##VIDEO ID:Bh0ZJzJF680## all right hello everyone it is 5:30 pm on August the 19th 2024 this is a regular meeting of the Rockford area Schools Board of Education that will call the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance ALG to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Adam clerk would you please call roll Jess Johnson herec here Eric Gordy abent Amy Edward here Jenny nean also absent Jamie hilstrom here we do have awesome thank you uh moving on to our agenda then uh first item is approval of the agenda to entertain a motion to approve the agenda I'll make that motion all right I have a first I have a second second have a first and a second any further discussion or comment any no further discussion or comment I'll call for a vote all in favor I opposed carries next section unanimously next section public comments do we have any public comments submitted all right public comment is now closed next agenda item is our consent items uh I would take a motion to approve the consent agenda or comment or discuss I'll make a motion to approve the consent perfect I have a first I have a second second second by Miss Presa uh any further discussion or comment um Jessica I iess had an need day I was just looking at personnel and it looks like we had someone who retired in June who is now coming back and just and I'm that's an ESL teacher am I correct yeah and Mr MC I'll be speaking to that later this evening wonderful good to see all right any other discussion or comment we do have a motion on the floor all right any no further discussion or comment I'll call for a vote all in favor I anyone opposed carries unanimously moving on to item number five superintendent report turn it over to Dr RI Hooper thank you um it may come as a bit of surprise to many but the month of August is generally considered to be the busiest month of the year for many School Employees that continues to be the case this year as many members of our staff have been working diligently to prepare for the return of our teachers support staff and our students I'd like to start by thanking our custodial crew and members of our buildings and grounds team for a variety of reasons we've been short staff this summer um but the work of this small but dedicated group of our colleagues has accomplished what they've accomplished is nothing short of amazing we are truly blessed to have these talented individuals in our school system as you see them and we have one here this evening um in the coming weeks please extend your appreciation as well uh the same can be said for our district office staff including Sarah pepen who has processed many Supply and curricular orders Christal Larson who works and her assists with everything from enrollment to Transportation cind ginsky who has done an incredible job of working in processing new staff contracts and onboarding staff uh Courtney Iber who not only manages my busy calendar but she's also done a wonderful job in the years of communications including our recent launch of our new weite and our regularly scheduled social media posts last but not least our director of business operations Mike mcnalty who has been busy with many aspects of our internal operations including leading our multi-unit contract negotiations and completing uh several time sensitive reports to Minnesota Department of Education uh summer programming uh has also come to a close and I want to thank Jill Gordy for serving as our summer program administrator this year as well as our team of dedicated teachers and parent professionals Jill provided our staff with an exit survey and the feedback was both incredibly positive and was filled with excellent suggestions for making summer school even better one thing I do want to mention um with respect to that is we were very concerned about finding Staffing for this year um but fortunately our staff really stepped up and um and we were fully staffed for the entire summer program uh like many others that were mentioned my work has consisted of school year preparation which includes the work in partnership with Miss Kathy Matson our incredible learning and Innovation specialist on the planning of the built Institute new teacher orientation and Mentor training and workshop week with many new and exciting changes occurring in our instructional work these efforts have been both a big lift and also a labor of love in addition to our instructional preparations we have been working diligently to prepare and share information related to to our capital projects or technology Levy including partnering with our uh contracted Partners on the creation of informational literature as well as video projects that will inform our residents of the need as well as the respect uh respectful and conservative Financial request in addition to the work related to sharing our messaging via correspondence and videos I have been busy cor uh coordinating meetings with a variety of individuals groups and Municipal organizations to personally present the information in a very transparent manner each of these inperson events will also include a question and answer period where residents can ask questions related to the Lev request and I've shared this with a few of before a lot of times when presentations are it's folks talking at people and I want to make sure that our uh residents in our community whether they're going to vote Yes or no or are still deciding have the ability to ask any question that they'd like with respect to this um with this ask um also I have attended meetings um for um our other educational entities such as amsd saf maso and the MD back to school conference along with some of my colleagues here on the board we attended Dr Dave Webb's home run leadership training an information I attended also an informational webinar on the Title Nine requirements which you been following of that it's been I'll call it a circus but it's been interesting um our annual um right County Tech Center board meeting and the wri county all district State School stream closer to home I was privileged to be invited to Maple Hill where I was given a tour and gain a stronger understanding of our partnership with mobile hope I met with our robotics Partners as they expand programming to include more students visited with the new Rockford Education Foundation executive director Nick Aral I also met with Dr Amy Smith who serves on our CT advisory committee to build upon work in this area of agricultural education I also met with a potential candidate for our posted part-time a pack cultural liaison position and we are interviewing I'm not going to share the name you might already know it um but he's well known in the community and we are interviewing that particular Gentleman on Wednesday very exciting um I will share with the board that um the resources with that for that part-time soon are all coming from the APAC stip and from the state um internally we've also engaged in meetings with communication polic policy committees putting some final touches on Staffing and moving forward with our local SEIU uh 284 negotiations one final item that we've been monitoring And discussing is our enrollment numbers for our early primary grades based on higher than anticipated projected enrollment numbers we have added a section of kindergarten and as of last week we also have the section of first grade in anticipation of this potential move the positions um were already filled ready to go um by Brenda or principal n um as soon as they were open we actually finished one of them hiring process today um in closing while it's been a tremendously busy summer we are poised to welcome our staff and students back uh soon and as always I want to thank our families with trusting Rockford area schools to partner with them on the education of their children thank you any questions for Dr R thanks for the update it's yeah it is a busy um back to school time it's not really like a summer off or anything like that it's been great though it really has yeah and I'll just Express gratitude to um for following those early um Elementary numbers so closely um and being decisive in the decision once it was made to fill those positions um or not right I mean like you had a decision to make and so just thank you for that I know people kind of sit with baited breath as you know we wait and watch and hope and all the things so thank you I comments on that but I agree with that thank you very much for on top of that I know you know this is a board already but those numbers um they're very solid at those two at those two ages because um folks from Reams and others in the district have been personally called each and every one of those families to confirm that they were coming um so it made the decision a lot easier so we do know those numbers quite well and we're really proud um and I'll talk a little bit about the enrollment numbers a little bit later today but we're very proud of we're sitting as a school district and we believe it's because a lot of the good things that are happening here in our schools for sure thank you all right next uh jumping into item number 7A which is our website update and turn it over to our district executive assistant PNE pull it up here uh so overall the launch has gone really really well there was a couple minor glitches right when we launched but we were able to correct those pretty quickly um we had a popup up for probably like three weeks I think asking people to share any feedback any issues they come across and we didn't receive really anything out of that we did receive a few emails but they were just asking where to find things so pretty standard stuff um the only couple things that I kind of wanted to point out aside from just the general look of it is a lot cleaner we do really like it we've made a couple small tweaks as we've played with it and seen it over the last few days here um but coming soon we are I worked with uh one of the other tech people and actually Cindy and HR to decide we actually currently have this faculty and then staff links we are consolidating that to clean that up a little bit um it will just be one staff section but this faculty spot is actually going to be changing to a fames page so it'll be I love that all sorts of resources we're actually pulling from a couple different school districts that did something similar to have the contact information for all the buildings including the um attendance line so it's an easy to find uh menus contacts for all the different departments that they may need basically One Stop Shop for all the questions that we get on a daily basis to hopefully help alleviate a little bit of that in the buildings and then as Jeff was talking um we are actually going to be launching hopefully later this week probably by early next week um a page for the levy and that'll actually come right up top here too so it's going to be nice and easy it's about uh 2024 and it'll have all the information on that Levy as well on there so we're working that other than that like I said the launch went really really well we had a great team with both final site and in our tech department we had some awesome people working on it so I can't take all the credit for that one pictures are going to be updated as we kind of go here as we especially next week once we get all the teaches back this page will have all new pictures um and then I got a few questions on the picture at the bottom of the page if they wanted to scroll for me here um currently we have the baseball boys down there that will be a picture that will be changed out roughly monthly to reflect different things happening in the different buildings so that is a picture that's on every page so it's not one we can change from building to building so we decided hey let's change it regularly and have it feature different buildings each month so that is where we're at any questions any feedback anything from you guys I know uh Eric had sent me a few things that I am working on looking into different stuff like that but is our new tagline going to go anywhere I see the tuition of Excellence at Advantage Ro probably somewhere yeah there'll be a few updates different things that are coming all the time um we'll have new videos we'll everything's constantly going to be kind of changing especially as we get into the year here um a lot of these news stuff is going to change the buildings actually update those so we'll probably put one out there with some of that as well but it'll also be in our contact or information with us I mean it's going to be plastered all over the social media so and not website related but tagline related um I forgot to mention in my I don't know I forgot it in my report uh the parade the Rockford River Days parade which was absolutely phenomenal I had never uh been to that parade let alone been in it and I left there feeling so good just personally um with the community yelling out the names of myself my colleagues and we did pass out um both the uh crayons with the tagline as well as stickers with the tagline as well across the community so yes and if you didn't get a sticker let me know I've got a few extras still in my office so if you want one they are waterproof so I love one it's on my water bottle at home already awesome well that is all I've got on the website thank you any questions it's beautiful or comments Ling it cool good well congratulations on a successful lunch and it's just so much crisper cleaner modern and um I know navigating our website has been a challenge for many families for a long period of time so we'll just continue to grow into that space and it's so good so thank you thank you there's a lot of detail that goes into updating the website it's not like a magic button that it just happens like it's super super detailed to map it all so thank you no it's it's been great feedback I have received has been really good so good but any anytime anyone comes across anything or feels like maybe something could be in a better spot we are more than happy to look into it and see if we could do something with it so thank you all right uh with no further questions next we'll jump into our building and grounds Report with uh Mr mcnalty uh so just a couple pictures you want to get here so you look oh yeah I way there's a kind of a I say a dirtier picture y go you look at some the floors yeah espe and you you see the reflection so probably not if you're right there you see it stand all versus um stuff is removed and so that looks clean one of the items that uh that the crews have done in just a few rooms e goinging is is taking and going to start stripping and and doing the floors in the past U according to uh H that that probably pretty much just been cleaned and waxed right over so there's layers to to remove but then that takes a little more time though so that's going to be a a planed you know process can't strip yeah so you want to go look that you see maybe go into the room that it's stripped that way went done and unstripped and you will see especially even you don't have a camera so just wanted to make sure so that was a them sending me a couple proud pictures of what it looks like as a difference so um but overall um they got three done there in the it's been about according to Dwayne about 10 years or so since that's happened so that will be happening now from here moving forward little by little so not all one shop especially because we were short this year so um just wanted to then go to the next part which is we hired uh Chrissa means I don't know why I always say her name right but I think so um she is now the Le C the elementary personal wise we are still short we actually are going to have an interview on Monday for a part time person that's our only other applicant we did I should see now we did have an applicant and we were going to interview last week and an hour before the interview he pulled out not sure why they give us a reason why I just called and said he's not going to be so uh we are going to explor as we've talked a little bit with Paul Menard and I'll be talking with Samantha boom we're going to look to also as we're be short possibly looking at um if there's any High School seniors that would be maybe able to work as uh kind of like our our guy who moves um you know some part time at that night but you got to find a very responsible right person for that so we are going to explore that depending on how go here the next reie that so just a little FY what may be coming um part that's coming up uh here right after this so I'll this way to that is the let in the let in the water plan approval I'll get to that on the next one and then being we are been overall short of personel offering some overtime to the crew uh it's been picked up here and there just to make sure we get uh everything done or everything in order for the start of the school year so that is continuing this week because we still have another person who is going to be out for most of this week again and so basically been short almost a couple people because of that so um but that's moving along pretty good St Chris has stepped up I know a lot of she's letting me know that intro is okay um but really wanted to get you get a chance to uh go around the buildings and of course if you see anything that you want to make some comments to that maybe we could do differently let me know or how we are do know but otherwise I want to thank all the the team John Jim Chris Chrissa Chad Andrew Trevor Scott Robert Lynn Derek Luke Ryan Dylan Howe and Dwayne um for all their work this summer we know it's not still done we still got about what two and a half weeks for the kids walk through a week for the teachers walk through and once the teachers coming and of course kids coming then if you've ever been part of the beginning of school year the first month is pretty much just crazy time trying to keep up with their comments questions and needs so thank you to all that team right there for the uh the work they put in so far this summer and continue anybody have any questions on anything I just want to clarify part of the short-handed was we had one individual out for surgery another one stepped on a nail and so we had some issues there but um everyone's picked up the slack and and I don't if you want to elaborate on that a little bit more yeah and injury again right now that's what we're out so it's it's little going through uh two of the staff members that kind of back and forth one in one week and step na a few days and the other one we'll get into the injuries get hurt again and this week so it's just part of life as I guess you would call it so um just you know there's no good time when you're when you're missing your your clean out there um but I always say at least in the summer you have a chance to make it up but no be here getting in the way so so thanks again couple so the rooms at the elementary that you're going to are those classrooms and then I see that'll what during the next like winter break I'm guessing is it mostly the floors that need to be done stripping stuff right there yeah I don't know it just says a couple of rooms have some rooms not completed oh yeah yeah so some of the rooms because of the shortness there's few rooms that have to be completely redone not completely finished that they will be cleaned to the best purpose but the that next level cleaning that you go um won't happen till the breaks just because we just didn't have the people but they're not you know stuff flying all over and not you know clean kind of stuff there so that's what I just wonder what that me we know we plan getting a schedule probably they talk to Christmas break stuff like that where those things will get done thank you and then they become first on the list next year According To Bra said there you go thank you any other questions all right thank you next uh moving on to the lead in the waterpr yeah so from resource training here it luded to there and I what I did basically for the the little board pack I just kind of copy piece of what they had there so I didn't miss save it all from from from what is required um so basically we have is they did some testing again I was not part of that before that's previous to my prior to me coming into this role and then and the other so um those results will be put up on the website there's some requirements to get and so I'll be working with Coury on that one and then once the board proves the plan that resource training puts together for the district then of course that's got to be posted on there um then we have you know need to follow along with the plan and really what it's just saying is things are going to be tested things have been tested and they are not finding you know items in the water from the usually come from a lot of the old pipes and so forth um and then what's going to happen you know when you have to test people are aware of that um and then of course big part is we have to let the Department of Health know anytime we are going to be doing that we work with resource training on that so that's going to be Dwayne working CL with them H also um and then we'll you have to notify basically um everybody who works here and so you put that into we have to add that to our employee handbook card there and then we also have to get it into they call it a parent handbook but we have to also get that out so those are always involving handbooks and things that move on we just got that information here last week so I'll don't have to work with uh the crew and I'll be bringing it to the D team whenever we meet in the in the fall here to see how we're going to get that across to everybody so the part that you guys would have tonight is is just to uh I believe for you share the plan with the crew yeah is be approval of the plan itself and then we have to move forward because these are all parts of the plan and I'm newer to this one this is the one first one for me so kind of working with our uh our crew up at resource training Jo and I are to make sure we follow everything properly but the big part is there's no le in the water is what I was told so is this something that's new like this I don't think so based off what he was chatting about and dway was kind of the main one right there that it's just something that um as far as we know we we have to get out there I believe it's what may this five years yeah and so it's kind of like with the fire alarm system we have to have a fiveyear check there to which I guess had been done for a while either so these are just things we're U making sure that our folling uh that we didn't miss anything so we've just been checking with our state and governmental agencies make sure we're uh we have everything you know all the t's crossed all the eyes dots so make sure we don't miss anything especially for safety reasons awesome thank you any other questions um do you know is this uh something that's going to typically happen in the summer time that's a good question I do not know the typical time that that' be something as we move forward I can ask and say what is our you know most times when you have items like that you tend to do them when the people aren't here so if there's an issue you can take care of it so I'm going to assume based on my experience that that's the case however I think it also depends on their schedule since they're doing the testing okay for us but that is a good question will I'll bring to the team and I'll try to make sure I get back to that any other questions comments great thank you so this is an action item in front of us tonight so the request from the district is to approve the um lead testing man or lead and Water Management plan as presented in the packet um so I would take a motion on that I'll make a motion to approve the lead in water plan all right I have a first I have a second I'll second second from Miss Johnson first from miss frasa any comment or discussion all right ping no comment or additional discussion we'll call for a vote all in favor I I anyone opposed carries unanimously all right next moving into item 8C which is our update on negotiations Mr mcy um so the I put a little bit of the past um from 284 in the district where it had been we had met three previous times so he met here again just uh than last week um on August 14th uh the district B shared a counter counter offer would you kind of call it there and so you look at a few highlights right there um we added step forward to the pay schedule a total fiscal P package of 7.95% I didn't put in all the details of all the parts but there um from the contract present there increases to health insurance for be um the salary percentage the HSA and so forth um but it adds up to a total percentage based on our last year staff of 7.95% and then we did make another uh change on offering uh change in the longevity section which just basically move the down very similar increments but started at seven years instead of up at 10 um the teams will meet again here in September um and we'll move from there and then we can update you where it goes from there what do the meeting probably is it that day I is the next meeting yeah what when is it negotiation when's our September meeting 18th yeah that negotiat in 18th when's the actual board meeting oh we are oh or before that so we'll have to we'll have to update you if anything uh in the uh October meeting just for an FYI yeah this time just I know we have three members of the team in here and one that was a member of the team previously but just wanted to share that one of the things that as a district we've been looking to really do is reward longevity um and so you know our our offer is primarily towards the top end of the salary schedule um because we believe our entry level area is quite competitive and we want to reward those who have spent their time and are planning on staying here in Rockford forer can I ask you a question you know regarding the and I don't know if I can go back to this on the consent there was a question I think uh Jessica had regarding the retirement able to make a comment on that now I don't think it is later on in the meeting sorry oh um I don't nobody could just it's just informational obviously it's nothing on just so anybody else could understand on theou um shoot um I don't know if not I can explain it later but I just wanted to check I don't know yeah so it one fall under negotiations no okay okay certainly I mean you could ask to agenda if it was important to do so or if it's just a more of a clarification [Laughter] question all right cool all right so that's negotiations is covered then any other comments or discussions from the negotiations committee no all right great appreciate the update uh next moving into the next agenda item which is uh fee approval which I think Jeff are you presenting this one I'm I'm happy to do it okay Mike's getting uh superintendent's office um oh yes activity fees for fiscal year so what we included there is just a copy in it is on the website here um if you go into the activities and work your way into the uh handbook and so forth for the families uh the big part I wanted to get to the board here is this is being examined this year throughout um by the activities group so according to what we're working with Dan Stacey and others that this will be something brought throughout the year so there's changes coming to any other fees besides I believe it was the robotics one that is taken under Community ad but just just say your football or your basketball just kind of go that that that stuff will be brought in throughout the year kind of uh reviewed and checked and and probably recommendation for any changes coming in the following year following year okay just so so these are for this year this is for this year that is not changing right now everything will be reviewed and so by let's say next summer and we can get that information out to all the families so if there's changes do in and looking in the actual cost analysis of you know what it does take to to travel because some of the sports I think people realize have to travel a lot more than others and so that's some of the stuff we're weighing out there sounds good um so this is an action item for these particular activity fees as presented any other questions or comments on that before we jump into a motion all right with that I'd entertain a motion I'll make a motion to approve the activities fees as presented all right I have a first or I have a second second I have a first and a second any further discussion or comment any no further discussion or comment I'll call for a vote all in favor anyone opposed carries unanimously next moving on to Galaxy fees um a fee increases being recommended looks like Mr mnel yeah I guess I wasn't completely up on this one so um just basically what you're looking here is to meet the cost of what it does to run the program um so you see the increase here you're just looking at like anything with I don't you want to call supply and demand as things are increased we have to increase the cost there just to manage the program properly but it's it's thriving right now and Cody and Melissa and so forth um just recommend their recommendation is this is what they need and so I just recommend you because they know the details of the program and I'm not going to ever pretend to be an expert in child care not anymore it was about 15 years ago the information is on the packet yeah all right so really what the the big changes are the 2023 2024 school year fees because the summer fees have already I mean in the package it's 2024 summer so that's already passed right are those for yeah are those for 25 be the Su fees yes so it because it says 2024 24 I'm assuming they met 25 yeah okay okay so make a motion we correct it and say that that with the correction I don't think you need to correct them because they're school year so the school year is 24 25 but it says here 2024 summer fees so that should I would think that would need to be corrected to oh you know what though this one says it that way too though the other one says 23 so I think it's they know what they're talking about there's no changes that I just doing we don't it's just the school year piece it's the school year piece all right so does anyone have any questions on that no all right uh with that I would take a motion regarding the Galaxy Fe I know Melissa's been here before and has talked to us about it and I know Community who's on community advisor advisory Jenny Jenny okay I know I feel like they've talked about it too so all right any yep I'll make a motion perfect to approve the Galaxy Fe us stated second right I have a first and a second forur the discussion or comment ping no fur the discussion or comment I'll call for a vote all in favor I I anyone opposed carries unanimously all right next moving on to meal prices again Mr mcel yeah there's only one small change in this one that was the adult meal or the second meal that goes from the kids moving from $4.95 to $5 that I mean so probably in terms of problem crew managing the money it's going be a lot easier instead of 5 cents back every time um but just we're following the state guidelines here on what's what's going to be the chart that's that's I'll send that right there and their requirements are remember it's still a free meal for that first meal for the kids it's the second meal that they have to pay the adult price which is just going to app s great thank you any questions or comments on this one otherwise this is an action item as well and I would entertain a motion I'll make a motion to approve the meal prices for the 2024 25 school year all right I have the first from Miss prasa do I have a second I'll second second first and a second any further discussion or comment any no fur further discussion or comment we'll call for a vote all in favor I anyone opposed perfect carries unanimously uh item next uh jumping into the capital Levy discussion uh turn this back to our superintendent thank you yeah I just want to make sure that we talked about this on a regular basis I know the board does as well um and just an update uh for the for the board and those in the audience and who are listening at at home We are following and have been following the guidance of our technology plan the comprehensive plan laid forth by director kenit um that has kind of been guiding our work in terms of what uh we have we don't have what we need uh to both continue and enhance our um our educational and operational aspects of the district uh from a technology standpoint with that being said um there are three things that have been identified as a reminder Safety and Security instructional tools and infrastructure across our district uh this information is being brought out uh to uh to our residents our taxpayers our voters um in a variety of ways and I want to share a few things um Courtney did mention the the website that's being constructed it's actually almost done I've looked at the the template in the sandbox if you will and it is quite good and it'll be ready to be rolled out to the masses again late this week early next week we also are constructing a signature mailer that will go to all households and a signature video that begins production here next Wednesday um with b-roll to be completed on the 11th of September an initial draft done on the 16th of September and a final draft ready to go out to families right around the 20th of September um so lots of information there uh the web page will have um an FAQ section on there that details a whole lot of information probably more than most want um but it'll be there for everyone to see as we are um continuing with the process of being transparent uh with our residents about ask and and the need um along those same lines there are several Community presentations at uh with groups individuals and municipalities being set up as we speak and I've connected with many already um and I'm excited to do that one of which will take place which is a come one come all presentation at the high school on the 22nd of October um and as I mentioned previously I want to remind folks that there is a Q&A um during and or at the end of that all the presentations so that will be exciting um as board members are available I think you have that Google doc feel free to sign up to um to come along if want to or or maybe two want to come with you're more than welcome I know some people have already done that already um but don't feel any urgency to do so but I can I can stand on my own to feet if necessary so um but that work is going along well just as a as a reminder as to the timeline the the election is a general election taking place on November 5th um we will have this signature video um out um along with the signature mailer somewhere around the week of September 23rd and um around October 7th another video will be produced um from the same entity about the need and the why um the 14th will be another uh social media video around the solution as to how we would potentially solve this this budget Gap uh around October 21st uh postcards going to Residence and another video about the value um of the District of residents and then around the 28th will'll be another mailer going out and another video through our social media channels reminding people to vote so they our goal is to have nobody say they didn't have enough information U didn't have their questions answered and at the end of the day it's a private personal decision for each and every one of our voters in our district to make and um our job is to explain the need and the rationale for the increased funds I will add um for those who might be interested that this ad is much smaller or this ask is much smaller than what's previously been asked around our our district this will be all in the publication literature as well but it's around $13 a household on the average home valued at 375 and um this will get us just to the state average for local approved levies not the Metro average which would still be around $600 short of but we're not asking for all of that we're just asking to get to the average that is the update on our current plan for the capital or technology Levy Wonder sounds great um can we with all the different videos and social media things we're putting out can we make sure that we do a social media post on Election Day telling people to get out to Just One Last thank you today's the day yeah proba forget good call out I think the only other thing maybe to add for calendars is um um the October said the 22nd one District open at all that would maybe be helpful to get on the board's calendar just to show up so that you know that it's there and then um Jeff I don't know if you want to resend the link out I'm looking at this does everybody remember where the spreadsheet is kept with yeah so maybe after the meeting or at some point just re resend it out where the link is I'm looking at it right now I can see it um but I don't know if everyone else has bookmarked it or if I did so um yeah but it looks like a great list so thanks for all your work and it'll be fun to get out in the community and talk about all the things and answer the questions do you know what time that community meeting will be at yet six o' so I just re-shared the document with you so I'm going just give you an example of some places we're going to go we're hitting the Lions Club on the 9th of September Raw on the 11th the Rockfield Greenfield chamber on the 12th um the district all district one on the 22nd I'll be at corkran City Hall on the 23rd U Maple Hill there's three dates being considered and then there's some other groups that I'm still waiting to hear back from and or have not yet been able to contact so I'm working on that now and some of that might also be during the school day I there's some folks you know I'm looking at um home school group I might go visit with some of those families during the day y um or mops and things whatever is most convenient for them so I'm going be reaching out to them in the next day or so and see what's convenient and if they also I'll welcome them to come visit me here so um I'll to them they come here but we want to make sure we're touching base with um every corner of our district and make sure that we show and demonstrate that value that each and every one of our families uh and students matter awesome and I think you've underlined it a couple different times ask questions you know I'm giving that space for that so thank you for that all right next any other questions on it no all right next moving on to our enrollment update yes thank you um we are pleasantly surprised with what we're seeing from our enrollment this year as we've mentioned before enrollment in our district along as going along the lines of a lot of other districts previous in the last couple of years where we've seen that decline in enrollment um what we are seeing this year is a bit of a rebound and I I don't think that's an accident um I will share with the board that we did um really project and used a lot of data to project and we did so conservatively for Budget reasons um but we projected um lower uh than anticipated numbers um for the start of this next school year please just share again that our kindergart and first grade numbers have surpassed it in fact our kindergart numbers have significantly surpass those numbers and I do want to share it's also me the presentation so I won't go through it we've only we only made personal phone calls to kindergart in first grade which are generally our more um our less predictable grade levels so some of these numbers we will have students who whose families have not told us their leading so we do anticipate some of these numbers grades 2 through 12 to perhaps decline a little bit um from what we're projecting or what we have tonight but these are actual enrollments as of today and I can share that our our numbers at the elementary school um are at uh 587 actual enrolled right now again grades 2 three and four if they're if they're leaving us and haven't told us we don't know that yet um and then um so that's a pleasant surprise and that is actually 61 students higher than we projected um in the spring at uh the middle school we are at 492 students which is 15 students more than projected again that may end up being close to projections but um that is 15 more at this point in time and then at the high school which typically we lose students and that's an area where a lot of kids will choose other options um we are at 490 students up 18 from projections again all the caveat of if they left and haven't told us we don't know that yet so we'll know more when school starts we do anticipate those numbers to go down a little bit but um it's really nice to see here sitting on August what 19th that our numbers are higher than projected and in fact some places significantly higher than projected which is a great thing for our budget but it also says a lot about what's going on in our schools right now there's a strong vibe in the community um I felt it and parade um and I'm really proud of the work that this board and our district has done um to take care of kids and that that's what we do and if we do that well they keep coming that is your enrollment update aome any questions on that no I'm just excited to hear the numbers yeah that's huge good thank you all right good thanks next agenda item is the uh oh the resolution item number 9A resolution authorizing the superintendent Ryo Hoover as the Iowa something we do every year something we do every year normal normal normal do we need to talk about it do we does I mean we can briefly present it if I can just share this with you that um Courtney is the backup IA and so we have ours approved on purpose six months apart um so that if one runs out which mine did um she's been approving some things right now so we're moving that up in the calendar next year but good deal um it's been we haven't lost the step because she knows how to navigate the system and I just tell her what we need to add and approve and take care of it so perfect but I'd love to get back on there so I can do it but I need your approval to do so I will make a motion to approve the Iowa uh reauthorization resolution all right thank you have a first I have a second I'll second the first and the second any further discussion or comment and this is a resolution so we'll need to do a roll call vote M Jessica Johnson hi Jamie hilstrom hi Beth prasa hi Amy Edwards hi ER Gordy absent and Jenny is absent so that's four that is it's still unim still unanimous we have resolution carries a good all right thank thank you next uh on to policy 527 R this is our second read any uh Dr Ral Hoover or anyone from the policy committee wish to speak to it or present anything specific to it no I think this is just the one that we had kind of pulled we we pulled because it had some stuff that was different in it but was what kind of we were doing but it wasn't actually printed in the policy so it's yeah I think there's some stuff in there that was printed that wasn't consistent with practice either so like keys and things like so thank you for looking at that and practing so um if there's no additional questions or comments on that uh this is a second read so I would entertain a motion I'll make a motion to pass policy by7 aome I have the first or have a second second awesome I have a first and second any further discussion or comment all right with no further disc question or common I'll call for a vote all in favor I I opposed carries unanimously next uh jumping into the board handbook first read so I mean we can te this up do we talked about our work session I'm happy to Tee It Up okay go for it you know I I guess first thing I want to do is is really thank and compliment the board for this work because it's been it's a pretty significant lift to do this right you know and interesting enough many boards don't have handbooks one thing I did notice last week is MSB actually sent out one saying they wanted to do a model handbook and I'm like yeah we're already way ahead of that and ours is better so um I I'm really um I'm really proud of where we've landed and knowing that things can still be tweaked along the way um but we are sitting in a good spot I've called this a legacy document because it really is going to detail um how our board operates how you all want the board to operate into the future um lots of dates lots of examples um it's a really solid document referencing back our work with the Strategic plan and uh Teamworks uh consultant work and uh something the board has been working on for several months there's been a few iterations some additions um some edits um but right now it's in a place where we are looking to um do a first read for approval and I'll maybe turn over to many of you have worked on this document so I'll pass it on to you because you've done uh much more work than I have um so I'll just say I watched that webinar for the um from msba for the handbook um I don't necessarily want to change anything about this now we've been working on it for a long time and it's great there are some things like last updated on there that um that I think we could add I mean we've talked about that we should look at it and update it every year but there was a couple things in the webinar that when we update it the next time I would like to adding so yeah and something I know the board has talked about at our work session of making sure that there's eyes on it every year updates tweaks and that would be just one of them so I am super confident Jamie will have that on her notes as we approach next spring to and so we talked it putting it on the calendar is an item that we will do and keep up with it and just make sure that it's yeah keep it keep it in place and and then just um this is a legacy document so it's really awesome to see so much in writing that hasn't been in writing before so the thing that Eric and I are working on to is just the general like how we run a board meeting so we'll have a little chapter on that so that won't um hinder approving it so um this is the first read um we'll approve it at our next meeting um what we might do is give you our version of the order deorum and if you know you want to you give it a thumbs up and say it's good then we could add it in or we can just submit it as a separate chapter and then it could go into the you know um so it' be like in the November final version but we'll just keep adding to things so I would say that if there is something that you're like hey this would actually be really cool to put in right now we can doesn't have to wait till next year and be like oh shoot I forgot but we can take this as it is right now approve it and then just know that we can add it's a living working document and so we can add something if we need to now we want to change it all the time and all the things like once we get it stabilized we probably want to have an annual review process but I think in the spirit of just trying to get it really good the first time around totally there's stuff that you think is would be good to consider I wouldn't hinder that but that's my opinion I don't know I agree yeah we can just one thing under the role of Vice chair the print is like gray I like to have you a look at that the timing of it as we're getting ready to bring on some new board members I'm just looking at all this like I wish I would have known some of this before and it I think it's going to help us at the organizational meeting it won't be quite so painful all the things yeah so thank you for all of your hard work totally agree with you on that it's good it's good well and when you sign up to be on the board you don't know all that you're signing up for so it just gives a spot to start and I think most people when they're newly elected like they're hungry for something and you gota wait for the training the training is so Broad and it's like how does it apply to this and what I'm being asked to do in in my service so any who well and I actually think having this and looking at this before you go to some of those MSB because you have to create those schema files and you have nowhere to put it when you're sitting there at msba right and then this to me helps I would bring this and take notes on it probably if I did it again we could offer that as a best practice yes right good reminds me I do have an ask on that I will be doing um we did have three candidates for the three open positions so um certainly people can be written in in any election but um I will plan on um inviting um our one incumbent and our our two um I guess newer um perspective candidates to a board meeting 101 um little session with a presentation I would really like it if one or more board members would come and explain the hand book if you'd be willing and once I get that um sort of lined up I will be reaching out to people to to do that because I think it would be helpful to not only hear from me but also hear from members of the board how we operate and how we do things I think this would be helpful too with mentoring board members and stuff too be great cool good all right so look forward to that on the next agenda items all right next uh moving into item number 9 is the resolution calling a general election yep and it's just a respectful ask from District uh Administration that the board passes a resolution calling for the general election that will take place on the 5th of November and we will have a question on the ballot as well as three board seats all right anyone have any questions the resolutions were presented in the packet um there pre standard language um for the election of the board members and then also the um the notice yeah so it's all pretty standard any questions on that otherwise I would entertain a motion I'll make a motion to approve the resolution calling calling for general election as stated as stated in the in the packet packet thank perfect thank you have a second I'll second all all right I have a first and a second any further discussion or comments all right any no further discussion or comments this is a roll call vote so call on our mam Beth pres hi Jamie hilstrom hi Amy Edwards hi Jessica Johnson hi Eric Gordy is absent J is absent so that resol perfect thank you all right next uh jumping into number uh item n which is a state of the district update by our superintendent thank you again and this is um something that we did not do last year I did do and create a state of the district but did not present it here and it was mentioned that it might not be a bad idea to do this with the board first and I have to tell you you are second because I did do this at the built Institute last week with our teacher leaders um and so you are second um but you're still you're still very good and I'm going to skip through some of these things as I go through and you'll see why because you know most of them and it's maybe not as pertinent but I just wanted to run to the state of the district with you as of right now um first thing we're want to talk about um at our back to school welcome is the the Education Foundation and so um I believe Nikki is coming and maybe another I'm not sure to talk about 20 years of the foundation and what the foundation does for our our school district um so that'll be the kickoff thing for us there just a a short um you know talk about that um then we're going to welcome our new staff um I'm happy to report that we are almost and I say almost because we had a resignation in in um with an act teacher at the high school last week that we have not yet filled but um from a standpoint of our instructional staff um we are almost fully staffed including today um we were able to get um a part-time special education teacher um and all of last year by the way we were're never fully staffed in special ed as of today we are um so we're going to welcome those staff members aboard and um do so with the Circle of Wisdom if you remember that from last year so um assuming you'll be in in um in attendance count up your years you've been with the school district because you'll be in the circle um talking with the staff about how we operate here and every day is a great day um Coming optimistic knowing that we'll make a difference in the lives of children and the families of our of our resident district and and those coming us some Northwest sub and other places it matters how we present ourselves each and every day and we're do with positive energy and a great deal of optimism there's lots of conversation about what the work of schools is um this is our work we care for our students with empathy kindness and a genuine belief in each learner School Safety and Security is a home Mark it's something we pride ourselves on high quality instruction comprehensive academic excellent tied to student passions and I want to share this to you guys a little bit here too we have a lot of students here in Rockford that are going to go on to a four-year college and probably Beyond we have other kids whose passions lie in other places and they may not and that's okay but our job is to provide a comprehensive experience so that any one of our students can go through any door they choose when they leave us and then the last one is strong school to home community and part communication and Partnerships if we do these things well our kids will be successful going to do a little of a year review and I'm going to skip through a few of these because you're well familiarized with most of them um alignment in our system when I arrived here last year um both the board and and those in our system said we were perhaps lacking some alignment um I think through some of the work we've done and some of the things you've seen in our DOT from this year and for uh the coming year that we have really done a lot of work in aligning our our system even hearing tonight um you know Mr mcnalty talking about his role um what we're doing there through the alignment in the system we're really quite proud of what we've done in in just a few short months organizational structure we have systems and structures Now set up in our system and again some of this is in the dob so you'll see it um but just as a reminder of what this means and why it's important that we have organizational structure and people know where to go and what they for what they might need at any given time roles and responsibilities we created a document last year I think it was somewhere in the lines of 13 or 14 pages at one point where it had who was the point person or Point people for each and every that somebody might ask and in many districts maybe it's not as necessary but in ours A lot of people wear a lot of different hats um and so who do you go to who do you ask questions for this is all information that is now on our website uh underneath a document that says rules and responsibilities it's been updated for this year and so anyone can still find um the point people wherever they want to do so we clarified a lot of things with alignment structures and people this last year and we're very proud of where we've landed and it's still a work in progress we talked about having a vision what is our vision and this really does matter because people should know and we have a model of shared leadership and this model is I'll use the word modeled again um coming from our school board on down through our system and how we uh establish shared leadership um and knowing our lanes and our roles within our system it does start with the board these really good-looking people on this in this photo right here um creating the conditions for a success um we didn't we talked a lot about the Strategic plan last year but I don't know we talked about what it meant to have one a lot of districts do have a strategic plan most no almost nobody can tell you what it is but they have one and generally it was something that cost a lot of money they brought a lot of people together and it sits on a shelf Gathering dust ours does not this is an example here of one of the documents that was created last year you'll notice the um strategic directions on the left hand side everything we do including the district operational plan that's coming next um is based on those five tenants this I'll be talking about here in a little while as well it's very important that people know our goals what we're looking to accomplish in any given year um this was something that was approved by all of you back in the spring and so we've all put our stamp on it saying this is our work and so there isn't any misconception of I thought we were going to do that this year or did we accomplish that um I'll be talking about this a little more in detail in a short while but um tonight we're going to review again what those goals are um and also we'll be coming back in January to say where are we with the goals and again in May to say did we meet these goals um are there areas in which we can still improve are there still goals and progress along these lines these are really system structures and Alignment that we've been talking about and they all based again on the Strategic directions and the Strategic plan you guys remember doing these yep my favorite still might be that one that says culture of collective purpose because I've seen it nowhere else on any other document anywhere in any other district and that really talks about who we are as a system and I I'll use the the first sentence there through interconnectedness and interdependence we create a school Community where each person belongs contributes and feels a sense of ownership if you are part of building something you value what you create and that's what we have going on in our system right now and many school boards are not part of that this one is and it's permeating through our system including the work of our built last week partnership this is what we started last week our coordinating Council which is comprised of teacher leaders as well as District administration we went and posted interviewed and hired members for our building instructional leadership teams as well as our building operation leadership teams two different groups to do this work it was super exciting because this started last week and it was an awesome day here's a picture um this was over at uh the high school uh the different teams again I'll mention Kathy Matson and I have been working since really since before school ended last year to talk about this day um we're very proud of how the day went the biggest feedback from the teams is we needed more time and so we found more time for them so they've working um as their own entities at their sites versus one day together um to finish crafting their school Improvement plans which now we have a consistent document for the school Improvement plans and we have our um aligned work for the year which is which are these three things work on standards de clear purpose learning targets ensuring that students know the purpose I don't like it when kids say I don't know what we did today or I don't know what we'll ever need that for um we're going to be talking about that regularly throughout our system and then the assessments the assessments better match the learning targets and they better be connected to the standards or don't ask the questions so that's the work we're doing this year with our teams and we have actually put this out two additional years which I'm not going to share with you today um but we have a plan um and that plan will continue to be going out into the future as to what we want to do many of our teachers um as we talked um we've said we've done some of this work before and I said well where is it and that's the biggest question is there's been a lot of work that's been accomplished in this system along the lines of all three of these things that was never used used or was never aligned in the system and so our teachers are super excited to engage in this work this year and the beauty of built it's teachers leading teachers and um when you're working with your colleagues and your peers on things it really makes things go smoothly and that people understand what it's for the worst thing we could ever have as people spending a day in PD walking out and saying that was worthless we never ever want a day like that talking briefly about the react you've probably heard of it this has been a significant lift and I really I've said this before um I've been engaged in this training in my position um overseeing learning Innovation and I have learned a great deal um my I've always respected my Elementary School colleagues in the area of literacy I have a newfound respect for them too because as I'm going through this you know I have a chemistry degree right I feeling pretty good about myself having that which I don't use anymore but I'm going through this this stuff's harder than that and as I talked with Rachel on um Rachel yakish who's our one of our co- literacy leads the next step on this is not just uring we have the training done but how it's actually implemented and operationalized in our classrooms so you're going to hear more about this as we go and I'm proud of the work that's been do been done thus far and I'm I'm going to be equally proud I know of the work that's going to happen in the future shifting gears a little bit and this is something that I really want the community to understand is as Rockford area schools um who are we here's the student enrollment that I talked about earlier I updated this today for this meeting and these are fresh off the presses from Christa to me just today talking about the demographics in our system this is what we look like in our in our schools right now 7% of our students are English Learners 177% qualify for special education or have an IEP 35% um receive educational benefits we think that number actually could be a little bit higher um we're working on making sure we get documents back from from those who need to turn them back in and 20% this is our highest number that I can remember that I've been told one in five of our students is Northwest fman integration school district one five I do anticipate this percentage going down but the number going up meaning I think we'll still keep attracting kids because because the great things we're we're doing within our system but I think our resident population will probably make that number go down as we move forward in time community outreach I created this slide a long time ago this is actually Rockford Illinois's website it's our web page that we're working on there the community survey that we did recently I'll be sharing this information out with the board and the community later this fall I reviewed the preliminary information off that survey there are definitely areas that in which we can work and improve and that's why we do it but I have to say the information coming back really made me feel problem this as you know is our tagline you're going to be seeing more and more of this as we go um as we complete the process of the election cycle and move into January February uh which is enrollment time and we have plans around public uh engagement public relations and marketing utilizing this along with a lot of other u means and now I want to share a little bit of by the numbers to give you all and the community chance to really understand what do these numbers mean we have three incredible magnet programs unique in their own right at each one of our sites very few school districts can claim this we are a comprehensive magnet program across our system with very distinct things that kids can um believe in be a part of and enjoy five students earned their IB diploma last year that's incredible it really is five other students got their IID certificate that was five for five by the way we have 23 Fine Arts and activities 28 different athletic teams 78% of our students in high school participate in at least one athletic Fine Arts or other school sponsored activity I want to sure this includes our our music ensembles um in addition that number below is even more impressive 50% participate in two or more activities that number is off the chart I've said this to the board before but I'll say it again when I was interviewing here I don't know what it was it like 17 18 months ago the students in there said this is why they're here they know that they can belong and it matters this number needs to be updated we don't have the updated numbers yet this is the average ACT score of our class of 2022 um that's a really high number the caveat people say that number is crazy that's higher I actually talked to M you that's now higher than theirs that's I will say this um they give their act to all students um ours is self- selected but of the students in Rockford in the class of 2022 that took the ACT that's the average score by the way the average score nationally is 20.5 Minnesota it's just shy of 21 when people say that we don't offer enough or don't have enough I say we have something for everybody 70% of our teachers have obtained an advanced degree lifelong Learners now let's talk money you all know a lot about this already but I'll talk some money with you guys this is where schools would be if the state kept up their end the bargain with inflation so you look at the number going back to 2003 if it's extrapolated up to 2025 the per pupil allotment is 7,281 that's the real number the number provided by the state if it kept up with inflation be 8543 per pupil I want to share something on this because that might not mean a lot I mean yeah it's $1,300 that's $2 million to Rockford area schools $2 million roughly 29 teachers I talk about that we're running a little bit lean here and we're okay with that everyone here knows their role understands their role is here because they want to be here wearing multiple hats doing multiple things and we're putting the money where it belongs in our classrooms a little visual here 74 cents of every dollar goes directly to student instruction support that number for transportation is a lot higher than I want it but it's certainly expensive Administration that number is actually 4.6 cents on the dollar but I round it up because I wanted to be fair um Support Services 7% and the fixed cost 1% this visual will be on our Levy web page explaining what these things are as well you've seen this before this is from amsd and to get this to fit I had to put on a few different slides it's just talking about comparables the one I'm going to go to is at the end you'll see Rockford um total operating voter approved dollars is 16183 I want to say this first we are so thankful and appreciative of our residents for that um that is no small thing and we are grateful I'll also add that the um area metro schools of which we have to include there's a few districts that are not technically Metro Mano Rochester duth St Cloud they're also in amsd but the average across the amsd districts is almost $2,700 and the state average is 22184 the ask we are going out for would put us almost exactly at the state average still $468 in change less than the Metro average that would really really be helpful for us but I wanted to make sure people saw this there are some districts with less you'll see St Michael doesn't have a any operating Capital there or very little I'm sorry they have a tiny amount there with local optional Revenue but voter approved it doesn't exist I'm going to probably clean this up for the slides to the public it's a little bit confusing but there's all the stuff on the left that we need to operate in it with our technology you've seen this before 10% of our total budget roughly has something involved with technology whether it's Staffing items infrastructure um we're asking for 900,000 a year or 9 million over 10 years versus what actually will cost us which is close to well it's it's over 25 a half million over that time so we're not asking for everything but we're asking for a little help this this is the question you approve that tonight this um will be cleaned up a little bit better when we get to the um on the website it's a little bit blurry here but um this is where we didn't do the the tax calculator which some districts do because I I didn't feel like neither board want to spend three grand on a tax calculator um but the general idea here again and I said this before that um on an average pric home in our community um we're looking at $13 a month or $156 a year so it's a much smaller ask than um I know many districts ask for and what this district has asked for in some other elections as well that is the state of the district um a little bit who we are what we're doing where we're going and I'll be sharing that a slide very similar almost identical so um you'll already seen it on uh Tuesday Workshop week and I'll be taking this show on the road as well um to the various um groups that I'm going to be speaking question um I have any questions I just had a couple comments so awesome so thanks for the preview here and and going through it it's always impressive to look back and see how much growth this district has uh been going through and in a very fine and positive way and I saw my part uh tearing up at one of those moments that you were talking about and so it's just nice to see so much coming to fruition um just a couple just from an outsider because we kind of know the inside baseball just a couple things to think about depending on the audience like with the read act most people have no idea what it is and it could just feel like some terrible unfunded mandate and all the things right but it there really is a purpose behind that and so helping the public understand why it's important to to you know albeit there's a ton of legislation around it that makes it the hard part right to execute but the the intent of it is probably good right at the core of it but I do think that you've done some really cool things in the district showcasing how the district was really ahead of the times with our training that we had and then going to bat I think that would be a really nice story to bring out into the public too um just to show how Forward Thinking and how our teachers uh they actually I remember the board meeting like they advocated for that and came and talk to us about it so was really cool there that's one thought um enrollment the only other thing I'd add there is like it's upward so maybe put an arrow on that slide oh because it's like we're going up so that's a good thing um and then the only other thing that I would just add is like like we understand magnet and we understand Northwest Suburban um but depending on the audience they there might be a misunderstanding of why that's a good thing um and what it actually does bring to the district I mean it's good to have more kids coming how the kids come the transportation is covered it's we don't do anything extra to bring the kids here they get additional opportunities it's 20% of our enrollment that's an amazingly wonderful thing um and so just helping with that magnet picture and and Northwest suburban and I think it's a complex story to understand and like we understand it because we've lived it but I think to the general public they're like what is that thing does that matter so those are my only because it's something to be super proud of like and you know I was talking to somebody uh from another that actually is going to come to our district and um they were with a little kiddo they were blown away by the elementary Arts you know framework and then just could think through like wow like how the child is going to learn in that environment because that's kind of where they're at right now they're super creative and that space and all the things and like how those skills will then be propelled into the you know Middle School um what they learned in the elementary school doesn't go away we they just continue to build on it so I'm just pulling from our magnet day that we had but it's just like that's a really important story to tell that I think is so so so unique and um so many kids benefit from it in different ways so that's my only things but otherwise like super awesome and thank you for sharing it's great feedback yeah sometimes when you're immersed in it you think everybody knows what you're talking about so thank you I appreciate that that's a good reminder for me other comments I'm so good I thought was great I know yeah we were a little busy this year oh my gosh yes yes cool yay all right um oh the only other notes that I put on my thing is welcome back did you just send that on our calendars okay and then new staff orientation did you last year I think you had the board come to hang out that has a new staff organization already heard totally cool the day okay yeah so Kathy and I were in charge of that for the first time so all good okay I think last year might have been the first time we were I don't remember but I was like oh I I went two years ago for sure with Rhonda I don't know welcome We'll add that to the plan for next year my apolog no problem it just going through the checklist okay any other questions on state of the district like so of awesome thank you again I did want to add that as part of that same agenda topic was a review of the dop oh yeah um oh yeah and so I wanted to go through that and you guys have all seen this I mean you approved it so it's no longer a working draft so you can ignore the watermark in the back but um again our mission you'll see our directions there as we go um I wanted to remind um not so much the board but anyone who might be listening to the recording or here in our audience this evening the um every one of these um every one of the straty directions has goals associated with it and what we've said before is if they're not associated with the direction they're not part of the goal and so you'll see here the different goals for student growth and achievement um who's responsible for that work primarily myself and Kathy mson um you'll see things about literacy work there the timeline in which we're using to complete these goals um again the structural road map you saw that tonight um PLC work our built work school Improvement plans all of that stuff is ongoing right now um uh strong curriculum review process all of those things are are under development I'll also let you know that the world's best Workforce has now a new name um I for the life me can't remember what it is it doesn't make a lot of sense but we'll use that when it gets to that point um so that might need to be edited but um that was just on a legislative change here um went in close but um again how we're utilizing that work um work around adsys um mtss I work in our our APAC uh GRE tech ed so we're hitting all those really important areas there's our work with our magnet program by the way we are still waiting any Daya we should hear about the the grant that I call the Avid Grant but it's a different name um throughout the Consortium because it's not all for Avid um but that would Infuse a very substantial amount of money for instructional purposes at the elementary school if we did it I did talk with Heather like from Northwest Suburban uh last week or before and she said we hear any day now on either going to be yes or no not yet go back to the drawing board give us some more data but we think that in the next couple years there's a decent chance of this passing that Grant would be um in the neighborhood if it's all provided to us neighborhood of $2.5 million over 5 years for the elementary school around instruction so um healthy and supportive environment that's the work we're doing um the student connectedness survey is something we were working on all of last year I provided that to the schools the other day so that's something they'll be working on um with their with their students worker on restored practices we did have I don't want to steal anyone's Thunder but the uh the book that I see over on um M Johnson's table there there is an area there how to work through restorative practices um and we're going to be utilizing that as well um Wellness Plan Melissa Joseph's leading and playing point for us on that Safety Committee we've been well underway on all of that work already um we're very proud of that uh to this point um District facilities work um we're working through that as well uh community school and family Partnerships again a big part of what we do um we've been talking about our work on social media our website work um things of that nature there's the survey that was talked about earlier uh technology and communication enhancements um we are still transitioning over and we'll be getting there shortly you hear some of that during Workshop week from director kenit on the new um domain uh name Rockford 83.org um the emails also are transitioning over that it'll be a process of um doing that transition so it's not all at once work through Community Ed again that's Melissa's work local youth organizations culture of collective purpose again my favorite title um that really has a lot to do with the do itself uh the reorganization of District Operations something I want to talk about here kind of briefly is that um the operations in our district um I'm very fortunate we are very fortunate to have and I know he's left here so he's not going to hear this um Mike being a former thank you former superintendent um has his pulse on a lot of things that are in our district and um he's been able to take on a lot of things kind of the some day-to-day financials U working with Bridget on Big Picture our CFO um but also his work in the area of um of of the operations with as he mentioned D Wayne and also with hoe in the custodial area has been pretty significant um so really proud of that I'm also proud of our work bringing in Bridget as our CFO because we pretty much know where every penny is now and that's something that when you go out and ask your resident taxpayers to support a levy um to go through and say well I think we have money in this place we actually know where everything is and we're um those reports are coming to the board on a regular basis so you all know where it is um again those quarterly reports from from bridg are are listed there um an onboarding onboarding process with our employees one of the things that Mike actually has in place now too is an offboarding survey that it's no longer TBD so we're asking our our staff um why are you you know going elsewhere and quite honestly um pretty pretty happy with the results of that just people want different things or maybe they're moving or very few people are leaving the system because they want to get out of our system and that's that's that's something I'm very proud of cuz the culture and cl what makes this District what it is on a district employee handbook that was rolled out through Vector training if you're have with that that's the all staff training that goes out so all staff have um or will be soon signing off on the staff handbook our work around built our work around Bolt the coordinating Council which I talked about our instructional cabinet which is our think tank for all new things instructional in our system um um coaching and developing leaders in our system this is a really big deal to me um because I feel like if you let people spin and tread water um they likely won't feel as valued and that's how you lose people um we want people to grow in our system and if they get to a point where they grow and there's nowhere to go to help them find a place where they can grow and that's okay too rocket recognition something that is still in the works Courtney are working on that with sort of a we haven't decided if it's staff member of every other month or staff member of the month but we're getting something going on that um then stewardship of resources fiscal transparency fair and fiscally sound employee contracts the only contract we have right now that we're still working on is our 284 contract but we were we are hoping and we're going to work with the EMR on this to hopefully start our teachers contract negotiations earlier I know people are busier in the spring but we're going to see if we can get that started some districts and many districts that I've been a part of before have had their contracts settled before school starts and that's always a good thing see if we can do that um finance department that work has pretty much been completed we organization of that and then you might notice the last thing on here which is a little thing called the tech Levy and so that's the work that we've been engaging in um right now so again you've seen this before it's 14 pages long it just our work our Collective work for the year when I say our work it's fun to know that we're all in this together from you as board members to me as a superintendent to my cabinet and directors to principles to teachers to support staff and everyone in between so this is our work and everyone has access to it and they'll know what it is we're working on and what we're trying to accomplish and I commit to bringing back the status of all these things uh in January and again in May that is the listen to it's awesome it's been a good year it's been a great year thank you for all your work you're welcome and the collective work and you'll be the first one to say this like everything on that page and what you just shared is a collective work of the entire organization in many different ways so really cool to see the only way it works I know agreed I agree because yeah lot's moving forward because of that so thank you any comments questions no just I love seeing all that seeing so much of it like if not completed at least there steps towards that you're I it's it's very they're very clear goals and they're happening so it's very nice to see it thank you well I think the board and with your guidance and a lot of us working together really started looking about protocols but now you're you've created a system that's that's going to show momentum to finishing it because a lot of times you can put these things out there these great ideas but know I like that you're organizing it and and just this is really our proof of what's what we're doing and then when we come back and we're saying if things are working or not what needs to be addressed because you already have it documented okay so as a systems level thinker that's really important to lay it all out in a strategic plan thank you all right great um we're going to move into item number 10 and then I had a re uh to maybe call a quick recess before we jump into board and committee updates okay perfect so let's jump into item number 10 and get that one done and then we'll jump into um a quick recess um so item 10 a turn it back to you again I want to just Express deep gratitude to our community for their generosity and donations I will share a few donations tonight Casey's has donated money towards the general fund and um we had Anonymous donation of $2,000 towards the football activity fund and then the rocket boosters uh for girls soccer activity track activity and then also the rocket boosters gave $3,000 to the concession startup um for the general fund donation I also want to show one that's not on here and it's a a thanks to the Rockford Education Foundation we had a lot of work at build Institute and I didn't want to take time for people to leave and scramble to go find lunch didn't want to ask them to bring a bag lunch so the Rockford Education Foundation um they provided us with um the the funds to have lunch and Harland came with food truck and so our teachers able to eat and then get right back to work and they appreciated that as well um but that was the Ed Foundation that was generous enough to supply the funds for that that's wonderful awesome thank you for that update um with that this is a action item it is a resolution so I would take a motion I'd make a motion to approve the resolution do we want I add the Education Foundation donation I don't have a dollar figure on it yet um so we'll wait for next month you'll add it to next okay so I will make a motion to approve the resolution of acknowledgements of contributions and donations as stated in the agenda awesome I have a first I have a second I'll second I have a first and second any further discussion or comment any no further discussion or comment this is a roll call Jessica Johnson hi Jamie hilstrom hiasa hi Eric C is absent Amy Edwards hi Jenny NE also absent pass is unanimous awesome thank you um with that I have a request to go into a quick take a quick Break um would you like to do five minutes five minutes um cool is everybody okay with that all right we're going to go into recess for five minutes do I need to do a mtion 705 yeah it's been a minute let's just do a motion just I'll make a motion for For Recess 7 do have a second second have a first and a second any further discussion or comment no all right we're going into recess oh vote all in going into recess 705 thank you think we do you can never over motion oh that's thank you I know I would have my right back in the is the mic back on okay perfect all right this is Amy Edwards at 708 we are back in session and moving into item number 11 or 10 b b which is just an update on our next meeting so we have the negotiations committee on Monday September 18th at 5:00 um at the middle school conference room 11 Board of Education work session is Monday September 16th at 5:30 in the do boardroom and then regular meeting of the board uh Monday September 16th at 6:30 in the um district office boardroom so that's our backtack month of September um any updates on those dates or anything else that needs to be added so good good all right sweet uh and so then next um board committee updates does anyone want to go first go first J all right so I had my maso board meeting last month as well as we had a special meeting as well um the week prior um so it was a close session special meeting so um I did that and then uh we had annual policy committee meeting um where we reviewed for the next chunk um I absolutely love that we are on top of policies in this district for the first time it's super exciting and like we are ahead of the game and everything feels really good and um we're looking at every single policy and making sure that we are up to date on everything um and we have Jim's eyes on them which is even better we stand Jamie's our fine tooth comb all right um we had our work session um negotiations um have had one meeting like with both groups and then um just kind of a planning meeting as well with our side um went to the Masa presentation of Dave web home run leadership um got book there amazing it was such an incredible Workshop to go to and I'm so thankful I went and um very excited that this is the kind of leadership that we want to have in our district it makes my heart really really happy um and we were there with great leaders from well we had St Michael District was there and then our maso special education Co-op their leadership was there um and then our leadership and it was such an incredible day and I absolutely loved it and it just makes my heart so so happy um yeah for so many reasons it's it was just a wonderful wonderful wonderful Workshop to be able to attend so um very thankful for the opportunity so thank you Dr ridol Hoover for that opportunity um and I think that is it for my update awesome thanks Jess any questions for Jess not a question but also add that that um we attended that via Grant so it cost us $0 and I'll also add that Dr web who's a close friend of mine also gave everyone in attendance free digital access to utilize these tools for the entire year unbeliev and the tools are amazing that's awesome absolutely amazing very cool thank you Mr thank you uh who would like to go next I can I can go okay so um I wasn't able to attend the um committee for looking at all of the policies but I did read them all and Courtney has kept us so organized thank you so it's easy to just go in and see what we should read and check so thank you very much especially when I couldn't go to the meeting that I knew exactly what I needed to read and put my little check in so thank you and um the of course the negotiation meeting that we're continuing to have and and um the it seems like a while ago but because it was in July but it was only a couple weeks ago the communication committee and um everything's just wrapping up and working so beautiful with all that so that's it aome thanks Beth any questions for Beth all right J um I went to the msba summer seminar which was really good um the the first Speaker talk about how your superintendent should stay for a really long time um perfect so you don't count disruptions um and then there there was a whole um presentation about policies which was super perfect uh for me so um talked about how like the purpose and the general statement of policy can really be kind of crafted to really fit your school um where some of the other parts maybe stay a little bit more static because they follow a lot but it was it was really cool to hear and see and it was it was a great day I really enjoyed it um and then I went to straight from that to the policy committee meeting so it was perfect it just worked out perfectly um so and then uh the work session uh me and Jess met with uh Mike and Cindy uh prior to the couple days prior to the negotiations kind of talk numbers and stuff like that um and then I went to the training with the leadership in our school again the Home Run Institute it was it was really great and like uh R Hoover said about the the digital things that I think will be helpful for some of the leaders to kind of amaz to to brainstorm ideas and stuff like that so I think I think it'll be awesome um and then uh msba we webinar last Thursday for the handbook thing I wanted to see what they had done for the handbook so I went to that and kind of saw what different things they had in theirs so that was pretty cool to awesome cool that's it thank thank you uh just from from my area um facilities committee we met today right before this meeting um just touch base on some of some of the potential future projects and we'll bring that to a work session in the future um probably in ear sept early October yep um then also Communications Committee just partnering with Beth and Jeff and the whole team on Communications planning and just really impressed by all of the all of the things that are happening and your presentation on state of the district said it in a different way Ron lean but it's this like small But Mighty right of just like everyone from getting our website up to date so it's on par to getting some of these um videos and different ways to tell the story in a different for different audiences it's going to be so cool and so helpful so thank you uh board prep call which is what Eric and I do every month and then just um Jess and I just did some and Eric and I too just some continued work on the communic on the board handbook just offline um yeah I know I was like did we yeah that was we did so me too yeah and then as a just like as a mom just putting on my mom hat um I had the opportunity to hang out at the parade in the float design area the baseball team um had an opportunity to be in the parade they were right behind the Grand Marshall so I think they represented the district really well there um and then it was fun to see the district team and the leadership team there um cuz then I got to watch the parade and so awesome to see the band and their performances to see the um the dance team was in the parade and they did a little performance the robotics team I'm going to miss somebody I know it um and then um obviously our Administration and it just would be so much fun we don't usually get to go because we're usually out of town so it just would be fun to continue to see like even and thinking Haring back to your presentation there's so much richness in this District of different things that our kids can do and it was fun to see the kids that um that took the opportunity to tell their story um to the community in the parade so just super cool um fun to see that and to watch for that so and thank you and the team for you know being present on us hot hot Sunday afternoon uh to give stuff out and to see um the fing so thank you for that Jeff it means a ton it means a ton because we are one the biggest employer in this community but two like we are charged with providing education to this whole Community as well so thanks for showing up and being present really appreciate that so with that um that's all I got for my updates anything else otherwise um I know this is everybody's favorite agenda item I would take a motion toj make a motion to adjourn all right do I have a second second I have a first and a second any further discussion or comment all right all in favor I I anyone opposed we are adjourned 7:17 p.m. thank you it's is it similar to the one we gave us okay that's what I thought