event of um
unforeseen conditions. So, a great example of unforeseen conditions is property tax um revenue. This year, we usually start receiving property tax revenue in August. >> We have not received anything. Um as in
fact, tax bills are not even calculated yet. So, um we are working um so yes, we are drawing I don't believe we're to the 33% mark today. Uh but we are every every bill
that we are paying we are drawing down upon um reserves and investments that we have or these other sources of revenue. We still have some revenue coming in from you know uh grants or other other payments but our largest source has not
come in yet. So it is it's to pres prevent against um uncertainties like that. There are oftentimes uh we've been in um you know there's been many conversations over the years about a shift of uh TRS costs to a district or
um just property tax freezes or any number of things that could impact a district. When we do a fyear financial projection what it's allowing us to do is to assess a trend and be able to react within a trend and it gives us a little bit of time and that's what we're doing right now with these budget
reductions. I will say um last year uh at this time our our budgeted deficit this year is uh around $8 million. Last year we were projecting that it was a million dollars worse than that. We implemented staffing reductions this year to the tune of a million dollars.
That made us um you know in a more favorable position. So we are doing things. We are continuing to work at it. Many of the items take time though. We cannot just snap our fingers unless we are going to just cut off programs. Um some of the
things require timing and implementation such as the the um employee benefit example that I provided. >> So has there been a time obviously this is a big time where Cook County is Cook County and they're not doing what
they're supposed to be doing. um where where we've been in dire need of that 33% and that 33% has got down to like 3% and we're oh no or has it always been hovering right around the 33% and and we
could look at possibly can we reduce that and and not have to have that large amount banked. >> Um I believe last year we got down we were in a very similar position with property tax receipts and we got down to 10 or 11% fund balance last year. Um, so
that's certainly not ideal, but I know that there are many districts in our surrounding communities that are already issuing tax anticipation warrants because, you know, we get paid twice a year and we are months late now on our our second paycheck. >> For sure. >> And and usually the interest rate um uh
costs are are pretty steep, especially in this um environment. But I also I would like to say that to me uh and I'm newer to the district 33% is um still a pretty conservative figure. Um, ESB recommends actually uh
six months of expenditures which is 50% to have a recognition um um as a financial um um yes and if you bond rating agencies Moody's they recommend between 25% to
40% as a stable fund balance. So it looks like, you know, the 33 just fits right in the middle. And right now we we are using every penny of of that fund balance to meet our obligations to pay our vendors and to cover payrolls. >> Gotcha.
And then um you know to to the point of I'm I'm happy to pay my property taxes and and continue the services. Um it's tough out there. Mhm. >> People sitting at this board table or in this room um may have it better, may
have it worse. Um and my my personal property I was just reassessed 20% higher and I'm in a modest town, modest um home and people that that aren't but aren't in a
million-doll mansion. and even the million-dollar mansions that people I I'm sure are struggling and to to say, "Well, we're we're just happy to continue with with um doing what we're doing in order to keep providing."
Um these these numbers aren't good. Just two, three years from now, we're we're dipping and we're dipping and dipping and and that's seeking out the the max from our taxpayers, our tax base. I mean, if if we're struggling here, what are our families doing? And they're the
ones paying and not everyone's in the same same boat as some more aabled people. So, that that's the tax base that I worry about that are are struggling to keep food on the table, let alone pay
their tax bill. And now, um I I think mine's low at a 20% from what I've seen on online. people are having their properties reassessed at 30 40% higher and and now we're looking to increase that burden on them. Um I I still have a
student in this district. I don't want services to go down, not just for my kid, but for the neighbor kids, for everyone we know and everyone in the district. But something have something has to give here. And I don't think the solution is just
to keep going for for more and more. We we've got to do some drastic cuts outside the classrooms. And again, to Mr. Dumbrsk's point, I I don't know where that's at,
but thank thank you. I I really appreciate the way it was laid out. It it's it's not sugar coating anything, and I appreciate that from both of you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Van Djk. So,
tough pill to swallow. Tough pill to swallow. So, um for anyone either at the board table or in our audience and the community, uh there is a board policy that is available on our
our board policy website. It is DCA operating fund balance. It outlines the 33% and it also says there's so it's a suggested amount um and
there is a directive contained in the policy that says if we fall below that 33% we shall do certain things. And so I encourage anybody who would like to see that take a look at that policy which
was adopted in 2008 and revised in 2011. And to your point, um it's it's specifically um outlining the 33% back then as a fourmonth
reserve um you know for for operations purposes and um and so um so I think that that's something of value to to take a look at and understand. Um as was mentioned, we are all taxpayers and
we're all struggling. Um, some of us have been employed, some of us are retired, some of us have been unemployed. Uh, some of us have have struggling um households to to be able to afford and um and unfortunately
um when and I I want to make sure the public knows as was mentioned when we increase your taxes, we're increasing our taxes. And so when people say the board is doing this and the board is doing that
and not listening to the taxpayers and considering the taxpayers, we are taxpayers. And I want to make sure everybody understands that as everybody else is struggling, we're struggling and
we feel this the same impact as everyone else. We have been elected to represent the community. And what I'd like to encourage everyone to do is as you see this information and you and you hear next month the recommendation and
perhaps the the the um the adoption of the the recommendation for hearing that opens up a window for community feedback. reach out to the board of education. Board of
Education at D211.org or >> comet.org. >> Yes. >> Board of Education d211.org. Give us your feedback. Give us your comments. Um reach out to us as you you always have. Um there are other school
districts in our area. I think every school district is struggling right now with the same types of things we're talking about here. And there are other school districts in our area that are talking about some very
very difficult things on how to handle their situation. and and my hope is that um that we don't need to have those same dialogues here
in our district and that we're able to to do some things uh to be more effective and more efficient. And I know we've heard multiple times about the cooperatives that we're part of and the the collaboration we do with other districts and other associations to
bring those expenses down as we can. But when it comes to looking at the expenses going up each year, there are expenses we can control and there's expenses we cannot control. We cannot control the utilities other than
joining maybe a cooperative to try to control and bring some of that down. We do that in our own communities. I know for instance the village I live in is part of a cooperative for water and for electricity and things like that. So
there's things that we try to do to bring those costs down when we can and where we can. Um and so so those are really you know and we've had those passionate discussions about where can
we reduce our expenses and I know the greatest passion and I think everybody at this board table does not want to see any cuts in programs or educational opportunities for our students. So, where can we find
some expense reduction? And you know what? I'm going to open up an invitation to the community. If you have ideas, please share them with us because we don't have all the ideas ourselves. And you may have some from
wherever you came from or whatever you do that can help us be more effective and efficient. um and and stay in a financially solvent way and and maintain our
operations because that's what we all want. So, I appreciate your time in putting the presentation together. Like was said, very clear and explanatory. Um, and we have some some tough things
to to think about and consider, especially when you look at the five-year projection and where the the trend and your your thoughts are right now. So, but thank you very very much. Dr. Campbell, do you have anything you'd
like to add? >> I don't. I just we appreciate the feedback and thank you to the team for putting this presentation together. All right. Now, we have a lot of policy things to go through right now, so we're going to go through those. Next on the agenda is
an action item that the board approves to adopt policy file GAB, equal employment opportunities non-discrimination in employment as submitted by Kurt Teniper, assistant superintendent for administrative services and is recommended by Dr.
Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Van Djk. >> Hi >> Miss Cavl. >> Hi >> Mr. Dumbrossski.
>> Hi >> Miss Baron. >> Hi >> Miss Russell. >> I >> Mr. Rosen Bloom >> I. The motion passes. Next action item is that the board approves to adopt fi policy file GBO staff qualifications as submitted by Kurt Teniper, assistant
superintendent for administrative services and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Dumbowski. >> I. >> Miss Russell,
>> I. >> Miss Baron, >> I. >> Miss Cavell, >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> I. >> Mr. Rosenblum. >> I. The motion passes. Next action item is that the board accepts to remove policy GCCB, minority recruitment from
active status as submitted by Kurt Teniper, assistant superintendent for administrative services and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Cavill,
>> I. >> Mr. Van Djk, I. >> Miss Russell, I >> Mr. Dumbrossski >> I >> Miss Baron >> I >> Mr. Rosenloom >> I the motion passes next action item is that the board of education approves the
to adopt policy DFC school funding and title one as submitted by Josh Schumacher assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell superintendent of schools. May I have a motion please? >> Second.
>> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Mr. Dumbrossski, >> I. >> Miss Caval, >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> I. >> Miss Baron, >> I. >> Mr. Rosen Bloom, >> I. The motion passes. Next action item
is that the board accepts to remove policy IGB correspondence courses from the active status as submitted by Josh Schumcker, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second.
>> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Baron, >> I. >> Miss Caval, >> I. >> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> hi. >> Mr. Dumbrossski, >> I. >> Mr. Rosenloom, >> I. The motion passes. Next action item
is that the board accepts to remove policy IGBA online courses from active status as submitted by Josh Schumacher, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> Move. >> Second.
>> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Dumbousski, >> I. >> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> I. >> Miss Baron, >> I. Miss Caval >> I >> I'm sorry. Can you repeat that please?
>> I >> Mr. Rosenlum >> I The motion passes. Next action item is that the board accepts to adopt policy IC IGCF credit for non-school educational experiences as submitted by Josh Schumacher, assistant superintendent for curriculum and
instruction and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Van Djk, >> I. >> Miss Caval, >> I. >> Mr. Dumbrossski,
>> I. >> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Miss Baron, >> I. >> Mr. Rosenlum. >> I. The motion passes. Next action item is that the board accepts to remove policy IGCFA policy for accepting language transfer credit from active status as submitted by Josh Schumacher,
assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> Moved. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> I. >> Miss Baron, >> I. >> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Mr. Dumbrossski,
>> I. >> Miss Caval, >> I. >> Mr. Rosenlum, >> I. The motion passes. Next action item is that the board accepts to adopt policy IGDBA, management of student athlete concussions and head injuries, as
submitted by Josh Schumcker, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk,
>> I. >> Miss Caval, >> I. Miss Baron >> I >> Mr. Dumbrossski >> I >> Mr. Rosenlum >> I the motion passes next action item is that the board accepts to adopt policy
IGBC home hospital services as submitted by Josh Schumacher assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and is recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell superintendent of schools. May I have a motion please? >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Van Dyk I.
>> Miss Russell I. Miss Caval >> I >> Miss Baron >> I >> Mr. Dumbrossski >> I >> Mr. Rosenble >> I the motion passes next action item is that the board accepts to adopt policy file IGDA
student organizations as submitted by Josh Schumcker assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell superintendent of schools. May I have a motion please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Baron. I
>> Miss Caval >> I >> Mr. Dumbrossski >> I >> Miss Russell >> I >> Mr. Van Dyk >> I >> Mr. Rosenlum >> I The motion passes. Next action item is that the board accepts to adopt policy IGD extracurricular activities as
submitted by Josh Schumacher, assistant superintendent for curriculum and educa and instruction and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> Second. >> Any questions or comments? May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Russell, >> I.
>> Mr. Dumbrossski, >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> hi. >> Miss Caval, >> I. >> Miss Baron, >> I. >> Mr. Rosen Bloom, >> I. The motion passes. Now we move into new business and approvals. The recommended action is that the
District 211 Board of Education approve the participation in six foreign exchange trips as proposed for the summer of 2026. District 211 reserves the right to cancel any airline travel that the district deems unsafe or not to be in
the best interest of District 211 as submitted by Eric Wowski, director of athletics and activities and Josh Schumacher, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please?
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Any comments or questions? May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Baron, >> I. >> Miss Caval, >> I. >> Mr. Dumbrossski, >> I.
>> Miss Russell, >> I. >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> I. >> Mr. Rosenlum, >> I. The motion passes. Next action item is um the summer school calendars and summer 2020 2027 2028 and
summer 2028. At this time um due to further action needed on this item, we are going to table this item for discussion at a future board meeting. The next item on the agenda is the
10-year facilities and capital improvement plan update. This is an information item. Any questions or comments? Next item is an action item that the board of education approved the purchase of a one-year licensing agreement for
SWE360 software for the 2025 2026 school year in an amount not to exceed $61,190.80 80 cents from the 2025 2026 budget as
submitted by Gary Gorson, Chief Operating Officer, and Lauren Hmel, Chief Operating Officer. That's not right. Chief Gary Gorson, Chief Technical Officer or Technology Officer, and Lauren Hmel, Chief Operating
Officer, and is recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> Second. Is there any comments or questions around this? >> So, I have a I have a quick question. It's a three-year plan for full
implementation, but we're only getting a one-year license. What happens in year two and three? >> Yes. So, I can respond and also Mr. Gorson can come up and and assist also. What what it entails it is a three-year
process. The first year we are committing to as it relates to um reducing some expenditures as we look at what we are utilizing related to programs and looking to again decrease it in that area. Year two will have a
different financial obligation but they do it does decrease over a three-year plan in which in year three we will be able to sustain and monitor the programs and um things that we are purchasing moving forward. So right now we're just
asking for the one year um so that we can display what the program has done and what we're able to capture in the initial year and determine moving forward. But it does consist of a three-year process. So if
I I guess the question then is after year one if we're not satisfied, how would we know if we were satisfied if we didn't fully implement it? Uh yes, this is Gary Gorson. The the first year gives us a chance to evaluate
the product itself um and to do the analysis to see what's actually being used specifically where there's redundancy and where we suspect we can affect some savings at the end of
that first year. It'll give us a chance to see if the if the product performs as advertised and actually does u give us an opportunity to recoup things and then the following year then we can renew to do the second and the third phases uh
that refine the the analysis more so we can see the the impact on of what we retain as software and technology tools in the classroom and see what the impact is on learning objectives in those
remaining two years. Uh that we have we chosen the corre the correct packages. That's kind of the focus of the second phase. And then the third phase is districtwide are we achieving the learning objectives and uh that we
expect by using these technologies. >> And Mr. Mr. Dumbask, I'll also add that many times um when partnering with vendors, we have a tendency to commit to three years or fouryear contracts where this allows the opportunity to really um
look at the return on investment which this product does initially. So that first year again is looking at the ROI and then the second year focusing on the the blended learning and then the third year looking at how the learning um is getting the outcomes that we intend
based upon the programs that we that that are being supported. >> I I guess my question is I mean you're you're talking about losing three years of students in in this approach and I'm just wondering why it isn't something that can't be done within the first
year. all of the all of the outlined metrics for year two and three. I would figure that if there's a student that's a sophomore, they'll have graduated by the time we figured out if the software they were using was effective for them
or not. And and what I will say part of when when we're looking at connecting to devices and looking at programs for over 12,000 students in addition to the number of staff in each building and
what is being utilized, that information cannot be collected within just a uh a few months. Um it has to be calculated and populated um for a significant amount of time to to see one again this
first portion is connecting to our devices to see if there's any overlap or duplication and also looking at the program use you usage. So that that will cover itself within just the duration of
this school year and then going into the second year of now looking at the outcomes around the the return and investment as it relates to are the programs and and what we are paying for is it doing what we've asked it to do. So that is just something that is going
to take time. Um and and it's been researched based upon this uh organization that that is the uh outline that gives the best results. >> Thank thank you for that response. Um just one final point that from my
perspective and and others the expectation is that that evaluation of that software usually happens in the curriculum committee. um and that the the the end users as far as the teachers are evaluating whether or not that that
is an effective tool before it's recommended to the board that we purchase those softwares to begin with. So, um from my perspective, I I would assume this is an auditing tool. Um, but I I just want to make sure that we're not spending money on redundancies and
that we're not looking for something to do something that's already in place through our our proactive committees within our curriculum. >> Yeah. And I think I think um it's a and I think you're correct as as one piece
when we go through the adoption process um and the feedback and and the results that we see and outcomes for for our student um when we look at as we listen to tonight our academic um team kind of displaying the um alignment to the goals. But what I will also state is
sometimes if you we don't conduct the audit, there are just some things that we don't know are taking place when we are looking at technology being one of our most resourceful instructional tools that are utilized and purchasing different um programs. There are just
some things unless we do take a look and really drill down on, we would not be able to know what what we're using, if what we're using and what we've agreed to use is working or if there are some other components that are being used um that may not have been adopted by our
district that are is having an adverse impact. >> Thank you. >> My hope is that we spend $61,190.80 80s to find out that we're
I don't want to say the word wasting, but I'm going to say the word wasting or using or not fully taking advantage of more than that dollar amount. So the savings by identifying maybe something that we had purchased some time ago and
we're paying a maintenance fee on for instance but we're not even using that that item or the full supply of those items or we have the opportunity to return some things and get a credit. So, I'm looking at this as both an auditing
and a potential expense reduction >> item and tool and method. And perhaps we can see more than $61,000 in savings in the first year from just putting this in
place. And and so what I would encourage is that the administration come back to us um when this one year is up. And I would think that that would be the right thing to do if you want if they want a second year and you want a second year
is show us what they did and the the savings associated to that um to make us not only less costly but you know from a a student performance and outcome perspective better and and so I'm
looking forward to that. I know that's the plan. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Cool. All right. So >> yes, >> I'm I know our meeting's going long. Um
so I'll keep my comment brief. Um I I look I understand the purpose. I think it is likely to be a wise investment. Um I do have as usual when
it comes to these kinds of things, I do have privacy concerns. Um so I hope that um the administration um in using this tool uh
you know protects the students protects the district's privacy as well and that means of course um not giving at any data collected by this um organization and
um not not allowing this data to go beyond this organization. So not allowing them to give it to any sort of third party company any anything else. Um I know that they purportedly in their privacy policy say that those are once you have
a contract with them um you have to opt in. I just generally am skeptical um when it comes to privacy protections in these kind of organizations. So um I I just wanted to voice that concern and
hope uh that the administration in using this tool um you know does their best to protect uh the privacy of the data that this organization needs in order to perform its service. Yes, we actually to that point we do
have a signed uh a fully executed agreement uh based on the national uh student data privacy agreement that's used as part of SOAPA. So they are bound by the u the state's requirement to
protect those um those privacy the PII elements of um of the users of that which are our students and the amount of data that they have access to is limited as well. It's mainly based on uh utilization of
software packages and not the data within those packages or tools. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else? May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Van Djk. >> Hi.
>> Miss Caval. >> I. >> Mr. Dumbowski. >> I >> Miss Russell. >> I >> Miss Baron. >> I >> Mr. Rosen Bloom. >> I motion passes.
Next is discussion and information item. Board of Education Finance Committee. >> So I guess I'll take this one. I brought >> Mr. Van Djk. >> I brought it up a couple times. I think we'll uh bring it up a third time here.
Um let let's change that uh committee to a workshop. you know, uh, changed the name. You you um brought up Mr. Rosen Bloom, the the fact of, uh, we're not
all experts here, and we don't know all. And where's our opportunity to hear from our teachers, from our our union leaders, our tax base? Where's that opportunity in this whole process? They're all affected by this. And yes,
we're elected by them. But at the same time, where do we get our input? We don't have any input here besides them up at the podium speaking to us. There's no back and forth. Back and forth is important in my mind.
How do you bounce ideas off? I don't think there's a meeting held in this building or any of our buildings where you sit there and you listen the entire time. It's bouncing things back and forth. Our kids do that in our classrooms. They bounce back and forth.
Where do we bounce this information back and forth with our our tax base, with our students? In my mind, we should have a workshop where everything's laid out and things are bounced back and forth. It could be um open meetings act compliant. any
board member that wants to come can come and if we have two, three, four or seven board members, great. But this way we're hearing from the people. Right now we're not. So whether you call the committee,
which that may not be the right word, or workshop or uh coffee with the board, whatever. I I feel it's important to I don't hopefully they're online here, but I don't see any union reps here. I don't
see any teachers. Our our audience is gone. They're probably in bed or doing homework. So, if we could have some kind of a workshop or opportunity
at say 6:30 or 7 o'clock after dinner time before bedtime where we can bounce things off. That's what I'm looking for here. So, whatever we want to call it, that's my hope. >> Thank you for that, Mr. Van Dyke. I will
just um state that it has been determined that we are working to organize workshops for the board initially from the initial um requests to kind of get an understanding of what uh the learning um components are and also to be clear about kind of that the
way we are operating as a finance team. Um we currently have outlined some zooms in which a workshop model can be held with the board. Um but it will be the to for the board to determine if we want to take it beyond um just the board um
participating in the workshop and determine if we um host additional meetings. >> Well, to to Mr. Van Dijk's point, it's it's he's looking beyond education. He's looking for interaction, discussion, conversation, and dialogue
um around financials um both how we operate as a district and the future and the situation and and just an opportunity to to have that interactive environment.
And I know there are some parameters that need to be followed around that, but um but I think it's it's something worth looking into. >> I I appreciate the start of these workshops by Dr. Campbell and as she
stated, I I hope that they can progress to where we do include beyond the board. Okay. >> Thank you. Anybody else on this?
>> Um I I'll I'll chime in. First of all, um I'm just a little confused um because I'm experiencing a slight disconnect between the specificity of the agenda item, this being board of education finance
committee versus some of the more general comments that were made about coffee with the board, which feels to me to be not directly connected unless the coffee with the board event proposed is about finance specifically. It just
it I I I so I'm a little bit unclear because to me the agenda item is a finance committee. Um so um in my tenure on the board, this has been a discussion that's been bandied about
uh typically every time after an election because um and I remember the first time I ran for the board um burning such an idea up at a board meeting myself um for exactly the
reasons described, right? Like dialogue is very very important. Uh back and forth is very important and that's the way this entire model works. Um you know, you're elected not to represent your personal point of view, but to represent the community that elected
you, etc., etc. And in order to do that effectively, you have to interact with the community. um we live in a very large area so that is just logistically difficult to do. Um and so I can certainly see the appeal um in theory of
like a hybrid formal informal event such as the this and I think in some context it can it can really work. Um like village boards for example can do this pretty effectively. um but they are structured differently and they're not bound by exactly the
same set of conditions that school boards are. And so in years past when we've tried to organize such an event um we've run into the same hurdles that um we continue to run into. Namely that
people who attend the board meetings are the same people who attend these events despite al offering you know alternative times and days. remembering that um board members themselves may be employed and aren't necessarily available at like
10:00 a.m. on a Wednesday as an example. So if you're wanting board members to attend, you know, that limits your scheduling capability and then you're trying to also aim for community members to attend. And in our experience when we
tried to do this, you see largely the same faces at these these sorts of events that you see at our regular board meetings. So if your intention is to cast a wide net and have a dialogue with people um
I'm this format in the past hasn't really achieved those ends. And so one of the things that I was thinking about um that might be um more efficient and this is where again I'm a little bit confused if we're talking about
specifically the finance committee but for the purposes of my understanding of how the agenda works. I'm going to limit my comments to such a such an event. Um our feeder district one of our feeder districts district 15 Dr. kinds over the last two years has been uh hosting
hanging behind events and some of these took place at the actual schools. I attended one when I was employed at Conjurs learning academy and I was able to sit down with her for 10 minutes over my lunch break. But I know that some of these have been happening in event in
community spaces on all different days and times, some in the evening, some in the day or what have you. some members of her administrative cabinet can attend. Um, I've never personally seen a board member there, but that doesn't mean that um, you know, subject to the
open meetings act provisions, one or maybe even two board members on a rotating basis, I'm sure, could attend, but it's an open invitation for any community member or school community members. So, that means student or staff, depending on where it's held, could attend and have this kind of back
and forth. and then she has to report on those interactions regularly to the board. And it's something I've taken part in and something that I've wondered um if that is actually a more effective way to achieve the purported goal that
this board differentiation of this board has had over the years of trying to create a structure that would um allow for more back and forth. In terms of back and forth with board members, I find the most effective thing is to show
up at the school like to go to those events, talk to people who are there, talk to the students who are, you know, interested in speaking to a school board member. Um, but I find that to be very very effective and certainly more effective than the attempts that we've
made as a board to have these sort of workshops at alternative times just because of the structural issues that we've run up in the past. you know, the the original reason that the budget and finance committee was eliminated was because, you know, no one was going. So, um, if we're trying to be
efficient in our budget, to me, that's not just efficiency for financial resources, that's efficiency of our resources across the board. That includes administrative time. So, if we're going to double up on administrative time to attend a vi finance and board committee meeting or try to set up a very complicated
structure of a board workshop that is somehow informal but also um abides by the open meetings act, I just wonder if that administrative time would be better spent directing the superintendent to come up with something that um suits her but in an inspiration like a hanging the
kinds event or maybe a rotating cast of characters from her cabinet that would be available in the community for anybody who wanted to talk and then report back to the board. Just a thought. >> Mr. Rosenble, may I interject? >> Absolutely.
>> Um I I would uh I deferred at the last meeting on on the suggestion by Mr. Van Djk, but um the past committees that we've had and and I would ask um um Miss Lauren Hmel to to chime in. Some
of the benefit is providing the financial presentation to board members prior to the full board meeting and having some feedback in the committee um and and getting sort of a heads up
before um a full presentation shows up to you know the public and the rest of the board to kind of gauge some feedback from board members. Um, I don't know if that's valuable to administration, but I' I'd ask for feedback um from that
perspective. Um, under the last um committee format that we ran, that is essentially what happened. We would share information um sometimes the exact same s uh
information or or similar um which provided opportunity for board members who were present at both meetings to hear the information twice or as you um stated it allows um for clarifying questions or
additional information or just as you said to kind of get a pulse on a situation so that we could um incorporate any of those that information into the um discussion with the the whole board at the meeting. >> So, one of the reasons why we stopped
doing that was because of duplication of effort and time and to I don't know if hearing the same presentation twice was really useful because I went to some of those committee meetings. Um, and
we as a a board, we do ask clarifying questions sometimes in advance when we see the presentation or the reports and be able to provide that prior to the board meeting for preparation and
response during the board meeting. Um, and again, the the committee meetings um back then weren't live streamed and they weren't recorded um for future
play by the community. Maybe that would be different. But I'm also looking at this as if it is a duplication of effort um is it worth the expense associated to it? back to um I think it was Miss Caval saying you know that it's administrators
it's the location that has to be secured and open and available and managed and maintained for community members and the board to come and have either a dialogue or hear the presentation
um and um and in those committee meetings um there wasn't there was not a community dialogue. It was it was like a a mini board meeting and it was the board hearing the presentation, asking
questions, asking for some clarity. And it was and some of those cl some of those questions were I'll get back to you. Great. We'll hear about it at the board meeting. and then those those questions were able to be answered in in the in the board me the regular board
meeting and not the the finance committee itself. So, you know, in in the consideration of of what we just talked about with the levy, um you know, I I understand the the value in having
the information and being able to review the information and ask clarifying questions and either receive those as a board in advance or hear the answers and and clarity during a board meeting in open session. So everybody, including the community, can hear the answers to
those those clarifying questions that the board is asking. Um, but I don't know the value of hearing the same information in advance of hearing it here in this meeting.
>> Well, I'm not looking to bring back something that didn't work. That's the whole point here. Something that didn't work, I definitely don't want to bring back. It's let's reinvent the wheel because that wheel was flat it sounds like and didn't get us down the road. So
that that's where I said workshop. You you don't want to call it committee because committee seems as though that's something different that is duplicate to what's shown at the board. So something >> different. >> Well, what we've done in the past that
didn't work. No, I I like throwing, you know, throwing out ideas and having some dialogue and brainstorming. Um, I remember also that to to Miss Caval's point, we tried to have a community I I want I don't know what it was called, community engagement meeting or something like that and it was held in
one of our schools in the media center and the exact same people that have been coming to were coming to our meetings at that time came to that meeting and we heard the same concerns and we had the
same we heard the same thing um as we do in a regular board meeting. And in fact, one of those was held on a Saturday um so that community members could come and we had a really good turnout of
board members for that. Um but it was it was a challenge in that it really it didn't bring about new people coming not having another opportunity to talk to board members. Um, I I kind of like the opport, you know, when I'm as a board
member, I like to hear directly from constituents and they reach out and, you know, I've I've met at Duncan, I've met at Starbucks, um, had phone conversations with community members and had that one- on-one interaction with with parents and
students and sometimes together um to have dialogue around things that are going on in the district. That's that's how I've been able to be successful in hearing back. But, you know, maybe maybe it's it's worth at least looking into to
see what all goes into that uh without expounding too much effort to propose something. >> Um I want to just say thank you, >> Mr. Rosen Broom. I'm sorry if I could just make one more very brief comment. I mean if we're even if you if you think
about holding such an event in whatever form that might take you know the fact that is that there are seven board members with seven very different lives and if we are holding a workshop or a finance workshop or whatever then that
really needs to be offered at a date and time in which every board member has an equal chance of attending. And just by that very nature of having an equitable commitment, not even speaking about trying to make it accessible to the community members, which would be a thing that would be important, but if
we're just trying to make it accessible to board members, you know, we are already severely limiting ourselves to yet another evening slash maybe even a weekend. Some of us work weekends at this point. So, you know, as soon as
soon as you start to to formalize this kind of a thing, if I'm understanding, and with a more focus on a dialogue between board members in the community without utilizing the administration in a respectful and efficient manner, then um just structurally it is very very
difficult to come up with an event that is equitable to board members in terms of participation and also achieves the purported goal. So, um, and with that, I'll leave off because it's almost 11:00.
>> We pull stuff off like this in the school buildings for our students all the time. So, I I don't really buy that. We can't pull it off, but thanks for everyone's input. >> And if I can just offer I I we do
appreciate the dialogue uh this evening around this topic. One of the things that um the team myself and the team have put put in place um to attempt is a finance workshop. Um right now I think
if we can start there have that opportunity to see what this workshop entails with the t the first topic is is around the tax levy. Um it it will provide the opportunity for some dialogue and some discussion um while also sharing a different additional
information from our finance team. and then maybe we can come back and determine, you know, how that has worked, if it looks the same as it has in the past, if it's something that we think we can move forward on, and also expand upon. But I think if we could provide that opportunity, I think those
dates have uh been shared. If we could get to to the first workshop model um and receive feedback and determine next steps from there, that might be most helpful. Okay, thank you. Next on our agenda is
board of education student representatives. >> Yes, that was my request at the last meeting and um I think the pulse of the board was that they were interested and I would like to request that we have Dr.
Campbell um begin um a plan uh talking with students uh talking with IASB, talking with other superintendent and board presidents who might be of help um to allow us to have student
representatives on our board and um request that we consider this uh for the next school year. So that would be what 26 27 So, um I'd like to ask if each board member,
if nobody minds, um thinks that that would be a good idea and we can um so instruct our superintendent. So, Mr. Van Djk, >> I really don't know what that entails.
like someone's gonna sit next to us at the board table, a student. We're we're gonna have lunch with them. We're gonna go to class with them. Um so I can offer so um what it it does entail a student representative that essentially is
considered uh a I'm not going to say an official board member, but has um voice and choice um at a certain extent. IASB already has outlined what bringing student
representatives to the board entails. Um there are a few districts also in the state that are currently doing it. So if this is at the will of the board, what I would offer is that the team work together and we bring back two or three models to share with the board and what that can entail having a student
representative. >> My mind that's still pretty vague to to it's not. Could you expand on it for me then, Miss Baron? >> No, I think you're >> shaking your head like it wasn't vague. >> No, I don't think it's vague at all. I think Dr. Campbell did a really good job of explaining exactly the next steps,
which should be talking to ISAB, talking to her cabinet, putting three models together, presenting it to the board, and the board deciding what model we want to go with and then giving input to that. >> I understand the the next steps. I just don't understand the endgame. So, so I think that would be some this is an
exploratory step to find out what are other school districts doing because I also know that there are school districts in the Chicago northwestern and north suburban area that have students who serve as as albeit not
voting members of their board and and so I think it's worth exploring what are other districts doing and that's either through contacting superintendent, um, I ISB, ISBE, other board presidents that
have this going on in their district to find out what are they doing. Um, because right now I I can't say, you know, oh, this person will be sitting here next to me at the table and, you know, voice their opinion and sit in, you know, public comments and do all
those things. Um, you know, there's there's certain restrictions as well around close session and things like that that um that we can learn what are other districts doing and what are those those guard rails and and she can come
back and say, "Here's here's three different options and give us more detail so that we can ask those questions." And maybe it's here's option A, option B, and option C. And you know what? As our district, we'd like to do a
blend. I don't know because I don't know the the details and the intricacies of of how it works right now, but I do know it's working. And I'm hearing from my board president colleagues that that they like it and it's working for their
districts. And it's an opportunity to have student input at the board level. And it does a couple things. is one is it gives input to the board um and us to to hear their perspective and also it from my understanding is it helps build
leaders um in the student body and maybe somebody who wants to be on the board someday. So so let I I think it's exploratory and and we can we can request that she do some investigation and come back to us with some ideas on
how we can implement it here as well. So that's the thought. >> I think it provides student voice and after all the things we talked about tonight involving students to have student voice to our board I think is
very important. And the district that I came from has had student representatives on the board for or coming to board meetings for the last 10 years. Um, so I've spoken with that superintendent and also the board
president who said he would not have it any other way. So I think this will provide an additional um, like I said voice for students and for us to be able to listen to what they have to say and consider all kinds of
different things maybe that we we don't know about. the input from some of the stakeholders, our students. Great concept. All right. Thank you. >> Anyone else?
Okay. >> Yes. Um I'm so sorry if I cut I think I cut somebody off. There's a slight delay when you call in by phone. Um thank you for the suggestion. I'm a big fan. Um I'm an enthusiastic yes. Um, I'm I'm I'm
hopeful that the administration will provide models that will be equitable for all of our schools. You know, we have some big high schools across a large geographical area. And I'm hoping that whatever representation or
opportunity that would be presented in those models would be um fairly would be ascertainable to a student from any of our landmark schools as well as all our alternative program
and our um alternative like certificate pathways too. So um our kids who have IEPs and our kids that are in the alter the alternative academy etc. I'm hopeful that it um the models that are brought forward are equitable in terms of our
large district with um the array of schools that we that we have. >> Mr. Dumbrosski, do you have anything? >> Um no. Um, as far as the motion goes, I'm voting present. >> Okay.
Miss Baron, are you in favor of requesting Dr. Campbell to pull some information together and come back to us? >> This is a a very wonderful idea. Um, right, all of the decisions that we make affect our students. So, having their
voice represented here at the board is something that I would love to see. I had brought it up when I was first elected, but I was the I was the new kid on the block. So, I'm happy to see us moving forward in this direction. >> Thank you. And I've brought it up before, too. So, I'm obviously in favor
of it. So, all right. I think you have a consensus to to do that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next is Board of Education Protocols. Dr. Campbell, do you have anything you want to add to the information that's been shared with
the board on protocols? Um I I don't Okay. So So the board of education protocols have been shared and they are in the public content so that everybody can see the information um in
the protocols and um and so if any board member has any question regarding anything that's here um please let me or Dr. Campbell know. Um otherwise um
these are what we had discussed um during our close session workshop. So >> Mr. Rosen Bloom, I I strongly oppose the addition online um to item 19. I I believe that the way that's written
that that's an encroachment on the freedom of speech for all board members. Did you say number 19? >> Yes. And he's specifically referring to the the verbiage in red
that reads, "The board of education president is the only board member that may respond to an individual and as such will be responding on behalf of the entire board of education." I I guess I could agree to some extent. Um my thought was that the the president
would respond, but that if an individual also wanted to respond that they could, but that um in most instances or if not all, the board president would make sure that there was a response from him. But
again, that >> the way that Yeah. the the way it's written, Mr. Van Djk is it states is the only board member that may respond. >> I I see it. I I'm agreeing with you. >> Okay. So, we can have that that changed.
Um and still be and still say that I could respond on behalf of the board of educa on of behalf of the board of education. >> I don't see the point, Miss uh Mr. President. the the any board member can
respond and as the president you're still a board member so I don't understand why it's specific to board of education president any board member may respond to an individual there there shouldn't be a response on behalf of the entire board of education because in
some cases individuals may have a have a a question or a concern that not all the board of education members are are in agreement with Plus, the only time the entire board of education may act or speak is when we're assembled in a board
meeting. So I think that um part of the issue so I I think that this I think first of all I think the wording does need to change um mostly because um it's easily misunderstood and I think
that's what's happening here simply because the conversation that grew into this was at the board workshop and not everybody was present. And so I think the context um goes a long way
into explaining I think the intent of this but um not necessarily the execution just because of the way that it's written. So, um the conversation that this change came out of is um just
to summarize it briefly is that uh when community members email um the board of education, sometimes they use the board of education group email address, sometimes they email individual members in groups or in part, lots of different combinations, but most
of many times um community members email some or the majority or all of the board of education and um it's up to individual board members of course whether they choose or not to respond which yes absolutely it is up to
everybody to choose whether or not to respond. I don't see any protocol effectively limiting that at all because these are protocols these are suggestions. These aren't actually uh hard and fast rules anyway. But regardless, because there's no
organizing principle behind that, sometimes that also means nobody chooses to respond and then a community member that's emailed the board of education essentially goes without getting a response. And the response wasn't to
have like in this conversation when we were talking about this logistical issue wasn't to state some po point of view, make an agreement or do any such thing other than for the board president to say, "Thank you for writing to the board of education and then forward that
inquiry to the superintendent or the appropriate person." But um nowhere in the contextual conversation where this came out of was it anything beyond making sure that every single person that emails the board of education gets
at bare minimum a polite acknowledgement of their email. And without organizing designating a representative to do that function, then there's a decent chance that some people who email the board of education just get radio silence and not
even a polite acknowledgement of their email simply because some of us are making the assumption that somebody else is responding or Dr. Campbell then gets seven copies of the same email because we have no one person who's just doing those ba very basic admin tasks. So, it
was my understanding that the board president could do those very basic admin tasks. Like the board president could be the one that forwards that email on to Dr. Campbell so that she's not getting seven copies of the same email or the board president can do a polite thank you so much for taking the
time to write to the board of education. U but not to express in a point of view. I I agree though, Mr. Dumbroski that the way that this is written is not effectively communicating the intent behind what this was supposed to fix. If that makes sense. >> I agree. M
>> Miss Caval, with all due respect, this is under uh sort of tagged by community members under open meetings act. It's not in our email protocol for item 17. It's not in our email protocol for 21
with reply all. This is directly tied to what appears to be social media, not emails. Additionally, I'd like to state that we do have a standing board policy that requires that every board member that sends an email is related to
district 211 business is, you know, required to carbon copy this the superintendent. So, the superintendent should be getting all of our emails and be aware of all of our correspondences per our standing board policies. So I'm not I'm not sure I understanding
emails, not the responses. So there's that. And again, I don't know why the voice is so loud when I'm agreeing with you. It's not in the proper place and it's not uh
eloquently stated, but you were not present for the conversation where this grew out of and I am helpfully giving context. So, I think we can all just take a breath and have a reasonable logistical conversation about this. We're not and that's what we're here to do. We're here to fix it and make sure
it works for everybody. >> I I I don't want to fix it. I want to remove it. Well, again, this the the purpose of this is to clarify how
people will receive responses, especially when they write to board of education d211.org or and that there's at least someone who is, for lack of a better term, assigned
to acknowledge their correspondence. >> Mr. Rosen Bloom, with all due respect, every board member asked to be there and when community members are sending emails, it's our responsibility. It's not a responsibility that we could delegate to the board president. That's
not the the responsibilities of a board president are to uh focus on the agenda, maintain the decorum during during meetings meetings. It's not to be uh basically performing remedial administrative tasks as as Miss Caval
has stated. >> So it's 11 o'clock. Um do we want to move this? Do we want to remove it? Do I want to reward it? >> Do you have any suggestions, Mr. Dumbroski? >> I I suggest removing that last line from
item 19. I would like to come up with a solution that fixes the issue that this was intending to fix, which is that regardless of, you know, everybody's thought on how these prior protocols were working, there were community
members who were not getting even bare minimum polite responses to their emails. I know um from attending the triple eye conferences in years past many other boards organized it this way again not to express some sort of collective point of view but simply to
make sure that the board is serving constituents properly and so I don't know how that is done without essentially I mean maybe a maybe a person without being in the protocol maybe someone can volunteer so it's not
automatically the board president That's fine. But right now, there is an issue that some people who are emailing the board of education with a concern or an issue do not get a response from the board that they are emailing one that's
even polite and acknowledging their email. and without organizing some kind of solution to that issue that problem. >> I'm I'm not even sure I agree that that's an issue because I no one's come up to me and said that I haven't responded to them. So I'm not sure where
that that issue and concern is generated. Do you do you have some sort of you know something that you can forward a documentation of something? I I haven't seen it. I've seen emails from community members that say, "I've written the board of education and haven't heard anything. Nobody's
responded to me." And then we get another email or they send an email to the board, don't get a response, and then they send an email directly to me as president of the board because they didn't get a response to their generic
board of education email send. Um, and I have also received emails from people who didn't get one when they sent it to another board member. and so they're reaching out to me as president of the board because they're not getting response from other board members. So, so yeah, I there are examples of those
and and they they do occur >> and we're sure that's a a lack of response and not a filter or something because I've had emails wind up in filters that I've had to go and search and and locate. So, it wouldn't solve the problem if it's a if it's a filtering issue as
well. uh the filter is to the board of education at d211.org then there's a filter problem for that email box or the sender but it's senders that we've heard from in the past. So I think to the point of of this being
clarity as to at least someone and I have and for the next year and three quarters have no issue with it saying uh the board of education president while I'm board of education president that I will respond
to emails sent to emails that are sent to board of education atd211.org or and if anybody else wants to respond, great. Everybody, you know, then the person can get seven responses. Um, and seven board members can forward their responses to
the superintendent. Um, but I think it's good and the protocols are good to outline how we behave as board. >> So, as a solution, could we just uh leave this as its own point? don't add it with anything else and then reward it
to the board. >> It say something like the board of education president will respond to um to emails received by um sent to the entire board of education
>> regardless of whether it's sent to seven people. >> Yeah. acknowledging re like >> just acknowledge you know and and acknowledging acknowledging their correspondence and anything beyond that is up to each and every individual board member as they see fit.
President Rosulum, if I may um add, I listening to uh the concerns and also the intent if I can offer um providing maybe this not be uh voted up on today
or approved today and uh bring back an alternative based upon what took place in the workshop. Um the intent and also maybe separating this from number 19 as recommended. um by Miss Baron.
And with that, also I would just add the guidelines, communication guidelines um is a portion I did want to speak on because that was something that was added. Um I think I've received responses back from each board member. And that might be also something else we
look at. I can uh refer back to to see if there's something in the guidelines that um have a little different um expectation as it relates to uh us operating as a full unit as superintendent and board members. So, if I can offer that, I would love to bring
something back for the board to review. >> Great. Anybody else have any questions or comments on this? Okay, moving on. Next is potential topics for future discussion.
>> Yes, I I have a couple. Um the first I' I'd like to add to the agenda next uh meeting is board policy BHD, which uh covers our board member expenses. I'm not I'm not sure how we got here, but
reviewing the expenses for the triple eye conference, we have like nearly $400 and expenses for or $300 uh with uh parking and and mileage where our policy requires that board members take the
least expensive mode of transportation. I know most people that travel to downtown Chicago are taking a train and you can and that is specified within our policy. So that's one thing that I'd like to discuss and the other part is
just making sure that the checks that are required in the policy are being followed for the board president's uh expenses. Those should be checked by the secretary and the vice president. Um so I I' I'd like to discuss and ensure that
those those checks are happening. So thank you for that recommended uh requested item for future discussion. Um policy BHD um as you pointed out Mr. Dumbrossski it does say the least expensive transportation shall be used.
However, the full sentence rather than taking it out of context includes providing that no hardship shall be caused. So without fully understanding the expense request and purpose around the mode of
transportation being requested. Um I think it's difficult for any any board member um or the board itself because I don't think that uh board members would indicate
um necessarily the wise as to how they've made the decisions as to which mode of transportation they're choosing um is the best for them um individually uh and that there may be hardships associated with that. Um as far as um
approvals and reviews by other board members that does not fall under the approval for board expenses that falls under the u submission of expense reimbursement um and for that um and also uh
specifically for the triple eye conference that you're referring to those expenses were um I might remind everyone were approved during the May board meeting and all board members had an opportunity prior to the May board meeting and during the May board meeting
to review those expenses and ask any questions they had because they were broken down. Um and that there is a difference between re um the expense request or the pre-approval
request and the reimbursement. and the reimbursement is submitted on a form and the um the protocols associated to board officers having those reviewed um is available and um and is a different
process. So I I understand what you're saying, but clarify then final action. What is the final action by the board of education >> topics of discussion? Is is this a future topic of discussion or are we holding >> topic for future discussion and it would be at the next board meeting?
>> So do we want to hold discussion at this time or do we want to >> Well, the question is going to be does the board reach consensus as having this an item for future discussion? And I I feel as though there's enough
new new board members that it would be good to just know that to to review it, not necessarily for a particular case in this case, but so >> to how to sub to how to submit requests
for future for uh for pre-approval. Well, the ins and outs and and uh requirements for expenses for board members, any policy that that's related to that. >> So, review of policy BHD
>> is is your thought. >> That's my thought. I I'm not familiar with it, so I'd love to get a review of it. It's going to affect me. may affect any other board member that is new or not new.
Mr. Drosski, as did anybody else have any comments or questions on this? Okay. So, Mr. Dumbroski, I'm going to take it that you would like to have this as an item for future discussion. Mr. Van Djk, you would like to have this as an item for future discussion? >> Yes.
>> Okay. Miss Russell, I mean, I can read the policy, I have questions, I can ask. I don't know why we need a review during the board meeting. I guess >> that's all. No, >> Miss Baron,
>> I agree. I think it's a waste of time. People can read, people can ask questions. The superintendent is always available to answer any board members questions. So if somebody has questions on how to do something, y'all can ask. >> Miss Caval.
>> Yeah. Um I can read the policy and I read every document that's attached to every agenda before the meeting. So none of the reimbursement requests are a surprise to me as was implied. and I say no. So the request is not to
move forward with this as an item for future discussion. Did anyone have any other items for future discussion? I had a second item. Um I'd like to request that we consider uh Mr.
Bennett's um desire to explore um an additional boys volleyball team and just see what the logistics associated with that are. In the past um we've had items that at one point in time were more cost
prohibitive than than was anticipated and over time some of those costs come down uh depending on how things get structured. So, uh, at this point, it'd be good to just benchmark what the burden on the district might be for an additional boys
volleyball team. >> Any other comments or questions around this? Before >> before we um task the superintendent for that, can we just get at least some I know there's been a lot of discuss or
emails information. So, if we can maybe just start with kind of where we're at with is there interest like the data behind if this is even something that
is needed. I know Mr. Bennett has shared a lot of information but I just want to and what some of that explanation has been because I believe he has also had discussions with Mr.
I'm gonna yeah Wowski. Um so I just want to if we want to move forward something just start there. Um >> I agree with Miss Baron. I don't know that this needs to be a discussion for
the board as yet. I think the board has the authority to direct the superintendent to to Miss Baron's point, see what the current state of affairs is, what the like what the administration's response is to Mr. Bennett's request and
depending on what information we are presented with um perhaps at that point it would be compelling to have a board discussion but I I think if we just jump right to a board discussion I feel like we're circumvancing the process. I think
we can direct the superintendent to essentially give us more information in response to Mr. Bennett's request. Isn't wouldn't that be putting just putting it on the agenda and getting I mean it's just a process of I mean
versus Mr. Bennett trying to direct the superintendent. The superintendent is responsible to the board. So all I'm looking for is just an agenda item that that answers whether or not it's something that's warranted.
>> I understand what you're asking Mr. Dimrosski and I have respectfully given my point of view but thank you for clarifying yet again how you see this. >> So I think I think what we could do is is ask Dr. Campbell to um provide us
with more information on on where we are and um things like um what our current state is um and what the need does or does not reflect and provide that back to the board in a communication directly
from her rather than bringing it into a board meeting at this time. And then from that we can make determinations as to next steps if it's even if it's even something that comes before the board. Um you know if there is a an interest and need and desire to have an
additional team. Um, I don't know if that's something that needs to come before the board for us to to approve an additional team because of the need and such, but certainly she can communicate that with us and and we can learn more.
>> And and the whole point of this new business agenda item is to find out if there's a majority of board members that want to expend the administrative energy to go forward with that. Um, I I'm not
assuming that the six people at this meeting are all on the same page. >> Thank you. So, obviously, Mr. Dumbass, I know where you stand. Mr. Van Djk, would you like to >> I I'd like the information, but I I guess I'm kind of hung up on where that
information is shared. Um, is it is it in a an email to the board or is it is it just shared at the next board meeting? Hey, by the way, part of my report is is um here's the information so the public has it, too.
So, I I'd like the information. I just don't know where I stand on where that information be shared. I I would like the public to know. Public should know information. That's always my default. >> Mr. Rosen Bloom, if I can um just make a
brief remark. Um I think uh the board is generally speaks through policy and we're not going to make a policy about how many volleyball teams there are. So this to me is an
operational issue. Therefore, we ask if the majority of the board members agree, ask Dr. Campbell and her administrative cabinet to look into this issue, provide some kind of a response and go from there. A public response is clearly
either not forming another volleyball team or forming a volleyball team or perhaps some other solution or issue that Dr. Campbell would then bring forward. But this isn't an issue solved by policy regardless. Thus, I think that it's more appropriate
to ask Dr. Campbell to look at this information and provide a response. >> Thank you, Miss Caval. Would you like to Okay. So, so the thought is that her response to us would probably be in one of her
weekly emails that we get as a board as to the operational update that she provides us from her perspective as superintendent. So, that would be the the way that we would receive the feedback. Um, Miss Baron,
>> yeah, I if it's justformational, we're just getting it in our weekly update from Dr. Campbell, then I'm okay with that, >> Miss Russell. >> I agree. >> And and I would also like to see that and have it communicated to us as a
board from from Dr. Campbell. And um and Dr. Campbell, as as most requests coming from the board, if it's going to cause um a a significant amount of time by you or your cabinet to pull this
information together, uh then I think you need to to let us know. >> And what I will say, it will take some time. this won't be this week's update um and possibly not even next week's because there are many um variables to collecting information and capturing
what we currently have and what the need will be and and aligning to the request. So I will ask for some additional time. >> Thank you. Anyone else or Mr. Mr. Dumbroski, any
additional >> No, I I I don't I don't want to convey a sense of urgency with the item, but I I do want to try to close the loop as as Mr. Bennett has been at probably the last six board meetings um espousing the
same concerns. And to u be responsive, I' I'd like to have the correct information so that we as a board are are all on the same page with regard to to some of the comments he's made.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Next on our agenda are committee reports. And I know it's almost 11:30 um but um I have a sense of urgency around my NSSO report. So um I'm going
to cut through the really quick things quickly. Um at the last board meeting which was on the 8th we had um seven what we call shining stars. And I brought these types of people to you in the past. Uh we had rising stars and shining stars. and the shining stars.
Um, there were seven people, seven students, all district 211 students that attend Kirk School through NSSO that were recognized as shining stars. There is a property that is owned by NSSO
called Sunrise Learning Outdoor Education Center. It's in Bartlett. It is an outdoor nature center and it's its goal is to provide resources for NSSO and its member districts around
education and it has a plethora of different programs. It has summer programs as kind of like summer camp with archery and all these different challenge courses and things like that. But it also teaches these these students that are um that are in need for
different educational opportunities from team building to uh construction to working just with other people uh to leadership and um last year they had over 10,000 students participate in
their programs. They had almost 450 programs and it increases um regularly. A lot of member districts are starting to use them for vocational and career readiness programs and they also provide staff workshops.
Um and then they threw out at me um oh we also do board workshops. So, if our board of education wanted to go out to this nature center and have a retreat, uh they do have indoor facilities as well. So, it's not just outside. Um and
finally, regarding this particular facility, um they have an event coming up which every board member got a flyer for during close session. Um but, um it's also online. Harvest Fest is coming up on November 1st and it is at the
facility. So, it's a great way and bring your people are invited to bring their families um as well uh to check it out and see what it's what it is. Um in previous board me board meetings, I
have asked board members to review the revisions to the NSSO articles of agreement. These are the articles that they have with how they operate as a co-op um of which we are uh a paying
member and um they are coming up on the deadline for board uh member board input and um I've provided everybody on our board um with the the the suggested
revisions. Um they are once again being provided and they are also um in the public comment content section of this particular article. If you could please look at them because um the deadline is
Sunday. Today is Thursday. Um so if you have any input with regards to those articles um they're meeting with the attorneys next week to draft a what's hopeful um to be
the final copy and then I will be coming to this board at the November meeting to ratify the articles. So, our board approving the new articles and then in the December meeting, I will
go back to the governing board meeting that I go to for NSSEO and um let them know how we vote as a member district to ratify and approve it
uh for for their um use. So, uh so please get back to me if you have any questions about that. Um, as we all know, there was a big HVAC project at Kirk School, their high school. And, um, our district and 214 are the primary
high school districts that send our students to NSSEO as member districts. And we were on the hook for paying for some of those repairs because uh, really we are part owners of that building as the member districts that send our kids
there. um they got a grant for $750,000 to contribute towards that project. So it helps relieve some of our burden of paying for that very very significant repair. And so that's it on that. Um and
finally um also within the documents that you have um is a board memo uh regarding the superintendent council meeting. So, um, Dr. Campbell and I both attended the superintendent council
meeting. Um, and for the public content, there's a lot more information on here. Um, that a lot of it came out of that superintendent council meeting, especially when it comes to the articles. And it was great feedback to
get the superintendent to provide feedback to the governing board as to what they like and don't like. So, um, so please take a look at that and if you have any questions, please let me know. And
that's it for NSSO. Moving on to Ed Red. Miss Russell, >> I'll be quick. Um, as I suggested or told you in the last uh at the last board meeting, um, the the actual
meetings for ED begin this month and next month. Unfortunately, I will miss the first member meeting because it's the same night as our board meeting, but I will um either review the minutes or hopefully it's on Zoom and um or it will
be taped and I can listen and report back to you. I added the foyer request um on a Senate bill which I thought was kind of interesting and I hadn't even considered but um they want to make sure that foyer requests going to district
are are actually come from real people and not something AI generated. I thought that was an interesting consideration. And then I know we're all exhausted, but they do have an executive board vacancy on Ed. And if you are
interested, it's at the bottom of the information that I provided. >> Thank you. Next is community and family services report. Miss Baron, >> there's no update at this time. The UPC coalition um's next meeting is in November.
>> Thank you. Next on the agenda is the district 211 foundation report. Uh, Miss Caval is currently our liaison. Do you have anything to report, Miss Caval? >> Uh, Mr. Rosen Bloom. Um, as I let you know by email, um, I have recently had a
job change. My schedule has changed and I am no longer able to attend um, the early Thursday morning meetings of the District 211 Foundation. They meet at 700 a.m. once a month on Thursday
mornings, generally speaking. And um so essentially I've had to I can no longer continue as the liaison as I let you know. So we do need a new liaison for this particular uh committee whose schedule allows them to attend those meetings.
>> Thank you. I will um turn to Dr. Campbell for an update. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Kevl. I will hop in on as I had the opportunity to attend the foundation board meeting on October 9, 2025. The group acknowledged that the creation of two new scholarships that will be uh
available and that will be available coming this spring for our 20 26 graduates. The foundation for some time has served primary primarily as a curator of scholarships awarding more than $65,000 annually but the trustees
um increasingly want to be able to do more. Uh much of the meeting will spend in conversation regarding the potential of hiring a part-time or full-time executive director who could spend um focused time working to advance the foundation, create new relationships and build fundraising capacity and drive
change. Trustees also discussed opportunities for outreach within their own networks and voted to officially join the National Association for Education Foundations to gain access to helpful school specific nonprofit toolkits and templates that can pro can
move the foundation forward. Um so the group did voice a commitment to continuing the discussion and taking the next steps toward a paid employee with a continued goal of supporting district 211 students and staff. So, I have two more things to say. Number one, Miss
Caval, I want to thank you very much for your service as a liaison. I know you made some adjustments, as did they, to uh to make that happen, and I appreciate your um your serving as a liaison for us um for the beginning of the year. Um I
know I've had dialogue with the president of the foundation and um they are looking at how best to accommodate um another person as a liaison and uh still be within their bylaws um for for
that need. So thank you very much Miss Caval. Next is the next is the ISB report >> and once again I will be brief. Um, please remember board members to take
the ballot that um you were issued last time in the resolutions and constitutional changes and please vote um and provide that information back to um Mr. Rosen Bloom, President Rosenlum
um so that I will know how to vote in the delegate assembly as your representative. >> Thank you. Next on the agenda is Dr. Campbell and the superintendent report. >> Yes. And I just want to first thank you because I know that uh we are well into
the evening, but this is one of the um highlights. We've entered in se well September passed very quickly and we've now found ourselves um in mid October and there's some exciting developments uh taking place within our school and in our district. In September, I had the
opportunity to pretend attend a professional conference that provided me valuable insight. There were two main takeaways that stood out for me. Number one, it's critical that all initiatives align with our district's mission and values supported by measurable outcomes that demonstrate our return on
investment and that leadership should focus on growth for every heart and mind, which means student, staff, and families alike through intentional collaboration and ongoing dialogue. And I think that's some of the points that were brought up this evening. Additionally, earlier this month, I joined the students at Friend High
School for a physics egg drop experiment. It was an engaging and hands-on activity highlighting creative creativity, teamwork along with the application of math and writing. While my egg didn't quite land perfectly, the learning and laughter made the experience very memorable. Additionally,
from high school was is one of 28 schools recognized statewide through the governor's new blue ribbon school program. This honor reflects the dedication and excellence of our students and staff. This week I also had the opportunity to attend a business
development commission meeting where I conduct where I connected with community business leaders in Shamberg. I learned about ongoing future uh projects and about the scholarship fundraising event called the toast of Shamberg Kaleidoscope Connections in which
several district 2 211 students will benefit by receiving a $2,500 scholarship. At month's end, we will launch the first superintendent student advisory council featuring student representatives from each school. This group will ensure student voices are
heard and reflected in decisions that shape their learning that directly aligns to one of our five district values, communication and accountability. And lastly, um, as alluded to a little bit earlier, uh, during the conversation, I'm excited to
introduce Coffee with Campbell that will be launched later this month. These small informal gatherings will offer an opportunity to connect directly with anyone within our community that may want to join me. So stay tuned as final dates and details will be forthcoming.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. What kind of coffee? No, I'm just kidding. Um, next on our agenda is upcoming items and calendar. Uh, we have the National Honor Society and the next board meeting is November 6th
and the next item is return to close session. So, um I believe that we've covered everything that we need to in the first close session. So, if you agree not to go back into close session,
um please say no when, uh when it gets to you. So, the recommended action is that the board of education return to close session. Um that the board um goes to close session to discuss minutes of meetings
lawfully closed under the open meetings act. uh appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employee, setting of a price of sale or lease of property owned by the public body, and matter pertaining to an individual student. May
I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Baron, >> no. >> Miss Caval? >> No. >> Mr. Dumbouski? >> No. >> Miss Russell? >> No. >> Mr. Van Djk?
>> No. Mr. Rosen Blum. >> No. Next item is that the board of education in accordance with the master contract of the District 211 teachers union approve the retirement request of John Fiddler effective May 2027 and in
accordance with the master contract of the District 211 United Support Staff. approved the retirement requests of Kenneth Herman effective May 2026 and Rey effective June 2027 and Janice Siwa
effective May 2026 as submitted by Helen Miller director of insurance and benefits and Lauren Hmel chief operating officer and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell superintendent of schools. May I have a motion please? >> So moved. Second. >> May I have a roll call, please? >> Miss Cavill
>> I. >> Mr. Van Djk. >> Hi, >> Mr. Dumbrossski. >> I >> Miss Russell. >> Hi, >> Miss Baron. >> Hi, >> Mr. Rosenlum. >> I The motion passes. Next action item is that the effective October 20th, 2025,
Timothy Jensen be appointed as building and grounds manager at William Friend High School at an annual gross salary of $121,000 prrated to his start date as submitted by Kurt Teniper, assistant superintendent for administrative services and is recommended by Dr.
Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> May I have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Van Dyk, >> I. Miss Caval >> I >> Miss Baron >> I >> Mr. Dumbrossski >> I >> Miss Russell >> I >> Mr. Rosen Bloom
>> I The motion passes and the next item action item is that the board approve the district-owned residential property located at 1527 Louise Lane Palatine be listed in the multiple listing service at an initial price of $925,000.
Further, that the board approve the resolution as presented and that the property be listed for sale on the multiple listing service for a minimum of 14 days up to 120 days as required and that the superintendent or designate be authorized to sign a listing
agreement on the board's behalf as submitted by Lauren Hmel, chief operating officer and as recommended by Dr. Judith Campbell, superintendent of schools. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> May I have a roll call, please? Miss Baron >> I >> Miss Cavl
>> I >> Mr. Dumbrossski >> I >> Miss Russell >> I >> Mr. Van Dyk >> I >> Mr. Rosenble >> I. The motion passes.