##VIDEO ID:fD2k5VlRfOY## I call this meeting of Township High School District 211 Board of Education to order may I have a roll call please miss Baron here Mr Bradley here miss caval here Mr dumbrowski here Mr Macwan here Mr Rosenblum here Mrs kimowitz here would everyone please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance ALG to flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all the next recommended action is that the board enter closed session to discuss minutes of meetings lawfully closed under the open meetings act appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees and matter pertaining to an individual student may I have a motion please so moved second any discussion roll call please miss Baron I Mr Bradley I miss caval I Mr Tom brosi I Mr mwan hi Mr Rosenblum I Mrs clim ktz hi the motion carries good evening the recommended action is that the Board of Education return to open session may I have a roll call a motion please so moved second okay any discussion roll call please miss Baron I Mr Bradley I miss Cavell I Mr dski I Mr McOwen I Mr Rosen Bloom I Mrs kimowitz I would everyone please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one na indivisible withy and justice for [Applause] all thank you very much before we begin I would like to ask for a moment uh to acknowledge the recent deaths of two members of our District 211 Learning Community Palatine High School senior cydney arcott known by many as Sid passed away September 21st she had a promising future and will be deeply missed by so many friends and family members on October 3rd Fred High School teacher assistant Amy soer riger passed away while she had been unable to join us at school this Academic Year she was a cherished member of the Fred family since 2018 both of these are extremely difficult losses please join me in a moment of silence to honor their lives thank you all right then that will take us to our our recognitions and I will turn that over to Dr small thank you well assistant superintendent Josh Shaker approach the podium we are going to introduce to you some of our top students and the uh scholar that they scholarship that they have one tonight and president Clint Kitz if you will join the assistant superintendent for this award good evening members of the Board of Education Dr small administrators parents and students for more than 60 years the National Merit Scholarship program has been recognizing and honoring the country's most academically talented students it is my pleasure to introduce a group of District 211 students from the class of 2025 who have distinguished themselves as National Merit Scholars the National Merit Scholarship competition begins in October of a student's junior year of high school students from around the country complete the preliminary Scholastic aptitude test commonly called the PSAT along with 1.6 million other American High School students based on the performance on that assessment approximately 1600 students from across the entire country receive recognition from the College Board as semi finalists in The National Merit Scholarship competition The District 211 students with us this evening qualified as semi- finalists and are among the top 1% of all students in the United States tonight we recognize each student's accomplishment by presenting them with the District 211 Robert Creek Excellence award this award is named in honor of Robert Creek who who served as a District 211 School Board member for 20 years 19 of those as the board president Mr Creek distinguished himself by promoting a consistent vision of student and teacher excellence in District 211 I would like to thank our board president miss anah clim quitz for joining me at the podium to present these Awards to these outstanding students I also ask that the parents of each scholar stand and be recognized as I call your son or daughter to come home to come forward and receive the Robert Creek Medallion as you can imagine these students are highly involved in schools and communities some students were unable to join us tonight due to other engagements and responsibilities I am however pleased to introduce the following students from shamberg high school Caris [Music] [Applause] Amad from William FR High School meun gathri Arun [Applause] from William from high school Dylan [Applause] Bago congratulations from William F High School runan Shandra shaker from shamberg high school Amelia [Applause] Czech from William F High School malvika Dar [Applause] wader from shamberg high school Isaac Eberhart [Applause] from James B Conan High School Scott [Applause] Gilbert from William F High School Kevin hadcock [Applause] from William FR High School Rishi [Applause] channi from shamberg high school Amad dula [Applause] Khan from Hoffman Estates High School [Applause] Krishnan from James B conet High School Ian [Applause] Lim from shamberg high school Jennifer luo [Applause] from James B conet High School Logan McCarthy from James B conet High School Kelly milhousen from James B conet High School Rea Patel from shamberg high school alandi [Applause] patil from James B conet High School Ariana pushk from William F High School Roy chadri from William FR High School Katherine shidel from Palatine High School Keith sber from William FR High School Mera shatza from Hoffman Estates High School lukman [Applause] Sayad from William FR High School rage Torri [Applause] from James B conet High School archit [Applause] tamh from palatin High School Grace Wang and from William Prem High School Eddie or Jason Jason Jason [Applause] Joe congratulations again to the entire group of National Merit Scholars of the class of 2025 I'd like to welcome Christy odonnell to the podium Christy odonnell is an English teacher at Fred high school she has earn a those who Excel award from the Illinois State Board of Education for her work as an educator and tonight she is here to introduce us to one of her incredible students who in a perfect 36 on the act right hello everybody I'd like to present Dylan Bago and his parents Mr Bago and Mrs T so it is my honor to introduce and recognize Dylan for the outstanding achievement of scoring a perfect composite score of 36 on the ACT Dylan writes in perfect precise cursive and perhaps in this age where many students don't even know how to read cursive that tells you much of what you need to know about Dylan Bago he is the opposite of what people say when they reference kids these days he knows cursive he has read thousands of books there's no hyperbole there and that's in his free time he has written multiple extra research papers in his free time and has won awards for these papers he has also won awards for fiction collections he has written in his supposed free time I don't know how he has any of this free time to write read or volunteer maybe it's says he can type 170 words per minute what the yeah thank you yes give it up for that or maybe he unlocked the secrets of the SpaceTime Continuum hon I honestly wouldn't put it past him but the clear answer is that it just comes from his extreme dedication intense work ethic boundless intellectual curiosity and maybe just a little tiny bit of Genius last year he turned every phase of his research paper in early a paper on xenot transplantation when other students were asking for twoe extensions and I honestly don't even know what the bigger Miracle here is that a student turned in a paper a week early or that Dylan got me to understand what xenot transplantation actually is Dylan is a viking log editor math team archivist teen board member at the paltin public library an expert pianist I mean Dylan Bago is more of an adult than me and he's all of these things while being humble thoughtful and kind if you're lucky he will play the piano for you I forced him if few times to do that sorry Dylan if I'm lucky he'll attach my name to another essay competition where I had nothing to do with his accomplishment and if we are all lucky he'll be an IND Industrial Engineer in the future creating sustainable technology for more for a more Equitable future Perfection comes in many forms and the Perfection of Dylan Bago is that he's a Renaissance kid an old soul with a brilliant mind and all the skills for our future world uh all the skills our future world and Society need congratulations again Dylan on everything [Applause] thank you to our amazing students um you know our future is really right with all these young men and women here and I thank you for all you do at the school for your involvement and I'm sure for for mentoring your peers and working to make yourselves a better person along with other people along with you so thank you for all you do you are just amazing young people and I look forward to hearing many great things that you're uh able to accomplish when you move on to whatever career it might be and thank you to the parents thank you for everything you do to support your children um it's it's just amazing whether it's transporting them to activities uh being there for additional support listening to your kids and encouraging them so thank you to the parents you are you are truly amazing individuals also at this time we're going to uh pause and take a quick recess we will take pictures with our students so you're welcome to come to this side of the board uh table here you can take some pictures and then we will continue with our meeting so we'll recess for about five minutes okay thank you thank you the next part of our agenda is public comments and the board welcomes you and is pleased to listen to your comments this evening it's important that you know this is a public board meeting and not a dialogue so the board members will not be responding to your comments or answering questions at this time as a reminder the board meeting is being taped and live streamed we ask that you value the procedures and decorum of our meeting and be respectful to those at the podium so they may be heard when I call your name please come forward to the podium and state your name for the record though not required you may state if you are a resident of the district please limit your comments to 5 minutes you will receive a notification when you have 1 minute remaining any individual's unused time or place in order may not be deferred to another individual if you wish a response from the superintendent please leave your name and phone number with Mr tener our first speaker is Camille [Music] biss good afternoon parents and students can they turn it a little more towards you're welcome good morning and good afternoon parents and students of the Board of Education my name is Camille biss I am a student at Hoffman States high school I'm here today to talk about and share my concerns on how our school system teaches people and students about dyslexia especially high school students what is dyslexia dyslexia is a learning disability it makes it harder for people to read write and spell and sometimes can make it harder hard to read and write as well as talk it often runs in families and is often referred to how the learn functions and reads processes language as it gets diagnosed early it's better affected and resolved my journey I was diagnosed at the age of 10 before I was um came home crying my mom felt hopeless didn't know how it help me with my disability with dyslexia I still sometimes feel that teachers still think that I am slow and incapable of certain tasks even after learning I was dyslexic I still need my needs and still don't understand stuff which I'm not happy that I don't have any of those programs and don't have programs in school um these are and still are the loneliest and not feeling included in school feeling discluded um I want to thank Mr Joe from the re writing program I was going to that my parents lovely um invited me to he helped me through the hardest times I've tried he taught me how to read and write I want to thank Mr Mrs Terry for sticking with me for the hardest times through my life and writing this um essay fact and uh effects around 15% of people have dyslexia sadly 40% of those people also experience depression Studies have shown that most of those depression leads from feeling bad about themselves stress not feeling like they no one will understand them [Music] it gets harder to live with understanding and knowing that you might not be accepted it's important to understand people with dyslexia learn differently and we should include programs how the Board of Education can help with dyslexia the board of education help can help students by app approving programs like that approving to work like the bar reading and spelling program this program helps students with dyslexia success flame it's important to teach teachers and staff about dyslexia it's ALS and how they can help students right now many teachers don't understand what dyslexia really is which makes a student feel unsupported yes these programs do cost money but the benefits are worth it helping students with dyslexia leads to better grade grades better test scores and have a chance to succeed in college it's makes it will make a school feel more in play a better place where students will feel belonged thank you to the board of education for listening to my statement today I hope you consider to support me and other students thank you again Camille thank you very much for the courage to come up and talk to us truly appreciate you and you did an amazing job I do have an 11-year-old grandson who is dyslexic so I can relate to that thank you thank you and wishing you only the best you our next speaker our next speaker is Lee Bennett hello board I'm Lee Bennett District resident Title Nine is not focused on Athletics rather the law passed in 1972 was a simple CL aration that both sexes should have equal access to all our educational programs this law applies equally to our music and drama programs language and many other clubs as well as our non-sports athletic offerings where we find Su significantly greater female participation under current law we must have co-ed PE classes and the gym teacher may not use sex to segregate students into competitive groups centuries of sporting EXP experience give us good reason to segregate our inner Scholastic sports teams by sex despite Title 9 this requires the athletic director to create separate but equal Sports programs since the Supreme Court's worst decision of plusy was overturned in 1954 we haven't expected or even accepted this of anyone else in education the title 9 regulations of sports were approved in 1975 5 with a three-year grace period for schools to implement Advocates credit them for huge gains in gender Equity since 1972 but 1978 is when they were first applied in 1978 female participation in high school sports was 50% of male participation the share in of females in High School competitive Sports has increased only slowly over the last 45 years the bulk of title n 's original goals were achieved quickly but its burdens on our schools have only grown no schools are required to reach a particular ratio of female to male participation federal laws and regulations don't even require high schools to report these metrics since 2007 attempts in Congress to place this burden on our schools have repeatedly failed in our state the best reason for secondary schools to collect these metric is to obtain permission for girls girls to compete on a boy's team this most often applies to allowing Middle School girls to wrestle and can apply to high school football and baseball the three-prong test Within These regulations was designed to address fairness for collegia sports which provide scholarship act opportunities the parallels to High School Varsity Sports make them subject to similar scrutiny colleges are more cop for any inequalities as high schools don't get to pick their students or offer athletes scholarships and nil money participation is not the only measure of equal equal opportunity Title 9 regulations require many things about male and female sports offerings be equal including Awards and coaching support students are given the choice to participate to so expecting our athletic director to equalize Sports participation is something Beyond his control he and control how many head coaches the Athletics program provides for each six as our Athletics stand I count 12 head coaches for each sex with Mo mostly matching programs if you consider the number of sub varsity volleyball teams on Minor Detail this leaves one to determine if boys football wrestling for both girls badminton girls bowling girls flag football competitive dance and three or more girls oriented sideline activities round out a balanced Athletics offering in the US Title 9 kicked off a huge popularity in girls volleyball as it was the leading sport offered to balance boys opportunity to wrestle and play football now that the girls have more options boys should have equal opportunity in volleyball where Title 9 regulations of sports apply school boards and administrators have one minute remaining might understand them as yet another Federal mandate when we recognize that males are more interested in competitive Sports females are entitled to any sports program where sufficient interest and ability exist Title 9 does not offer limit offering sports for males in conclusion Title 9 is not something that applies to athlete Athletics in particular rather Title 9 is partic particularly difficult to apply to our separate but equal athletic offerings thank you thank you that will then take us to our presentation and our presentation is on the 2024 tax levy tonight's presentation will review the recommended Levy amount and the timeline of the action needed for the levy the levy amount which is which needs to be determined by the November 14th board meeting will represent the majority of fiscal year 2024's fiscal re Financial revenue and will also directly impact each year of the long range Financial forecast therefore in tonight's presentation the projected impact on the future years will also be presented as our reserves fund balances get closer to 33% minimum it is important to see how immediate decisions potentially affect the future stability of the district to continue to offer quality programs as expected and capital project as planned without debt tonight's Levy amount recommendation is 3.4% plus new property growth which is estimated at 3% and 2 million of the 3.6 million available from the look back Levy this recommendation includes again for the fourth year abating 100% of the recapture Levy the recommendation allows for the continued high quality educational programming long-term Financial stability for future students employees and community members without the immediate iate need to add additional tax burden through a debt Levy borrowing of funds Lauren hmel Chief Operating Officer and Barb Peterson controller and Treasurer will present the details behind this Levy thank you uh we're pleased to present information tonight on the 2024 Levy um and within our presentation we will include background information on the tax levy process our recommendation for the 2024 Levy amount and information to provide a foundation in support of the recommendation because the 2024 Levy serves as the financial foundation for all future years we will conclude our presentation with an update to the district's long-term Financial projection a tax levy is the amount of dollars that the board of tax dollars that the board approves as a request to support the financial obligations of the district the county then takes the approved Levy amount and applies the final rate of new property growth tax rate ceilings and loss and cost factors to calculate the final Levy extension the final extension is the amount that is used to calculate the tax bills the extension can vary from the levy amount filed and serves as the basis for calculating the following Year's Levy amount and finally once tax bills are generated the levy collection is the amount of property taxes received by each taxing body each year a portion of the levy extension goes uncollected by way of delinquent taxes or prop property tax refunds we typically budget a collection rate of about 99% of the final Levy collection in the year uh following its approval the levy process in Cook County is subject to the property tax extension limitation law often referred to as pel or the tax cap um as we've discussed in Prior years the tax cap rule was implemented to establish a cap on the amount that taxing bodies May Levy each year the cap is equal or less lesser amount of either the Consumer Price Index from the prior year or 5% the tax cap also allows for new construction growth to be levied for in the year in which it's added to the tax roles for the current tax year the rate of CPI was 3.4% and will be used as a limiting rate for the 2024 Levy under pel due to the tax cap formula the 23 Levy extension will serve as the Baseline for calculating the 24 cap limit so as mentioned we are looking at a pil limit of 3.7% 3.4% from CPI and 3% attributed to the new property growth for District 211 this uh portion of the new property is um only assessed to new properties within the area and not to the existing Property Owners the pel limitation of 3.7% does not apply to the recapture apure Levy or look back Levy that I will summarize in the following slides the recapture Levy is a supplemental Levy that is automatically calculated and assessed by the county as a means of allowing taxing bodies to collect tax dollars that were previously lost by way of property tax refunds the recapture Levy does not require action by the board but rather is assessed as an addition to the levy amount approved by the board as mentioned it is not subject to pil over the past 3 years the district has fully Abad this recapture Levy totaling $10 million in taxpayer relief while the district will not know the amount of this year's recapture Levy until after November 15th we are assuming continued abatement of this Levy for the purpose of the financial projection it is anticipated that the 2024 recapture Levy amount will be available for review by the board at the December 12th meeting the look back Levy went into effect with the 2021 tax year and amended the property tax code to allow taxing bodies to Levy below the pel limit with the ability to recapture all or a portion of the abated funds for the next three tax years so long as the levy does not exceed 5% over the prior year extension District 211 levied $3.6 million less than pel for the 2022 Levy under the lookback levy provision These funds may be levied for outside of the pel limitation with adjustment of CPI through Tex year 25 the lookback levy provision was not utilized in Tex year 2023 as the pel limit was already 5% in addition to understanding the mechanics of a levy under pel it is also important to understand how the levy will impact the budget the 2024 Levy must be approved in December of this year uh once it is filed with the county um and due to the timing of the tax rate calculations by the county uh the final 2024 Levy extension will not be used in the calculation of tax bills until fall of 25 or spring of 20 and spring of 26 and will therefore impact next year's budget setting the amount of the levy is one of the most important decisions you as board members will make we have considered many factors in making a recommendation to you this evening including how this Levy will impact this next year and all future years to come District 211 is not immune to the effects of inflation last year inflation was 3.4% and continues to hover around 3% so far this year the modeling tonight assumes a 2 and a half% CPI in future years we are experiencing cost increases greater than CPI in many areas of our expenses salaries and benefits account for 85% of our total expenses so far this year salaries have increased over 7% from last year due to competitive market conditions increased Staffing and filling previously vacant positions from labor shortages benefits are trending at an increase of 9% this year and are projected to continue to outplay inflation cppt taxes were at historically high levels in 20 22 and 23 but these tax receipts are declining and while we are enjoying the benefits of high interest earnings right now we are seeing rates decline we've received over $13 million in Esser funding during the and following the pandemic however this Federal program has now ended we do not foresee new Revenue sources to replace these lost earnings our strategic plan prioritizes highquality educational Pro programming and extracurricular activities as well as the desire to operate debt-free including the funding of all Capital Improvements and finally we considered the impact of this Levy recommendation what it will have on next year and the future long-term stability of our district our reserves are projected to decline steadily over the next 5 years the result of strategic initiatives and expenditures growing at a faster Pace than revenues all of these factors led us in the same direction we are Pres presenting four Levy SC scenarios tonight for consideration all scenarios assume the same CPI and new property growth as previously mentioned we have assumed that CPI will end this year at 3% and will be 2 and a half% in the remaining years of the forecast the first scenario is our base model it assumes that we will Levy the full amount allowed under pel which is 3.4% plus new property growth notice the projected decline in fun balance to 25% by the end of 5 years in the second scenario we will add a layer to the base model which assumes that we Levy for the full amount of the recapture Levy while we do not know the amount of this Levy right now we estimate it to be $2 million this would be a one-time increase to our Levy and would not increase our Levy basis under this scenario our fund balance percentage would increase about 1% higher than the base model alone in the third scenario we add a different base we add a different layer to the base model we assume that we Levy the full amount under pel and that additionally we Levy for $2 million of the look back Levy this year and $1.6 million next year if you recall Lauren explained a few minutes ago that we are allowed to increase our Levy by up to 3.6 million which was the full amount that we we Abad off of the 2022 Levy we've spread this recapture over 2 years to smooth out the increase to the taxpayers this Levy scenario is our recommendation for the 2024 Levy and predicts a fund balance of 30.7% at the end of year 2023 and our fourth and final scenario depicts the levy at the maximum allowable this year this assumes we would Levy at the pel limit recapture the full amount of the back Levy of $3.6 million all this year and includes the estimated Levy of $2 million for the recapture Levy this scenario obviously yields the highest fund ballot percentage after 5 years we are recommending a levy of $75. million a 4.5% increase over the prior year this represents the levy in the full amount allowed under pel plus new property growth of 3% and an additional $2 million recaptured from the look back Levy this would be a 4.2% increase to existing taxpayers on this slide we also break out the levy recommendation by fund and as you can see we continue to not Levy in the imrf or working cash funds due to sufficient reserves a second component of the levy recommendation is the recapture Levy and for the fourth year in a row we recommend and 100% abatement of this Levy the amount of this Levy will be released next month each year when preparing the levy the amount recommended is determined by ensuring that the taxes levied are adequate to continue supporting our instructional and operational programs that the levy amount is reviewed both for the current year and future years to ensure that we maintain a stable financial position and that we are able to continue to fulfill our facility Improvement commitments while remaining debt free these priorities may be accomplished at a levy amount that equals to an increase of approximately $10 per month to the average homeowner in our community however despite the levy recommendation the forecast model predicts that our fund balance policy will not be maintained in the long term therefore discussions are underway to identify and Implement budget efficiencies to slow the trend of declining Reserves over the past several years the district's finances have been anything but typical from the start of the pandemic the district began to recognize lower costs beginning with remote and hybrid learning paired with systemic labor shortages while the district returned to in-person learning and began hiring additional staff Esser funding was received to offset these expenditures the district saw expenses lower than planned in areas of fuel utilities Food Supplies salaries and benefits additionally we we received pandemic funding from relief from various sources the combination of these factors led us to a favorable budget position which allowed us to utilize budget surpluses to offset other areas of Revenue the district offered tax relief for multiple years and has waved or reduced student fees since the 2020 21 school year we've been pleased to be able to offer this relief to our taxpayers and families over the years but through the past last two years we have seen our position shift we have experienced record high inflation that is driving cost increases in supplies and services labor shortages have driven wages up to remain competitive in a tight Market areas including benefits and construction have had costs outpaced the already high inflation and as a paradigm shifted in goods and services it is also shifted for the needs of our students as students adjust to the post-pandemic world we continue to recognize The increased need to offer greater social and emotional learning supports in our schools we have seen an increase in our English learner population which has driven higher staffing needs in our schools there are also heightened requests for Safety and Security measures with all these factors our favorable budget position observed just a few years ago has shifted to budget supporting greater needs in our schools in order to support these needs the levy recommendation before you supports preservation of financial stability for the district while providing Revenue necessary to fund these new areas of expense to provide greater context to the needs I just referenced the costs on this slide are included in the district's long-term position that were used in assessing our lby recommendation this year after conclusion of the Esser funding the board has approved retention of 13 full-time FTE previously paid for with Esser funds this is an additional cost of over $1 million annually the Safety and Security of our buildings are our ongoing priority while our Safety and Security Personnel have been a tremendous asset to our schools their presence of an additional 20 FTE has a cost of approximately $1 million annually we have a growing need for licensed staff in our classrooms and estimate the need will continue for future years to accommodate our growing enrollment and E population our salary rates are increasing faster than expected years ago due to competitive markets and collective bargaining agreements utilities special education tuition liability and workman's compensation incl Insurance are currently growing faster than the rate of inflation all costs are included in the projection model that will be shared later in this presentation the district is committed to ongoing facility maintenance and improvements across all of our school campuses priorities are outlined in the board's strategic plan the district's 10-year plan and now ALS also include those items that are in the facility audit a comprehensive report on these items is included on tonight's a meeting agenda but the costs detailed here are included in the 5-year Financial projection model to provide funding for ongoing completion of these priorities in reverting Back to the information on the levy extension and collection rate that were shared at the beginning of the presentation this slide demonstrates how the extension and collection rate have varied from the prior year Levy approval when factoring in new property growth the final tax extension was less than the levy approved by the board by about a half millionar this new amount becomes the Baseline limitation for the 2024 Levy current collections of the 2023 Levy are running unfavorable compared to budget Cook County released information earlier this month about low property tax collections across the county of which District 211 has been also been impacted to date we are about $2.5 million left than budget following typical collection patterns which is already reduced from the final Levy extension to account for uh losses due loss collections we are closely monitoring this to understand if we will be if we will end the budget with unfavorable collections or if collections may be received at a later date or both as more information becomes available we will share uh updates with the board as a component of the loss collection of tax dollarss the district loses property tax income to delinquent payments and property tax refunds each year the chart on this slide represents the amount of property tax refunds issued against the district's current tax collections each year property tax appeal board decisions tax objection complaint Awards certificates of error and several other categories of refunds lead to that lost Revenue because the refunds are issued after tax bills are generated the total Levy amount is not redistributed among remaining taxpayers but rather remov from current property tax collections paid to the taxing bodies a portion of these refunds are eligible to be levied through the recapture Levy that has been fully abated by the board as detailed earlier in this presentation the board has awarded a great deal of tax relief over the past several years acting as responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars the board has a long-standing history of providing tax relief using different means ranging from Debt Service abatement to the property tax relief Grant to passing two consecutive consecutive levies less than the pel cap in addition the district has not levied for the recapture Levy since its Inception and has provided families with student fee relief the board has taken tremendous effort to provide this relief and it should not be forgotten that over the past three years the levy reductions approved provide year-over-year relief to taxpayers because the overall Baseline amount was reduced in just 3 years the cumulative total in the levy reductions is $13 million while total relief is detailed on the slide is $63 million with each abatement or Levy reduction over the past few years Administration has been transparent that levying less than pil does have long-term implications with reducing the overall uh debt or excuse me Levy Baseline based upon the current revenue and expenditure predictions our Levy recommendation includes a portion of the look back Levy be levied in over the next 2 years in order to provide funding necessary to support our current Staffing and programming the levy recommendation would continue to still offer year-over-year compounding tax relief from the 2021 abatement and annual relief from the recapture lovey abatement as well the district has worked diligently to provide balance between the commitment to provide a robust education educational experience for students for the funds that have been needed to support our operations and to provide relief in numerous ways the district commitment to providing a highquality education with responsible use of its resources is further demonstrated in this chart using the State Board of Education operating expense per pupil data for comparable Area High School Districts The District is among the lowest cost spent on a per pupil basis and while our cost and financial need is increasing we will continue to strive to maintain balance into the future by identifying areas of cost reduction and operational efficiency as well we have updated our projection with our Levy recommendation to analyze the impact on our financial position over the next 5 years preparing a multi-year projection requires making many assumptions most of which are subject to future board approval I wanted to specifically call out a few of these before we get into the numbers we assume that the board will approve the rec recommend Levy as presented tonight the projection assumes that instructional fees are reinstated to $170 starting with the 2026 school year we assume headcount will increase to support our student needs and enrollment growth and we assume CPI will be 3% for the 2025 Levy and 2.5% for all future years we will first see the impact of the recommended Levy in fiscal year 2026 this l will then become the foundation for growth for all future levies please focus on the budget surplus deficit line in the middle of the page as you can see next year we will start to see large budget deficits each the Year this will decline our fund balance down to and below the minimum fund balance required by policy by the year 2030 this is after levying at the tax cap each year adding in 3.6% for the look back Levy over 2 years and reinstating student fees to pre-pandemic levels this deterioration and fund balance should give you pause we need to work to align our revenues and expenditures increasing the levy alone is not sufficient to slow the trend of declining reserves we must also identify and Implement budget efficiencies as well currently the administration is reviewing reductions in the area of Capital Improvements technology replacement Cycles software and textbook replacement paper consumption utility usage chaperoning expense and overtime the projection model assumes CPI of 3% this year and 2.5 for the remaining years in the model 2.5% is the average CPI allowed under pel for the F past 5 years however as you can see there have been many years in recent history where CPI has been less than 2% and even years less than 1% changes in CPI can have a significant imp act on the projection model decreasing both the revenues and expenditures however revenues will decline first followed by expenses where not bound by contract we share this tonight as a reminder that CPI tends to be cyclical and it is possibly headed to levels below the forecasted amount this slide shows the past present and future fund balance levels as compared to our board policy minimum threshold the tan colored line represents the minimum Reserve levels we must maintain for the operating funds combined upon reaching this level board policy states that we must have a plan to maintain or grow our reserves the red line is the historical and projected operating fund balance level at June 30th 2024 our fund balance was 34% of next year's expenditures this amount is projected to decline below 33% required threshold before the end of 2023 this is of concern even with the full Levy the look back Levy and adding in student fees we are projecting that our costs are going to outpace our Revenue growth this is not just the result of capital spending our operating costs and our educational fund are outpacing inflation in any year that a taxing body requests a levy increase of 5% or more the truth and Taxation requirements apply this mandates that a taxing body determines the levy amount 20 days prior to adoption and publish the amount in a local newspaper a public hearing must be held to allow for comments from the community we have followed these requirements in the past even when this statute did not apply to us if the board sets a tentative Levy in the amount of our recommendation it will once again not apply however we recommend a hearing be held regardless at the December 12th Board of Education meeting 2024 Levy information is presented to the the board over a series of meetings introductory information was first presented at the September meeting tonight's agenda will provide the board with additional information on the levy including the 2024 Levy recommendation the board will then set the amount of the tentative Ley at the November meeting followed by a public hearing and Levy adoption in December the levy must be approved and filed with the clerk's office by the last Tuesday in December the levy recommendation set forth tonight accomplishes our strategic goals and puts it in the best possible position to create Financial stability into the future we recognize that adding the look back levy on top of the pel limit is a big ask for you and a big ask from the taxpayers we are also aware that we're asking for additional revenues before implementing expenditure reductions we believe we need both a tax increase and expenditure reductions in order to accomplish our financial goals due to the tax laws we only have the opportunity to ask for this look back Levy two times once is right now and once is next year expenditure evaluation and reduction will be ongoing be happy to answer any questions that you would have this evening thank you very much Miss caval would you like to start let's see um I want to sure I've got a few things on slide 10 I just want to make sure I didn't mishar something so I have a clarifying question um I want to make sure that the total Levy percentage increase over the prior Year is as stated on the slide 4.5 not 4.2 I heard of four or uh 4.2 would be the percentage increase to existing taxpayers and then we'd have 3.3% of new property growth okay thank you for clarifying that um let's see so I also want to ask if your financial projections include uh you know the staff that we added the Safety and Security personnel as well as the Esser staff that we decided to hire on even after the expiration of the funding yes so we're assuming that that staff those staff are included in the five-year projection yes okay and um does your projection include I know a couple meetings ago we talked about ComEd trying to reclaim some uh funds there was some sort of weird you know thing where they decided that uh you know we owed them money and more money than uh we were expecting has there been any movement on that I know that you had mentioned there was a possibility of like a lawsuit or something like that has there been any movement on this issue with ComEd at all uh I don't have an update on any sort of lawsuit um the clawback provision is uh what you're referring to and that was over a series of months in which uh a portion of that was budgeted to continue this year and then that coupled with the um new rates that we are um um observing this year as a result of the auction last year and just the the um Market uh rates that are out there those increased significantly so we're uh impacted by both of those utility cost increases that you were talking about okay um and then if you could speak more I mean I know all districts in the area district 15 had the same problem you know hit with the cppt could you talk a little bit more about that um do you have more detailed information on the gap between what we were hoping for and what we got um somewhat it's always a mystery in um I shouldn't say mystery but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information there's information that is on their website that will just share that there is a decrease in um the uh payments that corporations are paying um some of which they think is due to an influx in money into corpor operations during covid um and just um related to inflation um but we do you know I think we got as high as what $9 million and historically um you know we were about $3 million for a long period of time it would fluctuate maybe a couple hundred thousand but not Millions by any um means uh got up to 9 million and we knew that it was going to be coming back down um but it has been coming down at a much more rapid Pace than what we had anti participated so um I think you know in our projection um last year when we were looking at this our assumption that was that we were going to end I think at about a $6 million place and now we have it down to 4.5 million which is closer to where we anticipate being this year okay thank you for that uh those are my questions thank you for the presentation as always Mr josi thank you for the presentation it's informative could we go to slide 17 for a second this isn't a question this is kind of a a a sticking point where where you're saying student we uh fee waivers are are relief to the taxpayer the taxpayer subsid subsidi subsidized that it's actually a burden and a cost that the taxpayer took on when we decided not to charge the families this this fee so I I don't think it's genuine to say that that's a a financial relief to the taxpayer additionally when we don't Levy to the detail cap that's not necessarily relief that that's just trying to find a a a balance between need and what the state law says we can't exceed I I don't think it's fair to say that we should get what state law caps and if we don't then we're doing the taxpayer favor um that that's my comments on that and then we've raised since 2020 the property tax based by over $34 million the last couple years we've increased property taxes to fund the district by at least $10 million um this would result in another more than $10 million um and the projections two years ago we were looking at 2% less than what we've been levying and we would be maybe close to 40% I I don't see how we're ever going to get to 25% fund balance um if we moderate our our levies and and that's my opinion on this thank you thank you Mr mwan thank you for the presentation I don't have any questions this evening thank you Mr Rosenblum thank you thank you for your presentation [Music] um my concern is that our community is experiencing additional costs and inflation across the community and my concern is what this tax levy increase would do to members of our community um as a school board member we take an oath uh an oath of office when we start and part of that oath is that I shall respect taxpayer interests by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets I think continuing to just increase the levy year after year um even if it's maybe a little bit below pel is in my opinion not offering that respect to the taxpayers that I've sworn to to uphold um can you refresh us on Pro projected student enrollment over the next five years and that information should be able to be calculated based on two things one is feeder District enrollment so we should be able to say how much our feeder districts are increasing and then the the flow into our district or decreasing and the flow into to our district and secondly new housing do you have that information because part of your projections is based on student enrollment and the potential increase to student enrollment so I'm wondering what that looks like and where that information is coming from yes we can I will send out to the board again the most recent enrollment reports you get them annually and we do get them from sender schools thank you and I'm wondering if that information can also be shared with the public um yes it's on it is a annual public okay document and um so looking at slide 22 um correct me if I'm wrong but the projected fund balance for fy2 is at 51.2% is that correct I believe so yeah okay um just to point out my perspective is that's far away from from our minimum threshold um I'd like to know why no Levy scenario was presented to the board this evening Below pel in the base model I see the base model at pel and then every scenario being base model or base model plus and why we weren't presented with any Levy scenario below pel I think when you look at the base Levy at pel you can see that it ends at 25% so anything less than that would be lower than that and outside of the board's fund balance policy which is why we were not showing those scenarios I'd like to request that we get at least two Levy scenarios Below pel in a similar format to which we received at pel or at pel plus and what what would you like those to be right now it looks like so pel is at so the the levy requested is 4.2% correct the ba the base model is 3.4% plus new property growth that's the so maybe we can get one Madam Madam president is there a consensus for this additional effort by the staff I I just want to ensure that we don't have one board member um emphasizing resources of of Staff without consensus from the board right I'm in favor of Mr Rosen Bloom's suggestions but I just want to make sure that we have consensus okay thank you for bringing that up um board members do you wish to have two scenarios uh below the 3.4% plus the 3% um New Growth U Miss Baron um yeah yes please okay Mr U Bradley something in there too um um because you're taking into consideration the student fees being reinstated at 175 correct 177 170 in 2026 correct so does that reflected into the projection yes um if the board agrees can we see something where it's not at that 170 can we okay that I I think I'm gonna kind of stop and let's see if I can get some consensus here I think if we start picking on certain things that's going to be very difficult for our um finance department really to start taking things apart I think we need to take a look at this as a whole and then when we talk about student fees later on that's something we can decide if we want to keep it at the what did we have 7 or $75 or if we want to increase it so what I would ask is that we take a look at at the whole picture here looking looking at all of the different parts the fixed conditions the variable conditions and what some of our future expenses are going to be so is there consensus to ask the finance to come up with two more scenarios that would be below the 3 3.7 Madam president I my question would be uh why cuz if we're at a base model and we're already at 25.2% of the fun balance and lar Tech that's below our threshold why why would we request that's what Mr okay Mr Bloom is asking the the reason for my my ask is so that we could see how it how it would play out because right now we're only being shown the maximum uh pel and then plus over and above the maximum pel tax levy increases to our constituents and I just wanted to see what happens from a playout perspective I mean we're being shown one point of view and that's Max pel Plus I'd like to see if we didn't go with the max pel what that would look like would that bring us um the decrease in our fund balance it would drop sooner quite possibly the number that's not something it's it's going to get worse so is that something we want the finance department to spend time working on when I don't know if there's consensus here all right I I don't I don't see a need for that scenario uh like I said the fund balance is there and if we start if we're requesting anything lower in pil you'll be at under the 30% by 2027 and it just doesn't I don't I understand what you're saying but I don't I don't see the need unfortunately Mr Mr josi oh yeah I I think that it's it's kind of ridiculous because we've been looking at these projections for 10 Years and we're always going to be under 40% at year five and instead instead of the projected percentage that we get for CPI I mean we we were projecting like 3.8 we get 5.3 where does all that extra money go into the fund balance I'm absolutely in support of Mr Rosen Bloom's suggestion thank you in fact I would even put the recapture Levy as a consideration in there and get rid of the nonsense where we're sending you know attorneys over to the uh PAB and they maybe have a shot of recapturing something maybe not versus guaranteed money that's put in front of us by the state okay thank you Miss cavl I am still in favor of not making homeowners play pay uh for the refunds of Corporations and businesses so I disagree wholeheartedly with Mr dumbrowski as usual on this regard um I am not in favor of this because I think the numbers really speak for themselves and um I find it very bizarre this convers because I remember you know similar conversations in a very different financial position 5 years ago for example 6 years ago Etc um when we ran a scenario about a flat tax and most of the board at that time looked at that and saw it for what it was which was um a very bad idea according to what the Strategic plan has dictated what our community says the way our community wants us to manage our funds and the way the board has set policy based on um not paying a Debt Service Levy Etc and paying for Capital Improvements in the least expensive way possible which is through reserves and so I'm not interested in entertaining that argument again these numbers are bad enough I don't need to see worse ones you know my kids are still going to school here a lot of kids are still going to school here and I want those kids and successive Generations in the next five years during the next fin Financial rejections I want those parents those families and those kids to get and expect the same level of service and quality provision that students had six years ago and five years ago and I reject the premise or the implication that people on this board somehow don't care about taxpayers I think that's a disingenuous argument when what we're really having is a difference in philosophy about the way we fund schools district 15 is doing something very very different through a referendum I pay taxes in that District they're more expensive than ours have been for years and the taxpayers paid over $16 million in debt service Levy alone this year I'm not interested in doing that to our district I don't see it providing much benefit at all with PL you know tanking retention rates and all sorts of other issues that come along with funding your schools in that way Madam pres just I had to listen to those comments I get to talk to thank you just so the answer is an emphatic no these numbers to me speak for themselves we can have a Frank discussion about them on the merits at the next meeting just just emphasize Mr Rosen Bloom's point we have never seen a 5-year projection that would end a fund balance over 50% but yet here we are Mr Bradley uh no I'm not interested thank you Miss Baron um yeah I would like to see okay and Mr Rosen Bloom I take it you're a yes I am all I'm asking for is information I'm not asking to do anything with that information but I'd like to see it because we're not even being presented with Alternatives at this point and for some for someone to say worst case scenario we're going to be shutting things down and reducing education and the quality and the experiences that our students um are are able to take advantage of um I think is is looking at Doom and Gloom opposed to Alternative levies which we can then look at different ways of spending the money that we are getting from the taxpayers if I may my response is no because if you're looking at lowering it it's going to bring our fund balance down sooner I think if we take a look at um what the fixed conditions are what the variable conditions are we have our community wants you know as Miss caval had explained you know the quality of Education to continue we have the um English language Learners we need to have a more of a staff we have a higher population there our special needs there's a variety of expenses that we simply have no control over I think what's been presented to us there's not consensus to ask for um two lowercase scenarios so we will move forward and do you have any other questions no I do not okay thank you Mr Bradley yeah thank you guys for great presentation no questions but more so comments for me um I do believe that the education is number one but before education we need Safety and Security in our buildings and I think Capital improvement in our facilities um it's definitely number one I just heard of a school rof collapsing because of lack of maintenance and lack of funds in that district and I would hate to see anything like that happen while I'm a board member or just a citizen taxpaying citizen here so I think it's very important the work that we do in our uh community and with our schools and I just like to see that continue to go so thank you guys miss Baron any questions um can you on the presentation can yes can you first of all thank you so much for putting this presentation together and being here with us tonight I know Miss caval asked I just want to make sure I have the number correctly what is the increase from last year's Levy to this year's Levy was it 2.4% that we're asking for increase the total increase is a 4.5% increase and that represents a 4.2% increase to existing taxpayers and uh 310 of a percent of new property growth thank you so much uh um I also want to make sure that we keep our you know students safe and when they're in our building so I understand Capital Improvement I understand the need for um for the level of Education that we're providing our students now that is continued on in the long term I would like to see you know um you know you talked about decreasing like that tax cycle the paper consumption overtime you know just seeing where else we could cut without impacting so much of our students and their learning um I know that you guys have are doing that work right now but just seeing what other ways that we can um because it is a big increase especially in our economics tonight when families are struggling even to buy groceries to keep a roof over their head and increasing their taxes is a really hard decision um that we have to make here on the board if that's what the board decides to do so um again just what I would like to see is more Cuts where it's not impacting our students and seeing where else we can make those cuts so thank you so much okay thank you I think it was you know it was a good in presentation it was very informative and this is very good discussion by by the board members I'd also like to really point out that we have not had outstanding debt for a number of years and I think that that's something to be said for our district um because some of our surrounding districts have had to go to referendums and currently have um debt in order to maintain their facilities um I think we provide our students with a number of opportunities we saw the results of those opportunities with our young people here today um I think we need to continue that but we also need to look at cost-saving measures some of the things that that you pointed out um as Miss Baron had said I think we need to continue with those and hopefully those will will come back to us if our students need financial assistance we are helping them with that if they're on free and reduced we're making certain that they're getting that and any fees that need to be waved for them if a family is in need they certainly can come forward for that so I I thank you very much for the presentation and I suspect we'll have more discussion on this next next month so thank you very much thank you all right that takes us to our consent agenda um I have been asked to remove letter H the resolution authorizing intervention and proceeding before the state property tax appeal board to that be removed from our consent agenda is there anything else that a board member would like remove okay so we will have two motions the first motion is that the consent agenda with the removal of letter H resolutions authorizing intervention in proceedings before the state state property tax appeal board um that removal and the remaining be approved as presented may I have a motion please so moved second okay any discussion okay roll call please miss Baron I Mr Bradley I miss caval I Mr dumbrowski I Mr Macwan I Mr Rosen Bloom I Mrs clim ktz hi the motion carries the next recommended action is that the Board of Education approve the resolutions authorizing intervention in proceedings before the state property tax appeal board which seek assessed valuation reductions in excess of $100,000 for property tax year 2023 docket number 2023-24 n69 2023-2024 2023 d2752 2023 d2751 2023 D 31209 2023 D3 30728 2023-2024 and 2023 D 30672 and further authorize franic as the board of education's legal representative to file requests to intervene in appeal proceedings forms with the property tax appeal board on the properties for which the district receives notification of appeal may I have a motion please so moved second any discussion roll call please miss Baron hi Mr Bradley hi Miss caval hi Mr D demoski no Mr Macwan I Mr Rosenblum I Mrs clim quits I the motion carries all right then that takes us to uh special reports and communication you have the Freedom of Information Act request that's an information item are there any questions okay the next item is the 2024 2025 free and reduced priced meal eligibility that's information Dr small this reports indicates the percentage of free and reduced meal eligibility at approximately 40% of our students our range within our seven campuses goes from 22% at our lowest School up to 80% at our North Campus uh Academy the board's policy for student fees allows for fees to be waved for students who are eligible for these meal benefits through the support of our staff Community Resources the district 21 Foundation realators against homelessness and other donations we are also able to support these families whenever possible to keep students engaged in all opportunities our schools have to offer okay any any questions there all right if not that will take us to unfinished Madam president I need a short recess if that's all right can I have five minutes please okay thank you we're going to take a recess all right our next item of business then is the uh superintendent search and the recommended action is we had um there was a motion that was made a few months ago when we started our superintendent search that our goal was to be able to announce a candidate by October 17th we've not been able to we've had some wonderful candidates that we've been interviewing and we're still in U our superintendent search so at this time since we had a motion I need to make we need to have another motion um that would allow us an extension on our superintendent search so the recommend action is that the Board of Education extend the superintendent search Beyond October 17th 2024 may I have a motion please so moved second okay any discussion rather than just ask yes I'm sorry rather than just ask for an extension Beyond October 17th would it be beneficial to say um extend it to December 12th which is the December board meeting I I don't know if we need to put an end date on here I would hope that by that time we have um I hope so too my thought is if we put the December board meeting as an end date that that our goal could be have to have it done all right do you want to amend well we do have a goal to end it as to get a to hire a superintendent as soon as possible so is there an amendment to this motion I'd like to request is there a second to to Mr Rosen Bloom's Amendment second okay then we'll vote on that um so you're adding December December December or November 12th December 12th okay the amendment then is that the Board of Education uh extend the superintendent search Beyond October 17 2024 to December 12th uh personally I feel like that's too far out I'd rather go shoot for November next month's board meeting uh early on we had the conversation my concern was the the transitional period from hiring a new superintendent to that small window from being hired to transitioning into the role and i' like to keep that as big as possible okay if I may can we all right I have an amendment and I have a second on it so we either needed to pass or to fail well first we can have discussion and that's what Mr M is providing I think well if Mr Rosenbloom change to November I got it back you want it November because you want it sooner absolutely okay any other discussion on the amendment I say I I would suggest we fail the amendment and table the agenda item to the next meeting well okay any other discussion on the amendment my my concern is if we table the if we table the item all together if we just leave it so is Mr dumbrowski suggesting that we leave it as presented to extend beyond today because that's all that this board has approved up to this point well I I don't believe we're continuing our search I think our ultimate goal is to get our superintendent hired and be able to start a transition plan we are all in agreement in regards to that basically what I'm asking here is because there was a motion that was made a few months ago to use this as our deadline we are not prepared to um announce a superintendent candidate today I'm asking that we make a motion that allows us to extend beyond October 17th and hopefully I think the consensus here is that that we get our superintendent hired as soon as possible so I'm really would like to just leave it as as it was stated originally and do it as soon as possible not set a December date but as soon as possible I agree I withdraw my Amendment all right but there was a second in regards to it and so I guess we have to vote and vote it down so we need to vote it we need to vote the amendment down okay all right uh may I have a roll call on the amendment Miss Baron to clarify we are voting on whether the amendment is going through the amendment as Mr Rosen Blum had requested that the Board of Education extend the superintendent search Beyond October 17 2024 to December 12th 2024 no okay Mr mcowan no Mr Dum brosi nay Mr Rosen Bloom no Mr Bradley no Miss caval Mrs clitz no the motion fails so we go back to the recommended action that the Board of Education extend the superintendent search Beyond October 17 2024 do you need another motion no because that was the original motion so now we're back to this motion because the amendment failed so is it back to open discussion uh discussion my only purpose for setting a date was to set a date and not just leave it open-ended my my preference would be to say not Beyond October 24th but next week isn't going to happen either at this point so um so I'm fine with leaving it open-ended if the board is focused on getting a a to have the search Ended as soon as possible okay any other discussion may I have a roll call please Mr Rosenblum I miss Baron I Mr Bradley I Mr Dum brosi stain Mr Macwan I Mrs clitz I the motion carries all right thank you um that takes us to the 2024 tax levy information um any other discussion or information excuse me okay if not then that will take us to uh there's several board policies uh that are up for the second reading for deletion the first is that the first recommended action is that board policy gdbc management Personnel fringe benefits be deleted as a board policy further that the superintendent be directed to remove the policy from active status on board decks may I have a motion please so moved second okay any discussion roll call please Mr Bradley I Mr d brosi i Mr McOwen hi I Mr Rosenblum I miss Baron I Mrs clim quitz I the motion carries next recommended action is that board policy file gdbd management Personnel leaves an absences be deleted as a board policy further that the superintendent be directed to remove the policy from active status on board decks may I have a motion please so moved I need a second second um any discussion roll call please Mr Rosen Blum hi Miss Baron hi Mr Bradley I Mr mcowan I Mr Dum brosi I Mrs clim quitz I the motion carries next recommended action is that board policy file G dbe management Personnel vacations and holidays be deleted as a board policy further that the superintendent be directed to remove the policy from active status on board Ducks may I have a motion please so moved second any discussion roll call please Mr McOwen I Mr Rosen Blom hi Mr d brosi i Mr Bradley I miss Baron I Mrs clitz I the motion carries next recommended action is that board policy file gdd management Personnel hiring assignment and transfer be deleted as a board policy further that the superintendent be directed to remove the policy from the active status on board Dex may I have a motion please so moved second okay any discussion roll call please Mr dski I Mr Bradley I Mr Rosenblum I Mr Macwan I miss Baron I Mrs climit I the motion carries next recommended action is that board policy file G DLB management Personnel Service club membership be deleted as a board policy further that the superintendent be directed to remove the policy from active status on board dos may I have a motion please so moved second any discussion roll call please miss Baron I Mr McOwen I Mr Bradley I Mr Rosen Bloom I Mr d brosi i Mrs clim quitz I the motion carries um and the next recommended action is that board policy file gdpc retirement of management Personnel be deleted as a board policy further that the superintendent be directed to remove the policy from active status on board decks may I have a motion please so moved second any discussion roll call please Mr Macwan I miss Baron I Mr Rosenblum I Mr Bradley I Mr d brosi i Mrs clim Kitz hi the the motion carries that takes us to new business and the 10-year facilities and capital Improvement Plan update Dr small this report summarizes the findings from the 10-year Master facility plan and capital improvement work completed to date including Life Safety projects the report also includes the capital Improvement project timeline scheduled over the next several years the facility assessment completed last year is designed to allow the district to evaluate the condition of its facilities and plan for future maintenance the 10-year plan plan is intended to be a planning tool and is expected to be an evolving document that is adjusted based on continuous monitoring of our facility conditions identification of evolving needs and adjustments based on budget the scope of each identified item priority will be further developed on a project by- project basis and budgets are updated accordingly any questions okay if not then we'll move on to the next item which is the Illinois Association of school boards resolutions 2024 Mr Rosen Bloom thank you so um each board member so this coming November at the triple I conference um I will be attending as the board delegate representative for the delegate assembly um as I have for seven of the last eight years and I'm very excited and honored to be doing that once again um during the delegate assembly as uh as this board knows uh there are a series of resolutions that are put forth to to ask iasb to advocate for um at the state level and this year is no different than in previous years um each board member was given at their at their seat a local Schoolboard delegate Direction sheet that asks you to um to decide whether or not you're in support of the resolution as it's presented you are also um emailed the resolution committee uh report and document that outlines more specific detail on each and every resolution that is being presented at the delegate assembly in November um what I would like to ask as I have done in Pre years is that between now and um up until the next board meeting if you'd like to bring it with you or you can email me your recommendations based on these resolutions I will then accumulate those from this board and vote on behalf of this board in whatever the majority decision is I represent the entire board not just myself and I'm very very pleased and honored to do that at this particular delegate assembly so if you could take a look at those let me know your thoughts between now and our next board meeting or or hand it to me at our next board meeting I will take that and I will vote at the delegate assembly in support of The Wishes of this board thank you very much thank you Mr Rosen Bloom thank you for being our representative on the resolutions committee truly appreciated right then that takes us to um next recommended action is that the Board of Education approves part participation in foreign exchange trips as proposed for the summer of 2025 District 211 reserves the right to cancel any travel that the district deems unsafe or to not be in the best interest of District 211 may I have a motion please so moved I need a second second any discussion Dr tonight's recommended action is for the approval of the overseas travels for our students during the summer of 2025 the board write up details the recommendation for parents to consider the value of getting travel insurance as the board reserves the right to cancel trips should the state department Andor other federal agencies declare areas to be unsafe or discouraged travel to those areas okay if there's no questions then we'll move on to um I just have a I just have a comment and that is um this is a wonderful wonderful opportunity for our students to experience foreign lands uh Through The Eyes of people who live there um and take advantage of this as a learning opportunity my daughter had the had the the chance to do it with shamberg high school to go to Costa Rica and it was truly a lifechanging experience for her not only because she was immersed in a Spanish-speaking country but it helped her decide to minor in Spanish in college and uh she gained great fluency in college she experienced student teaching in Ecuador um and has now a a great fond love of things related to Spanish speaking individuals and she helps others in the education world and it all really started with her experience in this program so I strongly encourage anyone who's listening to this to if your child is uh is possible to take advantage of this to please uh take it seriously and and consider it okay thank you any other comments uh just maybe a quick question I noticed that we have a trip scheduled to China for Conan and shamberg do we rotate that and offer it to other schools or is that tied to specific programs it's based on the interest okay they don't rotate but in the past they have taken students from other schools also okay thank you okay any other questions then roll call please Mr Bradley I Mr dumbrowski I Mr Rosenbloom I miss Baron I Mr Macwan I Mrs clitz I the motion carries the next recommended action is that the Board of Education approve the school calendar for the 2026 2027 school year and summer school 2027 may I have a motion please so moved second okay any discussion Dr small each year the district adopts a school calendar by providing the school calendars years in advance the district can provide notice to students parents and staff members as they plan for personal and professional obligations to coincide with school events consistent with the school code the proposed 2627 school calendar provides a 184 school year composed of 180 instructional days and four teacher Institute days the 180 instructional days have an extra four days of school than is required by law these four extra days allows for up to four emergency weather days to be taken without the need for online learning or additional days to be added to the end of our year calendar therefore District 211 will still continue to have the quote traditional snow day as needed should weather be uh indicate that we cannot have school during that particular time okay any questions all right roll call please Mr Rose blo hi Mr dski I Mr Macwan hi Miss Baron hi Mr Bradley I Mrs clitz I the motion carries um the next item is potential topics for future discussion okay then that will take us to committee reports I have um nsso can I can I bring up an item for future discussion I know I didn't present it in advance but it came up because of discussion tonight or the agenda tonight um other other school districts in our area um have done this successfully um tonight we had six policy deletion motions um I'd like to suggest that we consider when there's similar policy change motions either additions revisions or deletions that they be grouped together so for instance instead of having six deletion requests that it says something like the motion is to you know for policy blah blah blah and policy blah blah blah and policy blah blah blah that they all be deleted and the and then the rest is the same because it it's just repeating the same thing six times and and I agree with you and I vacillated with it whether to to do that or not and I decided just in case somebody has something of being able to do it separately but if there's consensus with the board if we have something that's a deletion and you're supportive of that and we they can group them together then we'll do so or or leave it as kind of like we do with consent agenda items that if any board member would like a particular policy change to be removed from the motion then we can make it a separate motion if somebody wanted to vote differently right is my thought right they each need to be listed separately um because we've got our first reading and and the second reading and whoever serves as the president or the chair could group them together okay I think we could we can definitely do that that's allowed for us okay then I'll I apologize if if that you know took too long today however that was the decision I felt no issue and I'm glad that it's a a a I'm glad that it's an option for the board president okay as long as people are comfortable with that thank you sorry about that all right no no um that takes us to nsso all right um I was not able to be at the last meeting um I did attend a safety committee meeting today where they had representatives from each of the schools they gave us an update on some security grants that they have um they have cameras put into the school's um minor Timber Ridge and Kirk school so those are functioning and helpful with the security they are also working on the public address system uh it's been updated at Timber Ridge the other schools hopefully that will be over the next uh year they've also been working on the building alarm systems which would be the security at at the doors and having uh you know some of those slide cards um so they're working on that there will be a safety Fair which will be held at School this year and that's where the students are able to meet with the police department um the fire department and they have some different tables set up and information about uh you know school safety and it's really great for the kids because they get to interact with with the police and with the fire department and those individuals in those positions get to see our students our special needs students so which is truly important um nsseo is working on its strategic plan at your table you have a uh timeline in Milestones so take a look at that if you have questions I'll be happy to answer them and I do have a prepared statement that Dr schnor has asked all of the board members to read to their respective boards um so this reads um I would like to provide the board members uh a quick up update on where nsseo is with the strategic planning process you have been provided the timeline of the process and later this month nsseo will be provided with the environmental scan by their Consultants Hazard young and Atia as a reminder the environmental scan is the report that is developed from all of the data that has been gathered from interviews focus groups online surveys and other internal data sources and provides the perspective of the state of nsseo which will be served as a strategic excuse me serve as a starting place for the writing of the plan in December each of the eight member districts will be represented and have a hand in authorizing authoring the plan along with various administrators and staff from nsso the environmental scan presentation will occur at the nsso governing board meeting on November 6th at 7 p.m. board members can view the present a through a link that will be provided and then the following the meeting um a link could be provided to the recorded meeting member districts will be providing three representatives to the meetings and those are selected by our superintendent working with superintendents from all of the districts uh to write the nsso Strategic plan and those meetings will occur on December 3rd and December 10th from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. okay all right so let me know if you have any questions and when we get more information I will certainly share that with everyone uh that will then take us to community and Family Service reports I have no report at this time okay thank you uh District 211 Foundation report I was not able to attend Dr small you saw in an earlier agenda item that the foundation has uh put a donation of $25,000 forward for the district to run uh portions of our incubator program so we are thankful for that and we will see uh continue to see more of those donations come through through the board agenda over the next few months okay thank you facilities and Building Safety report Mr Bradley I had the opportunity to visit um Palatine and Hoffman so far so more to come okay thank you and thank you for doing that because that's that's important and that gives us the connection as to what's going on and and how our facilities look thank you for doing that all right the next item is the Illinois Association of school boards report thank you so uh couple things one is obviously resolutions not going to beat that up again um the iasb website has webinars available to anyone in the public who is interested in running for the school board so there are free webinars um and other information to help those who might be interested in becoming candidates to walk through different steps and processes and forms and calendar dates and all kinds of things that are on there the website is I asb.com so check it out also um Mrs clim quitz Dr small and I attended the north cook division dinner meeting about two weeks ago at Maple School in Northbrook where we had a panel of of legislators um at the state level who presented to us and and it was interesting because it was also kind of a q& a uh there were questions that were presented in advance and they responded to things anywhere from funding to um to curriculum um and teacher shortages and it was a variety of information and there were a couple of the legislators that were there um representing our specific community that hit our district so I thought it was very informative and as always when you go to ISB functions it's a great opportunity to network and learn about what other districts are doing um and know that sometimes we're not alone so I found it very informational or we're ahead or we're ahead or we're ahead so no thank you for sharing that all right that will take us to our upcoming events and uh calendar November 5th the buildings are closed due to election day and then November 14th is our next board meeting all right the next recommended action is that the board enter closed session to discuss minutes of meetings lawfully closed under the open meetings act appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees and matters pertaining to an individual student may I have a motion please so moved second okay any discussion roll call please miss Baron I Mr Bradley hi Mr dski hi Mr Macwan hi Mr Rosen Bloom I Mrs Clint ktz I the motion carries all right the recommended action is that the board return to open session may I have a motion please so moved second okay any discussion roll call please miss Baron I Mr Bradley I Mr dumasi hi Mr mwan hi Mr Rosen BL I Mrs Clen quitz hi next recommended action is that the Board of Education accepts the retirement request of Kenneth Novak effective October 2024 according to the master contract of the d211 operations maintenance group may I have a motion please so moved any discussion roll call please Mr mwan I miss Baron I Mr Bradley I Mr dumbrowski I Mr Rosen blo I Mrs clim quitz I the motion carries next recommended action is that employee Robert schaer be terminated from employment further that the board secretary notify set employee in writing of this action by the Board of Education may I have a motion please so moved second any discussion roll call please Mr dumbrowski I Mr Bradley I Mr Rosenblum I Mr mcgallen hi Miss Baron I Mrs clim quitz I the motion carries and with no other business to come before the board the board president declares this meeting of the Board of Education adjourned thank you