Board RECAP

The District 211 Board of Education met Thursday, November 9, 2023, in the Board Room of the G.A. McElroy Administration Center. Below is a recap of key items acted on and reviewed.

Veterans Day
In honor of Veterans Day, which will be celebrated in District 211 schools in various ways, the pre-Board meeting slideshow featured District staff who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Superintendent Lisa Small specifically honored veteran and Public Relations Specialist Patrick DeGeorge, who was in attendance. Veterans in the audience also were recognized.

Student Recognition

The Board of Education formally recognized students who have achieved state recognition.

Palatine High School
Invited to join the student was coach Mark Johnson

Pablo Castro: 6th place finish in the IHSA Boys Golf State Tournament

William Fremd High School
Director Christina Collins joined students performing at the ILMEA State Conference.

Zaine Achen
Aadya Addanki-Tirumala
Aanya Bhatia
Anysa Burgos
Madison Dalleska
Reagan Dean
Stephanie Decker
Natalia Delgado
Natalyn Hunt
Emilia Kaminska
Paige Kelley
Clara Kim
Savannah Korte
Piper Luther
Sia Purohit
Manasvini Ravela
Amira Salamah
Sofia Simonian
Lillian Syme
Marelna Vandercar
Gabriella Vazquez -
Eva Youngblood
Tess Berendt
Malvika Dharwadkar
Nina Hannon
Inerefaa Indiamaowei
Sara Larson
Nayana Ramanujam
Madeline Ranieri
Rashi Ravi
Elyse Schlesinger
Pradhanya Sudhakar
Sophia Tziortzis

James B. Conant High School
Invited to join the student was Scott Cieplik

Nicholas Simon: 1st place finish in the IHSA Boys Golf State Tournament

District 211 is committed to preparing students for their future. We strive to build academic growth, college and career readiness, student involvement, global competitive skills and wellness in all future graduates. These form the foundation of our District 211 Strategic Plan, which outlines the priorities, goals, strategies and targets to drive innovative progress over the next five years. A benchmark of the Plan is to continue to implement student support systems while increasing communication and understanding with parents and our community. Mr. Josh Schumacher, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, Dr. Danielle Hauser, director of student services, and Matthew Hildebrand, director of administrative services, presented on the District’s progress toward the wellness goal of the District 211 Strategic Plan.

The Board approved the minutes from its Regular Meeting on October 19, 2023.

The Board accepted the donations of $3,425 from William L. Gill for a new press box sign at William Fremd High School; $2,000 from the Rotary Club of Schaumburg-Hoffman Estates for the Cougars in Need Program at James B. Conant High School; and $5,595 from St. Thomas of Villanova in Palatine to support the Blessings in a Backpack program at Palatine High School.

District 211 administered placement tests to 2,648 of the anticipated 2,924 incoming freshmen in the high school graduating class of 2028 on Saturday, October 21, 2023. An additional 115 students attended a make-up testing session on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. As a result of both testing sessions, 94% of all anticipated incoming freshmen have completed the assessment. Results are used in combination with recommendations from eighth-grade teachers to determine student placement into ninth-grade English, math and science courses.

The success of the placement testing program is the result of a coordinated effort involving District 211 transportation, student services, special education and technology services staff as well as many staff members at the local junior high schools.

The Illinois General Assembly enacted laws to provide a market structure for electricity and natural gas purchases. The legislation allows consumers to choose an energy supplier based on favorable rates and terms. In June 2024, District 211 will complete its three-year agreement with Constellation Energy Services for natural gas and will complete its electricity supply agreement with Dynegy Energy Services in July 2025. The District will need to procure electricity and natural gas services beginning July 2024 and July 2025, respectively. For this fiscal year, the District has a budget of $2.25 million for electricity and natural gas services.

The Board approved a live auction for the procurement of natural gas and electricity and authorized the Superintendent or designee to award contracts for electricity and natural gas services for a period not to exceed 48 months in length, subject to rates received that are no more than 10% above the request for proposals received on November 2, 2023 with final determination of product and term to be made following auction results.

Full details are available here.

The Board acted on a number of policy revisions and deletions following previous discussion.

The Board deleted Policy Section H. Negotiations based on the analysis presented to the Board of Education at its July 2023 meeting. The negotiations section was added to the list of policy sections in 1975 with no record of policies in the section. In 1984, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act was put in effect which would supersede any policies regarding negotiations.

The Board modified Policy BCBA Board Officers in line with proposed changes to BCE Board Appointments, the addition of the information regarding the treasurer from Board Policy BCCA District Treasurer and review of the entire policy.

The Board deleted Policy BCCA District Treasurer a Board Policy based on the addition of the treasurer and treasurer duties to Board Policy BCBA Board Officers.

The Board modified Policy JFCO Behavioral Intervention in connection with a revision to other Board of Education policies.

The Board modified Policy BDDD Quorum following the passing of House Bill 2447, which updates legislation regarding attendance of board members at Board of Education meetings. This Public Act added language regarding the ability of Board members to attend meetings by other means if prevented from physically attending due to unexpected child care obligations.

The Board modified Policy JHFD Student Use of Automobiles and Parking as a result of a change in procedures relative to student parking.

The Board modified Policy BCE Board Appointments, is based on allowing standing Board committees that now include the Parent Teacher Advisory Board Committee and Behavioral Interventions Board Committee, and additional clarification regarding Board member liaisons.

The Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) Delegate Assembly is the policy-making body of the IASB. The Delegate Assembly comprises one voting delegate from each member district. At the joint annual conference of the Illinois Association of School Boards/Illinois Association of School Administrators/Illinois Association of School Business Officials on November 18, 2023, the Delegate Assembly of IASB will review, discuss and vote on proposed resolutions submitted by member districts and vote for election of IASB officers. Board Vice President Steven Rosenblum will represent District 211 as the voting voice for the Board. Results from proposed resolutions will guide the IASB’s position statements and staff in ongoing legislative efforts.

This year’s proposals include five new resolutions. Information on the resolutions can be found here. The 2023 Resolutions Committee Report in its entirety can be found here.

School Report Cards were developed by the State of Illinois to provide information about academic performance and characteristics of students, faculty, instructional resources and finances at the school, district and state level. Report Cards are prepared by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) based on data received from schools throughout the State at various points of the school year. According to Illinois School Code, School Report Cards are to be forwarded to the schools from the ISBE annually by October 31 and made public within 30 days. The ISBE released the 2022-2023 School Report Card on October 30, 2023.

While the report card contains multiple measures, one of the most public components is the school summative designation. Each individual school receives its own summative designation based on the multiple measures index of academic achievement and student success. These designations are provided to meaningfully differentiate school performance based on all elements of the State’s accountability system and identify schools for support and improvement.

The Board reviewed the presented Report Card information and directed the Superintendent to post access to the School Report Cards to the District and school websites by November 30.

The academic program of l District 211 is organized into academic departments that include each content area. Each academic department is led by a department chair and further organized into professional learning teams (PLTs) and professional learning communities (PLCs) which meet regularly to continuously analyze and recommend updates to our curriculum to ensure that it remains rigorous and relevant. Three times each year, department chairs from each academic department, along with school principals and the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, meet to focus on both the content of the curriculum and the instructional methods used to deliver the content. This year, the Fall Curriculum Committee meetings focused on student proficiency on district benchmark assessments that show student academic performance toward our critical learning standards. District 211 faculty have worked diligently throughout the year to ensure instructional activities are connected to critical learning standards, and we continue to focus on career readiness through strong connections to changes in industry while maintaining the rigor to ensure college readiness for all students.

In addition to textbook and software approvals, the curriculum committee discusses core components of the curriculum, including new course proposals, updating course critical learning standards and curricular guidance provided by the Illinois State Board of Education.

The Board approved the report and recommendations as presented.

Sealed bids for buses for the transportation department were opened and evaluated. This bid includes the purchase of five 2025 model-year, propane-fueled, 71-passenger buses and four 2025 model-year propane-fueled, 42+1 wheelchair-equipped bus. Nine buses will be traded in.
We will receive a deduction of $20,625 as a trade-in credit. Due to the required manufacturing time, approval now will help assure delivery for the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Funds will be included in the 2024-2025 transportation budget. Bids were sent to five vendors.

The Board awarded the business for buses for the transportation department to the lowest responsible bidder, Central States Bus Sales, in the amount of $1,376,455.

The next scheduled regular Board of Education meeting will be held on Thursday, December 14, 2023, with closed session beginning at 6:30 p.m. and recognitions beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Anne Koller Board Meeting Room at the G.A. McElroy Administration Center.