[0:01] Okay, then I'm going to call this meeting to order on December 14, 2021. It is 7.14 p.m.,

[0:10] La Nye, if you could call the roll. Sure.

[0:15] Sparlock.

[0:17] Chair.

[0:18] Ken Hall.

[0:20] Chair.

[0:21] Ross Driven.

[0:25] Chair.

[0:26] Harry Johnson.

[0:32] More.

[0:33] Chair.

[0:34] Yeah, Connie. Yeah, Kim here. Motion to open session is at 715. Okay. So we're going

[0:49] to start with the public hearing and I think Patrick is going to present on that on the

[0:56] tax levy.

[1:06] Before you start that, we need some motions to go into the public here. Oh, I'm

[1:10] I want to read the motion,

[1:16] can someone read the motion?

[1:18] It's in the board packet.

[1:20] Moves at the board of the application

[1:21] of Oak Park Elementary School District 97, move.

[1:24] Oh, sorry.

[1:26] Moves into open session with the public hearing

[1:27] on the district's 2021 tax lobby.

[1:33] I get a second.

[1:34] All

[1:37] right, and we need to do a roll call.

[1:41] Sparlock, Kim, yes.

[1:45] Yes.

[1:46] Her answer.

[1:49] Yes.

[1:51] Ten hall.

[1:53] Yes.

[1:54] Ross driven.

[2:00] Carney.

[2:01] Yes.

[2:02] More

[2:07] motion passed.

[2:11] OK.

[2:16] Good evening.

[2:17] My name is Patrick King and the senior director of finance.

[2:21] Schoolist for 97 tonight.

[2:23] I'll be be presenting the 2021 final tax.

[2:27] I just want to note this will be, this is the same lobby that was presented in November

[2:32] 16th to the Board with no changes.

[2:36] Next slide, please.

[2:40] So, some factors to consider making the levy decision, impact of the decision on the long-term

[2:45] financial condition of the districts, impact of the decision on the long-term quality of

[2:51] educational services provided in the districts, impact of the decision on the condition of

[2:56] districts facilities as reserves will be used to address capital needs and

[3:00] wants going forward. And also the recognition of an ongoing concern that the

[3:06] state of Illinois's fiscal crisis will potentially place an additional

[3:09] strain on the district's financial condition. Next slide please.

[3:17] So this gives

[3:18] the historical fund balances for school district 97. The district has a fund

[3:22] balance policy with targeted fund balances equaling three to six months worth

[3:26] the reserves. The bottom red horizontal line represents three months, the top black horizontal

[3:33] line represents six months, and the blue bar represents our operating funds so as you can see

[3:40] around a very stable position with about 4.8 months worth of reserves at the end of fiscal 2021.

[3:48] The green bar represents unspent referendum bond proceeds, which are going to completely go away

[3:55] In fiscal 22, as we pay the final bills from the last summer's capital projects.

[4:01] Next slide, please.

[4:07] The 2021 tax liability will be capped by a CPI increase to 1.4 percent per state law.

[4:14] This graph gives the historical tax cap history of CPI.

[4:20] In the past few years, it's rained from about 2 to 2.5 percent.

[4:24] So the 1.4 percent increase is a slight decrease in the previous few years.

[4:28] Next slide please.

[4:34] This is the breakdown of the levy requests. The total levy will be

[4:39] requests is 84.6 million, which represents the 1.4% increase. Most of that is allocated

[4:47] our education fund with the other significant allocations going to the building fund for

[4:54] our repairs and maintenance and capital projects, our facilities, the special education fund, and

[5:00] the transportation fund. Next slide, please.

[5:07] We just made impact to the tax payer. This assumes a $400,000 market value home.

[5:14] The tax extension is previously stated for the non-bought and interest funds will increase

[5:18] 1.4% versus the prior year. The tax extension for the bond fund, which is automatically extended

[5:26] by the county, will be flat versus the prior year.

[5:30] So, this represents an annual increase of approximately $68 for the portion of the tax

[5:35] bill due to the old part, school is $997.

[5:38] Next slide, please.

[5:42] So, there's a new issue for future consideration, which we want to bring to the board's attention.

[5:48] There's no action required tonight, but we learned most of the pertinent information on this

[5:54] since the tentative tax lia hearing in November 16th, so we just wanted to get this in front

[5:59] of what we bring more information in the future that I'll just go through the main highlights here.

[6:06] Illinois General Assembly passed a new law which allows taxing bodies to recapture loss tax

[6:12] revenues paid for property tax appeals over the prior 12 months. The method to recapture loss

[6:19] revenues is through an additional tax lily above and beyond the tax lily approved by the board tonight.

[6:26] The total loss revenues from tax appeals for district 97 are approximately 1.1 million per the new law without any action taken by the board the county will automatically extend these taxes to the taxpayers of the districts.

[6:40] If the board desires not to extend this additional levy and must pass a resolution and file a resolution with the county prior to April 1st 2022.

[6:50] to. So just want to know, again, we have some time. It will be more information coming

[6:56] before the board, but since a lot of this came to light, you know, a few weeks ago,

[7:02] as far as the amounts and the extent of it, we just want to get this in front of the board

[7:07] now as well.

[7:11] Next slide, please.

[7:15] And that's the end of our presentation. We'll be happy to

[7:18] I'll take any questions or comments.

[7:21] I'd like to elaborate on the last point

[7:24] that Patrick just talked about,

[7:26] because I think the board should just to highlight it.

[7:29] We're gonna talk about it with FORC.

[7:32] So essentially, just kind of to put this in practical,

[7:37] I, this legislation basically says

[7:39] all the people that appealed and won,

[7:42] they're just gonna use legislation

[7:44] and reverse those appeals.

[7:46] and so what will happen is our levy will go through and it will be our intent per the prior slides to take a certain amount, but if we also don't address this, it's going to be one of those situations where the board just kind of takes an extra million will be how it's kind of

[8:04] characterized because we will be participating in the legislature undoing the appeals.

[8:11] So, one of the options would be to abate a million dollars, which would be not a long-term

[8:17] decision that has cumulative effects over the years.

[8:20] It would just be saying residents of Oak Park appealed.

[8:24] They were granted their appeal, the legislature and Springfield is reversing that, but we are

[8:30] going to honor that appeal because those residents took the time to do that.

[8:35] They followed the process, they were successful.

[8:38] And that is something that we don't agree that the legislature should be reversing.

[8:44] The question would then happen though is, what if the legislature reverses themselves?

[8:50] Because this is a law that's being, I don't know, it's not being received very well.

[8:57] And then they come back to us and say, well, we reverse ourselves and now give us another million.

[9:01] And we end up double abating.

[9:04] And so Rob brought this up, we sent it to Fork and tried to get some email dialogue

[9:11] going and to see if we could get their thoughts before tonight because I think we sent it

[9:16] to Fork on Friday.

[9:18] And I think there's just so many questions that we are bringing it forward now, but we're

[9:23] going to talk about it with Fork and explore some of the questions.

[9:26] But if you have questions leading up to our fork meeting, you should send them in to our

[9:31] If you have questions about this in particular, I think as soon as Rob shared it with me,

[9:37] my thought was that this is one of those situations where we shouldn't take advantage of a law

[9:46] that seems to be counter to supporting the appeals process, which is what people's relief

[9:52] is.

[9:53] But at the same time, we want to make sure that we don't do something that has a long-term

[9:57] negative impact on the finances.

[9:59] So that's what this slide's about.

[10:10] Do we have a sense of.

[10:13] Holly to your point if like when if they would overturn.

[10:19] That act like when we would know about like I guess I'm just trying to figure out the time frame on this.

[10:26] Rob, we push that we put that question out there.

[10:29] I don't know if you've learned anymore since we talked or.

[10:34] that the government wasn't going to sign this. He did sign it. If it was reversed in the General Assembly, it would be way after the April 1st date.

[10:43] So if it is the intention of the district not to extend that this levy, then we would recommend that the district probably at its January meeting, but it could go as late as its March meeting, adopt a resolution to abate all or a portion of that $1,080,000 levy.

[11:02] And again, you know, this is that related to what you're going to be approving tonight, which is the 1.4% increase.

[11:09] But this is something that is what was important from the administration's perspective and from Holly's perspective to get get this in front of you so you could start processing it a little bit.

[11:21] We are going to be meeting with fork and we'll be talking more in depth about it at a later board meeting.

[11:30] So Rob, I have a question, if they have sort of changed the appeals process, did they

[11:37] put a different appeals process in place of this?

[11:41] Is there a new set of process that we are unaware of?

[11:45] So, they didn't change the appeal process.

[11:47] In fact, this will probably make it easier to win appeals.

[11:51] But basically, historically, so the district, the county withheld $1,080,000 of taxes from

[12:01] you over the past 12 months to pay off successful appeals, and certificates of errors, errors that

[12:09] were made by the county as well. And historically, the district ate that loss. You just didn't get

[12:17] the money. All this law does is it is it is it reallocates that one instead of the district

[12:23] losing the one million eighty thousand dollars it automatically reallocates that one

[12:29] million eighty thousand dollars to your entire tax base. So it's it's going to add an additional

[12:35] in this instance about another one percent of tax increase to the taxpayers because the laws

[12:43] set up so that the taxpayers have to make up for any tax appeals that were paid out by the

[12:50] district to make the district whole but by adding a tax burden to the taxpayers. And interestingly

[12:58] and surprisingly, the law was written so that this tax increase will automatically happen unless the

[13:06] board abates it. So if the board does nothing, there will be an additional million $80,000 added

[13:12] to the 1.4% that I anticipate the district will approve tonight.

[13:21] Thanks Rob. Welcome.

[13:29] Any other questions for Rob or Patrick?

[13:37] All right, well, I guess we'll kind of keep track of that issue and see if we get more information as that happens.

[13:48] Okay, then I need someone to make a motion to close this portion of the meeting.

[13:53] If I make, sorry, could you just ask if any if they're I'm sorry, like, I got

[14:03] a test. Sorry. Yeah, were there any public comments about the hearing?

[14:13] I didn't see any

[14:14] were there any. We didn't receive any public comments ahead of this meeting today.

[14:20] Okay. So then can I get someone to make a motion to close this section of

[14:26] that are to close the public hearing.

[14:29] I move that the Board of Education

[14:30] of Oak Park Elementary School,

[14:32] district 97 closed the public hearing

[14:34] on the district's 2021 tax levied.

[14:40] So I can get a second

[14:42] and we'll do a quick roll call,

[14:45] rostered in.

[14:47] Yeah, heard Johnson.

[14:50] Yes, Ken Hall?

[14:53] Yes.

[14:54] Spurlock?

[14:55] Yes.

[14:55] Kim.

[14:57] More.

[15:03] Okay,

[15:07] so we do not have any general public comments, so we'll move to the consent agenda of

[15:14] someone who could read the motion.

[15:17] Move at the Board of Education about Park Elementary

[15:19] School District 97, approve the consent agenda as presented.

[15:27] second. Thank you. Quick roll call. Ken Hall. Yes. Spare lock.

[15:40] Kim. Yes. More. Yes.

[15:44] Yes.

[15:45] Ross driven.

[15:48] Yes.

[15:50] Her answer.

[15:51] Yes.

[15:53] Karnie.

[15:54] Yes.

[15:55] Motion.

[15:58] Okay.

[15:59] Then we are on item 5.2.1.

[16:04] Someone could make the motion regarding the student suspension.

[16:08] I move that based upon and after the board's consideration of the hearing officers report and

[16:13] and summary of evidence and testimony presented

[16:16] at the suspension review hearing held on October 1st, 2021.

[16:21] The Board of Education finds that student number 202-12610

[16:25] has committed an act of gross misconduct

[16:27] as charged by the district administration

[16:30] in that student number 202-126-10

[16:34] engaged in a violation of word policy 7, colon 190.

[16:38] Student discipline and behavioral expectations

[16:41] set forth in the district's effective student behavior handbook.

[16:44] Based upon such gross misconduct, the students continuing presence in school

[16:48] posed a threat to school safety and are disrupted by learning opportunities of others

[16:51] and move the Board of Education uphold the suspension

[16:54] of student number 20212610 from Oak Park Elementary School District 97.

[17:00] The duration of student number 20212610 suspension is appropriate based upon the evidence presented

[17:07] I have a suspension suspension.

[17:12] Thank you.

[17:15] Perfect.

[17:16] Roll call.

[17:17] More.

[17:23] Yes.

[17:24] Kin Hall.

[17:26] Yes.

[17:27] Ross Draven.

[17:29] Yeah.

[17:30] Her Johnson.

[17:32] Yes.

[17:33] Karnie.

[17:34] Yes.

[17:35] Kim.

[17:36] Yes.

[17:38] Motion passed.

[17:41] Okay.

[17:42] Okay, it's someone could read the motion for the 5.2.2, the draft of 5.23 school calendar.

[17:49] Take the board of education on part elementary school, this is the most approved and then get

[17:56] a 5.23 draft calendar after you're open.

[18:06] We're all streaming?

[18:08] Yes.

[18:09] Her answer?

[18:13] Yes.

[18:15] Ken Hall?

[18:16] Yes.

[18:17] Spurlock?

[18:18] Yes.

[18:20] Kim?

[18:21] Yes.

[18:21] More?

[18:22] four. Yes, Karnie. Yes. Motion passed.

[18:30] Item 5.2.3, the tax levy.

[18:40] The Board of Education

[18:41] of the Clark District 97 approved the tax certificate of tax levy and associated resolutions

[18:45] providing for adoption the 2020 one tax levy.

[18:51] Second.

[18:54] Okay. Ken Hall,

[18:58] raw student. Yes.

[19:01] Heather Johnson.

[19:06] Yes, Sparlock,

[19:10] Moore,

[19:14] Karnie. Yes. Kim. Yes, motion passed. Okay, it

[19:23] brings us to the administrative items. Summerschool programs update and

[19:27] recommendations. I think this is Ebony. Yes. Thanks, Michael. So we know that you had an

[19:34] opportunity to read our reports.

[19:37] So we'll keep this short in the sweet.

[19:39] So just so you know, we have Donna Middleton,

[19:41] Tracy Ham, Emily Crayhan, Dr. Lawrence,

[19:45] and our two middle school principals,

[19:47] April Computer and Jeremy Christian,

[19:48] who are here to answer any questions

[19:50] once we've finished kind of reviewing

[19:52] the highlights of our reports.

[19:53] So next slide, we're proposing 2022 programming

[19:59] that differs slightly from our 2021 summer program.

[20:02] So, um, in 2021, we found it necessary to have our virtual step-up program, which is a two-week,

[20:08] both morning and afternoon session program, um, that was largely in place due to, um, the pandemic.

[20:15] So, in 2022, we find ourselves in a different position. So, we eliminated that program,

[20:22] and have revamped our middle school math enrichment program, which actually incents beyond the summer.

[20:28] So, um, we're going to just spend a little bit of time on that, because all of our other

[20:31] programing remains largely unchanged. You'll see that our summer programming

[20:36] budget for last year was $166,997, and that excluded summer boost in ESY, which

[20:44] recovered through grant funding, and our proposed budget request for this year is

[20:49] $197,295, which also still excludes summer boost ESY and also our EEL summer

[20:58] boost program, which is now covered through grant funding. And we'll talk about

[21:01] with that increase looks like and why those numbers are the way they look when we talk about our

[21:05] middle school math and return program which is next. So I'll hand it over to Dr. Lawrence.

[21:10] Next slide please. Thank you Dr. Lawton. So last year our middle school math department submitted a

[21:18] proposal to the teaching and learning department advocating for redesign of the summer math enrichment

[21:24] program. So with their feedback we have made some major changes to our program this year.

[21:30] This year, we will continue to offer bridge courses for

[21:34] acceleration as well as review courses.

[21:38] However, our bridge courses, we really want it to expand the

[21:41] opportunity for students to have more instructional time for

[21:45] those bridge courses for acceleration.

[21:47] So we are going to actually begin bridge courses during

[21:51] trimester three this year.

[21:53] So all bridge courses that will be offered to current fifth

[21:57] through 7th grade students will begin trimester 3 which starts on March 4th and ends on June 7th.

[22:04] And students who participate in the bridge courses during trimester 3 will also have to commit to

[22:11] the summer portion of the program which begins on June 14th and ends on July 4th. That will be Monday,

[22:19] excuse me, July 1st. That will be Monday through Friday and there will be two sessions offered

[22:25] from 8 to 10 a.m. or 10 to 12 p.m. So there are several trimester three options for six and seven

[22:35] grade students. Students may choose to participate in the bridge courses for acceleration during the

[22:41] school day or virtually on Saturdays. If the student chooses to participate on Saturday,

[22:48] transportation will be provided. I apologize. It's virtually on Saturday just for six and seven

[22:55] grade. However, fifth grade students will be provided transportation after school to participate

[23:01] in this course two days a week at their home school from three to four thirty p.m. So again,

[23:09] six and seven graders will have the option of attending during the school day or virtually on

[23:13] Saturdays, and fifth grade students will be provided this course at their home school after school

[23:19] two days a week in transportation will be provided. So in terms of the summer requirement

[23:24] Again, all students who participate in the trimester 3 portion must also commit to the summer requirement to continue the content as well as to take the end of course exam and students who score an 80% or higher on the end of program exam will advance to the next level of mathematics for the next school year.

[23:45] So the summer math review courses remain the same this year.

[23:49] Review courses will continue to be offered for all students in grades five through seven.

[23:55] During the summer only, so this will occur during the two weeks beginning June 14th and will continue through July 1st.

[24:04] Monday through Friday students will have the option of attending from 8 to 10 a.m. or from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

[24:11] And these courses will allow students to review the Illinois learning standards for their current great level.

[24:18] Next slide please.

[24:21] So again, we did share the report. So if there are any questions about any of our programs, we will take them now.

[24:32] I have a question.

[24:34] So are we extending the math enrichment because the students were testing.

[24:40] I know like my son did it last summer like where you're testing to try to get out of you're trying to accelerate are we increasing the amount of time because not enough kids were basically passing out at the end or I'm curious about the rational for the change.

[24:56] So part of the proposal that was submitted from our math department focused on a few areas of opportunity and one of those areas is that the two week summer bridge course did not offer adequate instructional time for students to complete a full year of course content.

[25:18] So, we certainly want students to be successful in these courses, so expanding that time,

[25:24] beginning, trimester 3, continuing through summer, will provide additional instructional

[25:28] time.

[25:30] And access was also really important to us.

[25:33] So as to why this is stated, the two-week time was pretty tight, but we also want to make

[25:37] sure that we provide access to students who are interested in kind of expanding their math

[25:44] learning at their homeschools after school which amputation provided the kind of

[25:48] said ways into that student program. Is there um sorry I have one more question um is there

[25:55] concern about scheduling for kids who do like sports or other after school activities and conflicts

[26:01] with that with if they want to also do enrichment or they're going to they essentially have to choose

[26:05] between what their priorities are. So um we thought about that in terms of kind of the different

[26:13] but in order for us to implement this piece,

[26:17] we wanted it to start right after school

[26:19] and hopefully give them some time.

[26:21] But because of I know that there are tons of,

[26:23] there's a lot of competition in the after school space,

[26:26] we didn't have another way to, to provide it in this life,

[26:29] without kind of digging into Saturdays,

[26:30] which would be game days and that kind of thing.

[26:32] So, thank you.

[26:34] Sure.

[26:36] Two questions.

[26:38] One would be your transferring students

[26:41] to the fifth region, to a different building.

[26:45] Are you bringing them, did I miss hear that?

[26:48] Because I didn't see that before.

[26:49] So I think I missed heard it today.

[26:51] Because before I'm like, where did it just come in?

[26:53] Okay, I'm seeing a shaking of the head.

[26:54] So you are not-

[26:55] No, so they're at their homeschool.

[26:56] So they were just at their homes.

[26:57] It's sort of door home.

[26:59] Yep, so we take them out of it.

[27:00] Okay, thank you.

[27:02] Thank you on that one.

[27:03] And then the next piece is, how does this then tie

[27:06] into all the math curriculum changes

[27:09] is that we have discussed in the past.

[27:13] Yep, so I think this is a major factor.

[27:15] So as we're moving from changing from the five,

[27:17] the six-course framework, where we had six, seven, seven, eight,

[27:20] seven, eight, eight, nine, algebra and geometry

[27:23] into approach streamline six, seven, eight, algebra and geometry.

[27:25] What we're saying is that we now have an artist base

[27:28] where we are bypassing a whole grade levels

[27:30] where the standards.

[27:32] So in order to be really intentional

[27:33] about what that year looks like,

[27:35] we can't condition in that two week.

[27:37] time or period can feel really good about that. So that's why this trimester 3 option that allows

[27:43] students to really engage with the math and really kind of attempt to approximate that year

[27:48] of learning. That's a piece of why we're doing this. Thank you. One other quick question is what

[27:55] are you doing if anything to encourage to recruit students to get students involved in this?

[28:03] So, we actually share this with our principals this week and so we are really going to obviously we depend on Amanda for communications, but also at the school level because we know that that's really where those types has happened is to think about the school level strategy and the principals are really elementary principals are really excited about the program and sharing with folks.

[28:23] So, I think we'll be able to hopefully open it up to more than would typically participate in that summer program.

[28:29] Yeah.

[28:31] Great.

[28:32] Thank you.

[28:32] Sure.

[28:34] If Peggy back a little bit off Nancy's question, I remember, I guess my, my bigger question

[28:41] is, what kind of guidance is going to be provided to parents about how to navigate this?

[28:48] Just from experience, even though I listened to the presentations when the rubber, that the road

[28:53] I was confused and I probably shouldn't have been, but I was, so if you could elaborate on how

[29:02] what kind of guidance will be provided to parents about which is the best option for their

[29:07] students that be great. So I think in terms of once this is approved the communication strategy,

[29:15] so we know that the six seven and seven eight and seven eight, so first of all the seven eight being

[29:21] president of those 6th grade and 7th grade was super confusing. So we want to make sure

[29:24] that we're emphasizing what that translates to. So what folks were currently in those courses,

[29:30] or students who were in those courses, currently what their path will look like. So we want

[29:34] to be crystal clear about what happens next year and perhaps a year after that. What it could mean

[29:39] to kind of take this, if all of us should accelerate it courses and what path that could end up on.

[29:44] So I know April did a great graphic. I don't know if you want to talk a little bit more about that.

[29:49] Yeah, if you're still on my mind, you're broth.

[29:52] I am on the line. I don't know if you have the graphic.

[29:56] Let's see. I know.

[30:00] We mentioned potentially having in case the questions were. I do have it. Michael, can I send it to you? If not, we can just talk it through. Sure. I also want to point out the timing of when we're going to open up communication about the trimester 3 opportunity into the summer is very close to parent teacher conference time as well. So we'll have an opportunity to have more one-on-one conversations with families about the summer programming for the math enrichment program.

[30:29] as well.

[30:32] So we're moving to five math courses, math six, math seven, math eight, algebra

[30:38] and geometry, our current students, six and seventh graders will have the opportunity to

[30:46] enroll in the enrichment program, trimester three and into the summer,

[30:51] and have an opportunity to advance. Our six graders will have an opportunity to advance

[30:55] at their current math six seven class from instead of going to seventh grade they could be bridged to eighth grade math.

[31:04] And then their eighth grade year would become the eligible course or they have another opportunity over the summer.

[31:11] So I'm talking about the green portion of the graphic right now.

[31:14] They would have an opportunity between their seventh and eighth grade year to do the tri three summer program and potentially.

[31:20] They bump up to the, if they were in math eight algebra, they'd be able to bump up to geometry.

[31:28] So there's a lot of different opportunities depending on where they go and how they participate

[31:32] in the tri-three summer program.

[31:36] For our current seventh graders, between seventh grade and eighth grade, they participate

[31:41] in the tri-three summer program.

[31:42] They have the opportunity to move into algebra one or maintain and stay in math eight.

[31:49] That's the purple graphic below and then for our incoming six grade families are students and beyond these are just the can kind of see the true directory of the different opportunities over the summer and the different pathways.

[32:04] Students can find themselves depending on whether they role in role in the tri three summer math bridge enrichment opportunity.

[32:13] This

[32:18] is actually a really helpful graphic.

[32:20] I'm wondering at some point if you could, I know that obviously these 200 is not under

[32:26] our purview but if there's a possibility of attaching this to where does that then lead

[32:31] when they get to high school, it would be really helpful to see that because I know part

[32:36] of the goal of this and part of why you switched this around which I thought was really

[32:39] lottable was to ensure that more kids got higher up and got a chance to for example take

[32:44] calculus once they got to high school. So, if you could add that into something like this,

[32:49] even in dashed, indicated not ours, that would be fine. That would be really helpful to see that.

[32:56] Sure, and D20 is also doing some work with their math programming, so we're connecting with them

[33:03] this week actually. So, I think that's super timely. How many students were in this program

[33:12] last year. And do you have information on sort of the demographic breakdown?

[33:19] So in the report,

[33:21] I know there are a hundred graders. I'll tell you I'm sure you have a quick more quick

[33:28] than I do. Yes, I think in terms of bridge, there were approximately 123 students total.

[33:36] I want to confirm that we did not include that report. You guys did a great job on the report,

[33:44] and including all of that, that good demographic stuff.

[33:49] Thank you, that's all the team.

[33:55] I can look if I missed it in the report.

[33:59] Should I have a question that's connected to that?

[34:03] I know in the summer, there have been limited spots,

[34:06] so it's not, we can't serve us all the kids,

[34:09] I think that want to do this.

[34:11] Is there a possibility for expansion,

[34:13] or do we have a sense of how many kids

[34:15] who want it aren't able to take it?

[34:17] But so our goal is to not turn any students away.

[34:25] So we've eliminated in the last couple of years.

[34:28] I know for sure.

[34:28] And to one that you can help me confirm, we don't, we no longer have like a wait list.

[34:33] So if there are students who would like this opportunity, we expect to be able to take

[34:39] care of them.

[34:40] As we open up the trimester 3 opportunity, that's why you wanted to have a site, especially

[34:47] for fifth grade because that's the majority of our students are in terms of this bridge program.

[34:52] We wanted to make sure that there was an opportunity at each school so that we weren't transporting

[34:57] the feeder or that kind of thing so that we can kind of open up those doors and hopefully potentially

[35:01] take in more students at the school level. I see that in the report and we just like to add that

[35:08] we're on page 15 and there were a total of 203 students who participated in bridge and review courses.

[35:19] Thank you.

[35:23] Any other questions for Dr. Lofton or Dr. Lawrence?

[35:28] One other quick question.

[35:29] We've spoken a lot about math here.

[35:30] There are other programs on DACA, which are great.

[35:33] But one piece I was wondering about if it was planned or if not,

[35:37] if there was rationale for why was, again, you know,

[35:41] we're still in the pandemic. We still have kids who are kind of catching up.

[35:45] Are there any plans to do anything for students with ELA,

[35:49] with kind of general bridge program, just for students who have been hit a little harder

[35:56] in terms of pandemic learning loss. So our data will kind of tell that story for us so we're

[36:02] looking carefully to see kind of where those spots are and how we can kind of adjust our learning.

[36:07] You're referring to kind of the virtual step-up pieces. Yeah, so we're going to keep an eye out

[36:12] to see if that's something that we'll need to continue to or if our launch programs are sufficient

[36:18] And we also obviously provide supports on in terms of sharing resources with families.

[36:27] So we'll continue to keep an eye on that, especially as we look at our winter data to see if that will be a need moving forward.

[36:34] And I had just asked two questions, and I just noticed that the answers only came back

[36:39] to me, just the two questions that Dr. Lofton quickly turned around were just, what are

[36:45] we seeing with regards to the kids that were recommended or were invited that didn't attend

[36:51] versus kids that did attend and areas of growth so we can use that to demonstrate the effectiveness

[36:58] of the work and getting an update later on that.

[37:01] Yeah, and and because we didn't have map last year, we do we do want to kind of do it a deep dive into you just first of all, map a team in the fall, but also did they maintain the growth from fall to winter.

[37:14] So we'll Emily and I'll be taking a look at that data and we'll provide a follow up.

[37:25] Any other questions?

[37:30] All right, well, thank you so much that report was pretty amazing.

[37:36] Thank you.

[37:38] All right, up next then we have the Whittier PTO tree donation. I'm assuming that's Genie.

[37:45] It is. Good evening, everyone. The Whittier PTO would like to donate the money to purchase

[37:50] and install five iron wood trees to plant along the edge of the field and blacktop on the west side

[37:56] to reduce the heat index and provide much needed shade for the Whittier students in the community

[38:00] that use the space. I saw from the park district review the place in the trees so they wouldn't

[38:05] and interfere with any of the sports

[38:06] that utilize that field.

[38:08] The donation of that amount is valued at $2,400.

[38:11] We'll be seeking that the board approves this donation

[38:14] and the amount not exceed $2,400

[38:16] at the next January 11th meeting.

[38:19] Does anyone have any questions?

[38:23] Thank you.

[38:24] Thanks, Jimmy.

[38:26] I have one quick question.

[38:28] Sorry.

[38:29] Do you like?

[38:30] Are these my short streets?

[38:35] like I guess they're mature trees. So the ironwood tree is a very fast-growing tree. We would

[38:42] purchase them. They would be about two and a half diameter. I'm not sure about the hype, but

[38:47] they're one of the most mature trees that we can actually get that will fall in line. But they're fast

[38:51] growing. So we were planning on planting in the fall probably at late August of 22 so that they would

[38:59] take grit before winter hits.

[39:04] Okay, thank you.

[39:06] You're welcome.

[39:08] Okay, next we have food service and registration.

[39:14] Good evening. On an annual basis,

[39:17] administration reviews, school fees and meal prices

[39:20] and provides a recommendation to the Board of Education

[39:23] for approval. This is just for discussion tonight.

[39:28] The breakout of the fees is on the memo here. I'll briefly go

[39:32] through it. The school fees, I'll start with, it's broken out by grade level. It's been many years

[39:40] since there's been any change in the fees to I just want to know that. The early childhood program

[39:47] is $29 currently, grants K through 2 is $160, great three through 5, 180, and middle school is

[39:56] 225. Those are broken out further by the totals broken out for instruction materials before

[40:07] and after school and lunch supervision and technology. The middle school also has an activity fee as well.

[40:15] So the only recommended change for next school year for school 23 that we're recommending is

[40:22] to add the $20 technology fee to grades K through two as well since those students are now receiving

[40:28] devices that would make it equal grades three through five as well. So that would be the same.

[40:36] Other than that, we don't have any recommended changes to the school fees.

[40:40] And then the food service, we don't have any recommended changes to those prices as well.

[40:47] So it's all free and fiscal 22 because of the national school lunch program, some of the assumption that things go back to normal and fiscal 23.

[40:57] Those prices will be the same as they have been the past.

[41:01] Is it looking like Patrick, sorry, a question. Is it looking like we will be able to go back to our regularly scheduled lunch?

[41:11] We don't know that. Yeah, but so we'll be more to comment that I think in the future that the talk to our food service director and one will we'll find out from the state.

[41:23] But I don't think it requires any board action.

[41:27] We have to follow their guidelines. So that's why, you know, it's free this year, but there's a calculation that has to be done by our food service director.

[41:36] to make sure we charge on a minimum price, so we're not subsidizing the paid people aren't

[41:44] being subsidized by the free lunch program too. So she's done that calculation. So there's no

[41:50] changes recommended based on that as well.

[41:56] Any other questions for Patrick about the changes?

[41:59] I had a question and this feels to me like one of those questions that as I'm asking it, I feel

[42:08] Patrick, can you talk a little bit about what support, if any, we offer to families for

[42:12] whom the student fees would be burdensome or difficult to cover?

[42:18] Yeah, so anyone who qualifies for free lunch gets their school fees waived completely.

[42:24] And I don't want to, who qualifies for reduced lunch.

[42:27] Their school fees are also reduced by 75%, which is pretty significant, so that's the relief.

[42:35] And then if there's any hardship during year that happens with economic loss of job or anything they can make a request to the principal and to our office.

[42:47] So we can accommodate those as well.

[42:51] And that thinks that's super helpful. And then in terms of that sort of hardship during the year piece, like how do we get that word out to folks?

[42:59] I think that's great and we just want to make sure people know that that's an option that they have available to them.

[43:07] That's a good question. I believe I don't know for sure, but it's part of the registration process.

[43:14] When you go online to register, I know there's a lot of information on there about school fees and meal prices.

[43:21] I don't know if that particular piece is in there, but I can all discuss that with a registration.

[43:33] There's something you can check that if you want to be considered for free and reduced.

[43:37] And then let's say it's past that time, oftentimes school social workers are the ones

[43:42] that have information about changes in family situations and services that those families

[43:49] might need because of those changes.

[43:52] Does that answer your question?

[43:54] I think it gets in that direction. I'm thinking about just particularly under the pandemic where

[44:02] lots of people have been affected in ways, like unexpected ways. You know, if somebody loses

[44:08] their job in the middle of the school year, would they know that this is a, you know, modest but

[44:14] probably meaningful bit of financial relief that we offer? Yeah, so I would say, you know, I'm

[44:21] the front lines of this are school administrative assistants who are supporting the principals.

[44:25] They do a lot of the billing and so they know the families the best as well.

[44:32] So a lot of those communications happen through them and they eventually reach my office as

[44:38] well.

[44:38] So I know they're talking to families as well, so that's another avenue.

[44:44] Okay.

[44:45] Great.

[44:46] Thank you.

[44:46] Welcome.

[44:47] I

[44:54] was just going to add the PTOC Council had a large donation.

[45:00] And one of the key items on there was if we had families and financial hardship covering school fees in mid-year as one of the goals in communication with our PTOs.

[45:16] I can add to just this might sort of get at what you're you're asking to Gavin, like as part of as part of our conversations with the PTO council leads we are talking about how to improve sort of access to that information. So they have some things and some changes in their process.

[45:34] the seas that they're working on.

[45:36] So we're working closely with them.

[45:38] I would say in the next few months

[45:39] we'll probably, we'll hopefully have

[45:41] like a more defined space in our website for that

[45:43] and, you know, even in our newsletter and things like that.

[45:46] But yeah, those direct contacts right now,

[45:49] I think are the most important

[45:50] with our social workers and our administrators

[45:52] at the school level.

[45:54] Great, thanks everybody.

[45:56] Appreciate the answers.

[46:01] Okay, if there's no other questions,

[46:03] We have up next the budget authority.

[46:08] Is that still you Patrick?

[46:10] Yes, that's me as well.

[46:12] So annually.

[46:15] Preel and like school code.

[46:17] The board of education is that doesn't make the budget authority and also the proposed calendar.

[46:24] So the patch memo lays out the calendar gives the authority to the superintendent of schools to begin the budget process for next school year.

[46:33] It's very similar to prior years, what we've done, our proposal in July will give the board an update on the preliminary results of Fiscal Year 22, and discuss high-level issues regarding the budget development.

[46:48] Then August will present the 10 budget for board discussion and authorize the public display.

[46:54] And then the final without the budget would happen in the middle of September.

[46:59] So it's very consistent with prior years.

[47:04] And so I have a mad if there's any questions.

[47:10] All right, thank you, Patrick.

[47:14] Well, that brings us to special reports,

[47:21] school updates.

[47:24] Good evening.

[47:25] I'm excited to say we completed our second vaccine clinic

[47:30] on November 30th through December 3rd.

[47:34] At the first clinic, we had 2,292 students

[47:38] that attended vaccine number one.

[47:42] At the second one, it was 2,246, a little bit less,

[47:46] but we were told by some parents

[47:47] they weren't able to make it that night,

[47:49] but they were gonna follow up with their children,

[47:52] had another clinic and another location.

[47:54] So we're confident that we've definitely matched that number.

[48:02] or you can go to the next slide, Michael.

[48:05] Our nurses have been in the process

[48:08] of collecting the vaccination cards.

[48:10] You know, what they did was,

[48:12] and I thought it was a very good idea,

[48:14] we had people stationed there,

[48:16] and they actually took pictures.

[48:17] I don't call it that.

[48:18] They actually took pictures of the card

[48:23] once the students were vaccinated.

[48:26] And we, so then we had a record immediately

[48:29] of all of the, sorry, all the vaccination cards at that time.

[48:37] We are in the process of uploading all of that information.

[48:40] We don't have the percentage as of yet, but we are definitely working on that.

[48:44] We just have the number of students that participated in our second clinic.

[48:49] But what's going to change? What's going to change as a result of this?

[48:53] I think that's very important. Right now, a lot of the changes for individuals

[48:58] that are fully vaccinated.

[49:00] So a lot of our students will be fully vaccinated,

[49:04] well, some of them, depending on which clinic they attend

[49:06] at, will be fully vaccinated until Friday.

[49:09] But once we have our individuals,

[49:11] and we've identified the students that are fully vaccinated,

[49:14] they will not have to quarantine if they were close contact

[49:18] unless they're symptomatic.

[49:19] So that'll make a huge difference.

[49:22] According to the IDPH, the close contacts

[49:24] who are fully vaccinated should get tested five to seven days

[49:27] after coming into close contact with someone who has COVID-19 and wear a mask indoors and that's

[49:33] really important on the masking. It's so in lunch we're going to have ongoing conversations with

[49:39] the health department to determine what happens when they come back and they're in the lunchroom.

[49:44] We're just not sure at this point. What's going to happen after the first of the year? Dr.

[49:49] Chapel, by the way, could not be here this evening. She had her board meeting as well. So we have a

[49:54] set up some meetings with her as soon as we get back after the first of the year.

[49:59] We're going to start reviewing all of our medications. As you know, you can go to the next slide.

[50:04] I think Michael, as you know, we've had an uptick of COVID cases. And so right now, there are no changes

[50:12] being made. So we're going to watch all of the matrix. We're going to have our discussions with her.

[50:17] We already have our list. For example, masking outside. We want to talk to her about that. But I think

[50:24] You know, the community transmission rate and all of that, it's going to make a big impact, but we are going to start that conversations because we should have the percentages of our students, the number of students that have been vaccinated because the number of them we've been told went outside of the district as well.

[50:41] So I hadn't expected it was numbers to be pretty high, and she's really shooting for mending the matrix, the medications, the protocols based on if we can have 75 to 80% of our students vaccinated.

[50:57] So we're pretty confident. We're going to we're going to reach that number at least I am, but we'll have to wait and see when we gather all that information.

[51:06] But now, Amanda monitors the major dashboard.

[51:12] So if you want to talk a little bit about that, Amanda.

[51:15] Sure.

[51:16] So as you can see, we definitely had an uptick post Thanksgiving.

[51:21] I know I'm sure most of you saw the reporting regarding high school.

[51:26] We saw a very similar uptick.

[51:29] And that was also in line with sort of what

[51:32] we've been seeing in the community and across the state.

[51:35] So definitely concerning or keeping an eye on everything, we did have one additional school

[51:41] outbreak that was reported that was a classroom outbreak at Lincoln, I believe involving two students.

[51:48] And the quarantine numbers, you know, that's sort of been where we've been at and again,

[51:52] is after we're not set. I think those numbers will probably start to level off.

[51:58] You know, now that we are going to have a much higher percentage of our student body vaccinated

[52:04] and they'll fall under those new quarantine guidelines.

[52:08] We included the shields testing from last week here

[52:11] as well.

[52:11] We had 13 positive tests last week.

[52:14] The up to outrate has been going up just slightly.

[52:17] If you recall, we started, I think, right around 4%.

[52:20] So that number has gone up a little bit

[52:22] but we are still testing.

[52:24] As you can see, just over 4,000 students a week.

[52:27] We can go to the next slide, Michael.

[52:31] And then we just wanted to bring to your attention

[52:33] definitely startled me when I opened the Oak Park Village report on Wednesday last week,

[52:39] and saw that the numbers doubled. So we get those reports every Wednesday. Lisa Shelly sends those

[52:47] out to us. So we, you know, we are watching that in conjunction with our numbers as we've been doing

[52:52] all year. And Dr. Chapel definitely takes that community transmission rate into account as she's

[52:58] advising us so it's important that we watch that and you know we're talking with her about how

[53:03] we can message to our families around you know just continuing to make good choices you know

[53:11] in terms of reducing the risk of transmission in our community because that will really get us

[53:14] to a place of being able to revisit some of those mitigations that Dr. Warnett mentioned so it's

[53:21] still you know it's still here unfortunately and you know I think it's kind of unclear where we're going

[53:27] with the variant and all that. So again, that's why we're just kind of keeping a close eye.

[53:32] And a large percentage of those cases you'll see are in the 5-13 group, which is our students.

[53:40] And I think turning it back over to Dr. Warnett.

[53:46] Sorry, Michael.

[53:51] So we're working with the nurses right now to verify the proof of vaccination.

[53:56] If an appearance had not provided proof, we would appreciate if they would. We're compiling all

[54:02] that information, again, as Amanda stated,

[54:05] the health department has told us

[54:06] the greater number of students that are vaccinated

[54:08] will actually influence the medications

[54:12] that we have and if we're going to be able to increase them.

[54:16] We really want to begin looking at our lunch time

[54:19] and our outdoor masking.

[54:21] That's just our principles have provided a list

[54:25] of what they would like to see some of the changes.

[54:28] But again, we're going to be watching the numbers.

[54:30] It we did increase after Thanksgiving, we may have an increase after our winter break.

[54:37] So we have to really monitor that closely.

[54:40] And then the conversations are continuing.

[54:42] And they're going to be in after the first year.

[54:45] And our hope is, you know, mid to late January, we will have some different protocols.

[54:50] But as of right now, we're continuing.

[54:53] We have three more days of school.

[54:55] and then by Friday, every child that participated in the clinic will be fully vaccinated, so that's a really good feeling.

[55:02] I can tell you that attending the second round, it was a lot quieter, the second time around.

[55:09] The students, they walked in and they pulled their sleeve up and there wasn't as much discussion and conversation going on.

[55:18] And so it was really kind of nice.

[55:20] It was like, wow, as they, they're very used to it.

[55:23] They just, it was like a well-oiled machine

[55:25] and it worked out really well.

[55:26] So we're excited for the next steps.

[55:29] If you have any questions, I wish Dr. Chappell could have

[55:32] been here to answer some for you, but she's at her meeting soon.

[55:36] I just want to say a quick thank you to you, Dr. Warnett

[55:40] and Dr. Powell for constantly working with Dr. Chappell

[55:43] and just making this an open dialogue as you work on this.

[55:47] I think it's been really helpful in keeping the mitigation balanced with what the needs

[55:53] of, as you said, you know, talking to the principal, talking to the pool.

[55:56] I just, I acknowledge that you are spending a lot of time speaking with her and I appreciate

[56:00] that.

[56:01] Thank you.

[56:02] She's very open and she returns our calls, obviously, immediately, so.

[56:09] So I appreciate you guys outlining some possible mitigations that the benefits that we get from

[56:15] being bringing our kids to get vaccinated and kind of doing our part to support reducing

[56:25] the likelihood of spread in our community and keeping people safe.

[56:30] I do want to comment on the vaccination cards.

[56:32] I know that Amanda has done a really great job fielding a ton of questions.

[56:37] There is an assumption based on the information available that the state data is something

[56:42] that we could access really easily and not have to ask our community to send in their

[56:47] proof of vaccination. Amanda and I tag teamed a little bit diving into encouraging people

[56:52] through social media to send in their cards and got quite a bit of pushback and Amanda's

[56:59] fielding these questions every day. But just from a public standpoint I did some digging and

[57:05] I know Amanda has as well. And the state system, first of all there's lots of folks reported

[57:10] of accuracies. They can't find their own vaccination records in there. But the other

[57:14] thing is there's kind of this assumption that we just type in Whittier and all of a sudden,

[57:18] all the Whittier names pop out. But because these are health records, you know, nurses,

[57:23] certain nurses would have to get access, and then you have to actually go one at a time

[57:27] so you'd have to type in the name of a student, see if their vaccination is in there,

[57:32] and if it is, then you like exit out and type the next student. So while it is a manual process,

[57:39] ask our families to send in their proof of vaccination to staff, some sort of medical registered

[57:46] professional that will go in and access people's health records is actually a much more time-consuming

[57:54] process. We'd rather have our nurses with our students and helping our support our teachers

[57:59] and our buildings. We would love to see the state have a better way to get us that information and

[58:06] And I know that the team is committed to paying attention to that, but for folks that

[58:10] are wondering why we are asking you to send them in.

[58:13] It is not because we are avoiding, you know, using a system that's available, there just

[58:18] really isn't a system available.

[58:20] So that's true.

[58:22] I mean, it's much more time-intensive, our nurses have done a fabulous job trying to handle

[58:27] all the additional responsibility this year.

[58:30] And the accuracy, we were concerned about that.

[58:32] But, you know, we, you know, we have 2,200 cards already, we're just not putting it into

[58:38] a database, but if other parents could send it into us, it would be very much appreciated.

[58:46] So, we just really quick comments, I guess.

[58:49] Well, sorry, thank you so much for all that you guys are doing, I know it's a lot of hard

[58:53] work.

[58:55] So, another district, my friend, she said that they, like, were doing, like, a simple,

[59:00] those people to show their heart.

[59:02] And so they were like offering like raffles

[59:04] and gifts for people to show their heart.

[59:06] And so the students brought it to their teacher.

[59:09] And so as opposed to like, to some parents

[59:12] are not gonna do it right, it's gonna be fuzzy

[59:14] so all these different things.

[59:15] And so the teacher on average has like 25 students

[59:19] so they were just taking 25 things.

[59:21] So I don't know that might be a big burden

[59:23] to our teachers just an idea.

[59:25] And I think like as we like pump it up more

[59:27] My kids are really afraid to get it on Saturday, but I was like, you know, you're the only ones who want to vaccinate and they're like, no, not the only one of the only.

[59:37] So they did get there.

[59:38] Vaccinations this weekend.

[59:40] But then the second part of that was for God.

[59:45] Oh, no, I forgot. I'll think of it and come back to it.

[59:54] We're a very cognizant of confidentiality in regards to the information, so that's why

[1:00:00] We'll filter it through our nurses when, you know, teachers don't have access to that information. And our nurses have done a great job with it and they're continuing. We just need to get the copies of the cards and then we'll get it in the database and hopefully by the time we get back, we have our percentage and then we can move on from there because things will drastically change if we have a high percentage for students vaccinated. So that's encouraging.

[1:00:38] Thank you so much for that and for all the work everyone's doing with it. I definitely

[1:00:43] appreciate it.

[1:00:46] One of the board meetings and live streaming update, is that Michael?

[1:00:51] Yes, Michael.

[1:00:52] Yeah, thank you.

[1:00:53] A quick update of where we kind of sit with the board meetings as we look for the new year as well.

[1:00:59] So I know a lot of conversations and we've put a solution for the camera and the audio.

[1:01:04] We worked on a couple different things this last week to resolve some of the issues.

[1:01:10] Just engineering configurations within the boardroom. So we've been able to work with Genie.

[1:01:14] We've been able to socially distance the entire board room to be able to see how many people can fit in there.

[1:01:19] What does it look like? What is the layout?

[1:01:20] So even with the mics and everything that's sitting on top of our like above the board table.

[1:01:27] and to be able to socially distance, we're able to put a couple of the tables that we would,

[1:01:31] again, I like talk with my hands in this space, but we're able to add a couple tables to extend the

[1:01:37] board table out while still being able to be heard by those mics. So that's great for around the

[1:01:43] board table. I know Gavin, I don't see your picture right now, but I'm sure you're excited because then

[1:01:47] that will be able to pull and get rid of the zoom at that time. Be able to do that and then we

[1:01:52] We started to lay out, okay, what does it look like for the other tables and presenting?

[1:01:57] So then we were able to put another 12 tables for cabinet members or people presenting.

[1:02:02] So as you saw tonight, look, we've got 19 panelists.

[1:02:05] So that would pretty much max out our entire board room for presenting and anybody that's

[1:02:11] supposed to be in that room and to be able to still do a socially distanced.

[1:02:15] So right now we'd be able to hold everybody that's in this meeting and up to 21 people.

[1:02:20] So that would be full capacity with board and our district staff team that would be presenting at that point.

[1:02:28] And I say that as presenters, because we would look to then pivot and get away from zoom completely.

[1:02:33] And so the public would then be watching the meeting on YouTube live.

[1:02:37] So we would present that would be the link that we would provide.

[1:02:40] Here's the YouTube meeting or the link for everybody to watch and go from there.

[1:02:45] So, that will be the ability to, again, just watch that.

[1:02:51] It's all recorded, so then, just as we're watching it,

[1:02:53] and you can see a couple tabs, the Brooks Orchestra,

[1:02:56] and the Julian Choir Concert, like those are all there,

[1:02:59] then on our YouTube channel,

[1:03:00] to then be watched after the fact for anything there.

[1:03:04] So, again, we'll continue to communicate out what that is.

[1:03:07] Since we've now finished the audio kind of issues

[1:03:10] that we're taking place and got all of that working,

[1:03:13] I mean we're still exploring a couple of ways to think about public comment and how do we address public comment in this scenario because in Zoom here we've been able to just let we know who it is we allow them to talk.

[1:03:26] So I'm working through a testing a couple options. I'll be provided updates the board. I'm here either this Friday or the next Friday.

[1:03:33] So our plan would be to go in January and be able to move fully to that solution.

[1:03:41] for the board meetings in January and there and there forward. Any questions?

[1:03:50] So exciting. So very exciting.

[1:03:54] Thank you.

[1:03:56] And thanks, Michael. It is exciting.

[1:04:01] So I know all the private Gavin of great joy and future meetings to yell.

[1:04:08] You're muted.

[1:04:12] All right. If there's no questions from Michael, then we're going to move on to board assignments. So if we have any reports from the standing committee liaison, so from fact fork, I know we're a little bit from fork CCE and claim.

[1:04:27] and all fairness Gavin doesn't know but he does speak firmly.

[1:04:34] Thanks Venus and only with love right there

[1:04:42] were reports from Stanley

[1:04:44] committees then if we have reports. Oh wait I have one sorry I'm so distracted

[1:04:49] John jeez sorry. Okay I attended the Oak Park Education Fund meeting on

[1:04:58] December 1st in Nancy wherever you are I'm gonna need you to pinch in on the

[1:05:02] strategic planning part but I'll get through the first part. So they are in the process of reviewing

[1:05:08] their by-laws and they'll finish that I think by January, 2022, end of January. They're in the

[1:05:16] middle of launching their annual appeal. So if you have a need for any last minute tax write-offs

[1:05:24] before the end of the year, Ocpric Education Fund is a great place to provide some of those donations

[1:05:31] but they have their annual appeal right now.

[1:05:36] Also, they are going to be having,

[1:05:38] they're bringing back Bingo Bash,

[1:05:40] which is a big fundraiser that they have.

[1:05:43] It's usually, it's at the 19th Century Club

[1:05:45] and it's gonna be April 29th, 2022.

[1:05:50] Many of you know, Tracy, D'Angela, Barbara is leaving

[1:05:57] And so they are in the process of the search process for an executive director, and they're

[1:06:05] in full swing.

[1:06:06] It looks like they have three candidates and they plan on scheduling interviews at the

[1:06:10] end of December, sounds familiar.

[1:06:14] And then the seventh grade slam is going to be at Julien this Friday, the 17th.

[1:06:22] They were looking for judges.

[1:06:23] It is in the afternoon.

[1:06:24] I believe they have found their judges, but if anyone on the board is interested in participating, just let Nancy and I know, or you can contact Tracy directly, if you're interested in participating. That's it.

[1:06:44] I think I presented it last time, but just to quickly recap, if they didn't, they did a review of their five year strategic plan in light of COVID.

[1:06:54] They're not, nothing is really changing their strategic plan. They're just updating and some things are just farther behind because they couldn't do things in person.

[1:07:02] and but nothing is really off track.

[1:07:06] And I'm also just gonna throw in a plug

[1:07:08] for having judged a couple of the poetry slams.

[1:07:12] They're awesome, so really if you have a chance

[1:07:14] to do it, do it.

[1:07:21] There was a try board special meeting

[1:07:24] for the collaboration early childhood,

[1:07:25] and I think a good chunk of you were there,

[1:07:27] and the minutes are in the meeting.

[1:07:30] Were there any other reports from IGA, PTOC,

[1:07:34] community council, try board?

[1:07:38] et cetera. I can give an update for IGOV, which is that we are working on finalizing the topic

[1:07:47] for the spring 22 community forum, and it will most likely be on April 9th. And there will be

[1:07:57] an invite coming out soonish for an IGOV meeting with all of the representatives from all of us,

[1:08:05] some time in February.

[1:08:12] We haven't had a fact meeting in a little bit but we will be having one

[1:08:15] the first week of January because we've got to start looking at bid documents and per the

[1:08:20] discussion earlier on the lab. It will be scheduling a fork meeting coming up as well.

[1:08:28] Cool. Thank you. That brings us if there's no more reports to board remarks.

[1:08:36] We did not talk about this but I'll give a tiny superintendent search update.

[1:08:41] We did meet before this meeting in closed session and I think we do have a few finalists we are going to be bringing possibly in person to interview for the second round of interviews.

[1:08:57] We'll iron out those details and maybe make an announcement.

[1:09:01] I guess we weren't able to finish our conversation quite, but we do have some folks who are hopefully bringing in.

[1:09:07] And so that's my very, not detailed update.

[1:09:13] Sorry, we should have discussed beforehand

[1:09:15] about what we were gonna, what I would say to say.

[1:09:19] Other board remarks, comments?

[1:09:25] I think mine is, I just appreciate everyone

[1:09:29] and all the work they're doing.

[1:09:30] I know people are really, really fried

[1:09:33] and everyone at least in education is hanging

[1:09:36] until winter break.

[1:09:39] So I appreciate all the work everyone's doing and drink as much coffee as

[1:09:44] you can because that's what's keeping me alright. All right if there's no other one other mark

[1:09:54] my my kids were in the car as I was talking about PTOC and Griff first shared that there's a

[1:10:00] possibility they could have a little movement and talking at lunch and the

[1:10:06] screams of delight that came from them were like legitimate like the fact that

[1:10:11] lunch might involve a little bit of not and my some not getting yelled at by

[1:10:17] people to just be quiet and not move so I know we've been that that's been

[1:10:23] something that's been really unique to our community I don't think that

[1:10:26] they're my understanding is there's no other community that's at least part of

[1:10:29] the West cook group that's been doing that.

[1:10:31] So appreciate that everybody is thinking about just

[1:10:36] little changes.

[1:10:37] And I think that we should just acknowledge

[1:10:38] that these little changes on the little people

[1:10:40] we serve has a really big impact.

[1:10:44] And it might seem like not that big of a deal.

[1:10:47] But I really think that even just these slight things

[1:10:51] that demonstrate that they get to do little things,

[1:10:55] they will be really appreciative of.

[1:10:57] and it will make a difference in their day.

[1:11:02] Sure.

[1:11:03] So now, yes.

[1:11:04] Now that only you remember her comment.

[1:11:07] So I was going to ask.

[1:11:08] We've been talking a lot about like COVID mitigation.

[1:11:10] And I was happy to see the part about lunch.

[1:11:12] So thank you.

[1:11:13] Holly for jogging my memory.

[1:11:16] But I wanted to know if we get.

[1:11:18] Get some information or have a discussion about some mental health.

[1:11:23] And like how we're going to kind of get in front of that.

[1:11:27] Sorry.

[1:11:27] So to to how we like these are little things that like I think we so took for granted like just being able to hug our friends and all those things.

[1:11:37] So like I would just wonder are we.

[1:11:40] Are there plans like address that have been an increase in the number of students who have IEPs or dental mental health issues.

[1:11:47] And how we can like for continues to address that because although the COVID numbers are going to get better, I think the long term mental health complications.

[1:11:55] and it's something that we should kind of get in front of.

[1:12:06] I just wanted to say we are a few days away from our winter break

[1:12:11] and I wanted to say how much I appreciate everyone's hard work

[1:12:16] throughout this entire first trimester

[1:12:21] and a week or two into the second trimester.

[1:12:24] I know that this is very difficult.

[1:12:28] I hope that people take the truth.

[1:12:29] we are able to take their time off and enjoy it. And we charge their battery and connect with

[1:12:35] family and friends and do all those things that give you warm fuzzies. But I just want to acknowledge

[1:12:41] on behalf of our board, how much we appreciate all the hard work that teachers, admin have been

[1:12:50] doing in the buildings, folks in the admin building, our custodial staff, our TAs, everyone who plays

[1:12:57] any role of any kind in helping our students learn and help to keep our

[1:13:03] district moving. I just want to say thank you and hope that you enjoyed that

[1:13:07] your time off.

[1:13:14] There's no more love to share around the draft agenda.

[1:13:24] All right

[1:13:25] so our next meeting is January 11th. There's anything on there so we'll have a

[1:13:34] regular public comment consent agenda which will include some of the items that were presented

[1:13:40] to us earlier.

[1:13:43] We'll talk about the new legislation again. Oh hopefully Griff is here to have us vote

[1:13:51] as a middle school wrestling proposal. That's why it's on January. I'm only voting yes if you

[1:13:58] where is the wrestling uniform? Okay, I'll pass that on. I definitely know I think he wants us

[1:14:04] to not to not vote for it because his son is a wrestling coach. No, I think he does and I think

[1:14:10] he would wear it.

[1:14:13] Now you know my terms. I'll show that with them.

[1:14:22] Okay, anything that was missing

[1:14:25] that we need to add or questions or revisions.

[1:14:31] The only other thing is maybe,

[1:14:37] or maybe it's just a placeholder for myself

[1:14:38] to do a little more of a detailed

[1:14:42] superintendent search update.

[1:14:45] Hopefully, I'll figure out what details we can reveal on, so.

[1:14:50] I can't see this, but we have a whole bunch of motions

[1:14:55] to make next, at our January 11th meeting.

[1:15:00] Most of those covered on here. And under the consent agenda, or the administrative items, I mean, from the presentations from tonight, you mean? Yeah, yeah, they're on there. Okay, thanks. Okay, then if there are no other additions or changes to the agenda, I think I can entertain a motion to adjourn.

[1:15:25] Okay,

[1:15:29] final roll call.

[1:15:29] more.

[1:15:35] Spurlock. Yes. Ken Hall.

[1:15:40] Rostrogen. Yeah.

[1:15:43] Pernie. Yes.

[1:15:46] Her Johnson. Yes.

[1:15:49] Kim. Yep.

[1:15:51] Motion to adjourn at 8.30 p.m.

[1:15:54] Happy holidays to everyone.

Untitled meeting

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