The BOE Recap

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.

The agenda was approved.

Ms. Schroeder from the Communications team presented the October version of What's Good in 109.

• Kipling had a Unity Day with appropriately-themed activities and took a schoolwide picture spelling out the word UNITY.
• Caruso CMA students heard from a NBC Chicago investigative reporter about her line of work and what she does to help people.

Our featured group is a new one in DPS 109. Model UN students from both Shepard and Caruso, along with club sponsors Mr. Komie and Mrs. Mastin, gave a presentation on what they have been up to this school year. The students participated in a simulation around various topics with the Board of Education members.

Mr. Simeck talked about the recent BOE/administration outing at the Deerfield Farmers Market. We had a great turnout and a great day of weather.

All six buildings have held Anxious Generation nights that have been well attended and have prompted all sorts of thoughtful discussions. There has been a groundswell of interest on this.

The Surgeon General put out a warning that while kids are having challenges, this is also a challenging time for parents as well. 33% of parents report high levels of stress and intensive parenting is taking its toll on parents' mental health. The Surgeon General also mentioned that schools can help by fostering open dialogue about parental stress, mental health and well-being in culturally appropriate ways.

We have donated 50 copies of The Anxious Generation to the Deerfield Public Library to help meet their substantial demand. We have also created mini-libraries at the District Office as well as at Caruso, South Park, and Wilmot that families who are not Deerfield Library residents can utilize.

We have also planned a community film screening of Chasing Childhood coming up on October 29 at Caruso at 6:30 p.m. We are requiring people to RSVP due to space limitations. There is also an upcoming discussion sponsored by the Deerfield Parent Network about the book "Parenting The New Teen In the Age of Anxiety" at HPHS on November 19th.

We have a Community Advisory Council meeting coming up on October 29. It's a joint venture between DPS 109, government agencies, educational partners, local religious organizations, and key community voices. We are working on solving problems from a community perspective. This was a recommendation that stemmed from our National School Public Relations Association communications audit last year.

If you haven't driven by Caruso recently, we continue to make progress on our new Buildings & Grounds facility. It is scheduled to be completed in the next few months.

Master facility planning continues in earnest. We continue to have meetings concerning Strategy C, which involves middle school renovations and elementary school renovations and/or potential replacements. For more information, you can visit our website.

Next week are parent/teacher conferences on Thursday and Friday. These are always incredibly important and valuable periods of time to learn about your child.

Our 109 Gives Back Food Drive starts on November 11 and continues through November 15. All donations will go to the West Deerfield Township Food Pantry.

Finally, next week is Principal Appreciation Week. We are so lucky to have a wonderful group of talented building leaders.

No one in the audience asked to speak.

Dr. Filippi presented four requests, of which there is more information and detail in the board packet. Two are seeking directory information. One is seeking information related to emergency operation plans. One is seeking enrollment data.

Dr. Arnold and Mr. Jezuit from the Department of Teaching & Learning provided this update.

Dr. Arnold went over fall math MAP data. School leaders have already begun evaluating schoolwide data for planning purposes, and soon teachers will begin evaluating data at the class level.

We administer student competency measures in SEL using the Panorama survey.

DPS 109 is above national norms when it comes to: self-management, social awareness, self-efficacy about ELA, self-efficacy about math, growth mindset, and emotional regulation.

We continue to lag behind norms in terms of grit.

In sense of belonging, all students continue to score very highly. Engagement continues to be an issue we are examining closely. We are seeing a decrease in students responding that they are going home and talking about what they do at school with their family. A summary slide is below:

In ELA and Math, Fall MAP data was shared and is displayed below:

You can click the button below to watch the entire presentation from the Department of Teaching & Learning.

Dr. Filippi presented the proposed 2024 Tax Levy. As a reminder, the levy is essentially the amount of money the district asks for from the county and the extension is what the county clerk will actually extend to the district and we will count as our revenue for the year. He went over what goes into the formula that is used for these purposes. He shared a timeline to show how this process is split up over four calendar years. There will be a public hearing in November for the proposed 2024 tax levy, and then that levy must be filed in December with the county clerk. The finance committee met on October 5th and reviewed 5-year projections along with the levy recommendation. He then answered questions from the board.

Dr. Filippi explained that this is a dollar for dollar matching grant from the State of Illinois that will provide up to $50,000 for school safety projects. We would spend the money and then provide receipts to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) who would then refund the district.

Mr. Simeck explained that this is an agreement between districts in Lake County to help each other in times of crisis. For example, when there's a large fire, you see fire trucks from all kinds of agencies respond. This is a framework similar to that.

The draft of next year's calendar is presented on an annual basis. Mr. Simeck presents the 2025-2026 calendar to the board for consideration. There are a number of competing interests and factors considered in the creation of this calendar. We try to align as best with can with District 113, knowing that we have families that have students in both districts. This item will be up for a board vote next month. Click below to see the draft calendar.

This is a summary of the board's self-evaluation workshop held last month with Ms. Martinez of the Illinois Association of School Boards.

Mr. Simeck presented this agreement for a short-term interim Associate Principal while the current Associate Principal at one of our middle schools is on a leave.

The meeting minutes, personnel items, and bills for payment included as part of this item were all approved.

The report was approved.

The resolution was approved.

The policies were approved.

The minutes were approved.

The minutes were approved.

The minutes were approved.

The documents were approved.

The agreement was approved.

Mrs. Jakymiw said that there was a very long TrueNorth board meeting due to two closed sessions. They also voted on the intergovernmental agreement that was raised earlier tonight.

Mr. Kuo said that there was a finance committee meeting, with another meeting scheduled soon.

The Executive Development Committee (EDC) also met in the past month.

There were no speakers.

There were no additional comments.

The meeting adjourned at 8:41 p.m.