The BOE Recap

The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m.

The agenda was approved.

The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or specific volunteers of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee, a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or a volunteer of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. However, a meeting to consider an increase in compensation to a specific employee of a public body that is subject to the Local Government Wage Increase Transparency Act may not be closed and shall be open to the public and posted and held in accordance with this Act. 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1)

The meeting adjourned to closed session at 6:06 p.m.

The board reconvened to open session at 7:02.

The board held a public hearing about the change in the calendar necessitated by the emergency closure in late August. President Montgomery called for public comment three times and no one asked to make a comment.

Mr. Steckling introduced Dr. Eileen Brett and the Wilmot kindergarten team. They recently had a unit where they learned about community helpers and the people that help to make their school run. They invited Dr. Brett and Mr. Simeck in to ask them questions about their jobs. They asked such good questions that we thought it would be great to bring a representative from each class in to ask questions of the board! The students and board members engaged in a wonderful Q&A session.

Mr. Simeck started by thanking the buildings & grounds team, our villages, and our first responders that helped in the cleanup effort from the storms a few weeks back. We had power out in 5 of our 6 buildings at one point, which forced us to take a day off of school. Deerfield had a lot of trees down, which presented some extra challenges that surrounding communities didn't face.

We will make up that missed day on Monday, March 3rd (Casimir Pulaski Day) if the board approves that recommendation tonight.

We are keeping a close eye on the swatting & school threats that have taken place in other facilities around the country. We are in constant communication with our local police department and first responders to monitor any ongoing chatter or circumstances that may impact us. He said One of the reasons he wanted to talk about this is because one of the things we don't want to do is make a snap decision about calling off school. We want to work with law enforcement to investigate and validate before making any decision that impacts thousands of families and staff members.

Mr. Simeck attended a presentation from the Gun Violence Prevention Initiative last week. They have secured $5 million in state and federal grants to help support their program.

We hosted our first meeting of the Community Advisory Council. This is a joint venture of government agencies, educational partners, local religious organizations, and key voices around town. We had a robust discussion about perceptions of the district. We will meet three more times this year to tackle some big issues.

This Saturday, DPS 109 will be at the Deerfield Farmers Market. We always enjoy meeting a variety of people and getting to speak with families and those that don't have children in our schools anymore.

Our Buildings & Grounds facility on the Caruso campus is coming along quite nicely. Framing has been going up this week, and the project is still slated to be done before winter.

He said that we are still having discussion about our master facility planning. We are continuing to assess the impacts & strategy that would examine renovations at both middle schools, and renovations and possible replacements of elementary schools. You can go to dps109.org and click on Master Facility Planning to learn more.

This past week, we had a meeting of the Consortium for Inter-district Collaboration (CIC). It's a partnership between six different school districts and TrueNorth to create an "instructional rounds" program of sorts. Each district will develop a big question that their counterparts will help them examine.

The Anxious Generation is having an impact around 109. Each school is having its own evening program in the coming weeks. We are working on larger district events and with other elected bodies to have community-based events. We have donated 50 books to the Deerfield Public Library to help alleviate their backlog of holds. We are also acquiring copies to have at district office available for Riverwoods families that are not residents of the DPL. Another opportunity is to attend the Deerfield Parent Network seminar at Highland Park High School to talk about Parenting The New Teen In The Age Of Anxiety, written by John Duffy. That talk is taking place on November 19th from 7-8:30 p.m. at Highland Park High School.

If you haven't yet, we encourage you to give the DPS 109 chatbot Scout a try on our website. We are finishing up a two-month trial with the chatbot to determine whether it has provided sufficient value to our community.

There was one speaker who addressed concerns about the sizes of kindergarten classes at Walden.

Mr. Simeck presented five requests. More information is included in the packet of information provided onlie.

Mr. Simeck presented the annual enrollment update. We have one fewer child this year than last year. Our projections have been remarkably accurate over an extended period of time. Demographic studies are done by the district on a regular basis.

For clarification purposes, in 2021-22 our enrollment was 2,785 students. In 2024-2025 our enrollment was 2,713 students. Therefore, our enrollment has declined by 72 students over four years.

Mr. Simeck presented this, which is expected annually by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). It requires board approval.

Mr. Simeck presented this plan, which is required by the state to be filed by the district every year. This must be approved by the Board of Education.

Dr. Fisher introduced policies that stem from the PRESS release, which came out in July. The policy committee met a few weeks ago and developed these proposals which are in front of the board.

The personnel items, bills for payment, and destruction of closed session audio included as part of this item were all approved.

The report was approved.

The calendar change was approved.

The calendar change was approved.

The report was approved.

The plan was approved.

The report was approved.

The minutes were approved.

The minutes were approved.

The recommendation was approved.

Mrs. Jakymiw said that TrueNorth had a leadership council meeting on September 21st and Ms. Ford joined to present about DPS 109's work with MCIE. She talked about our work on inclusive practices. She updated the board on the District 34 petition to withdraw from TrueNorth. Around wintertime, there should be an updated report on the process.

There were four speakers who further addressed concerns about kindergarten class sizes at Walden.

President Montgomery encouraged everyone to attend the Deerfield Farmers Market this weekend as it's always a lot of fun. She had the opportunity to drive by the progress of the new B&G facility near Caruso and thanked Mr. Ryan and the B&G team for all of their efforts. It's exciting to see it going up. She thanked Mr. Steckling, Dr. Brett and the kindergarten team at Wilmot for the adorable What's Good presentation tonight. She thanked Mr. Simeck for his efforts with community outreach with the Community Advisory Council and for the bonds he has formed with community partners.

She also thanked him for his tireless advocacy on gun violence and conversations around The Anxious Generation.

Mr. Simeck thanked Danielle for thought partnership and collaboration on the new CIC partnership. He thanked Dr. Holland, the new superintendent of District 113, for the increased collaboration between the two districts.

The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees, specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or specific volunteers of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee, a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park, recreational, or educational setting, or a volunteer of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity. However, a meeting to consider an increase in compensation to a specific employee of a public body that is subject to the Local Government Wage Increase Transparency Act may not be closed and shall be open to the public and posted and held in accordance with this Act. 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1)

The board adjourned to closed session at 7:58 p.m.

The meeting reconvened at 9:02 p.m.

The meeting adjourned at 9:02 p.m.