ACROSS THE BOARD

Recommendations during Committee meetings go to the full Board for consideration, with final action taken during future Regular or Special meetings. This issue of Across the Board provides an overview of the following Committee meetings:

Learning and Teaching

• September 18

Business Services:

• September 25

Meeting memos, presentations and other documents in BoardDocs

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Beginning with the 2011-12 school year, Davis and Richmond Elementary Schools adjusted from K-5 elementary buildings to partner schools with primary (K-2) and intermediate (3-5) learning centers. Summaries of the research behind grade-level centers were provided at the August 21 Learning and Teaching meeting. As the District prepares to make boundary changes for the 2024-2025 school year to address overcrowding concerns, Administration is preparing a recommendation on whether to continue this partnership or return both buildings to K-5 schools.

Earlier this month, Administration hosted a series of meetings with families and staff of Davis and Richmond to share information about the history of the partnership, considerations being made, and to receive feedback. A survey was distributed asking the following questions:

• What would you like the Administration and Board to consider when making this decision?
• Regardless of configuration, what academic and climate experiences do you hope are preserved?

Feedback

Survey participants expressed the importance of maintaining diversity, concerns about a potential decrease in specials and the Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES) program, having siblings in the same school, and disruptions of friendships, among others.

Responses also noted a lack of awareness of the shorter elementary school day beginning next year. As part of the new teacher's union contract, the elementary day will decrease from seven hours to six hours and 20 minutes, and thus reduce the number of art, music, and physical education sections. The amount of daily total instructional time for students will not change in core curricular areas (literacy, math, science, social studies).

Recommendation: This item was for information and discussion purposes only.

Timeline update: On September 29, Administration informed Davis and Richmond staff and families that more time is needed to make an informed decision regarding grade-level centers; either maintaining primary/intermediate schools or returning to K-5 buildings. For this reason, the October 2 Learning and Teaching meeting will be canceled and no action on this topic will be taken at the October 10 Board meeting. Instead, a formal recommendation on the configuration of Davis and Richmond Elementary Schools and final action by the Board will occur in late October or early November.

Background

As part of its 2023-2024 goals, the Board has established key deliverables and timelines across multiple areas. This includes an audit of the high school academic experience and academic outcomes. The results will determine recommendations to support a cohesive and comprehensive experience for high school students that builds their college and career readiness skills and leads to measurable growth toward the District's Success Indicators.

Discussion

By November, a review of the high school course catalog will take place to assess potential modifications to the Advanced Placement (AP) program, dual credit, Fox Valley Career Center partnership, among other programs. Recommendations to the Board will be presented by April 2024.

Recommendation: This item was for information and discussion purposes only.

Background

As part of its 2023-2024 goals, the Board has established key deliverables and timelines across multiple areas. This includes improving student achievement for Multilingual Learners (ML) and Hispanic students who are underachieving.

In August of 2022, the District received the results of an equity audit completed by the Consortium for Educational Change and Chapin Hall. The reports indicated an achievement gap along demographics, specifically Hispanic and Black/African American students and socioeconomic status. An Equity Committee reviewed these results and made recommendations that were incorporated into the Strategic Plan.

Discussion

By November, Administration will explore these results further in order to identify the root cause(s) of the achievement gap, and develop an action plan to improve learning for Hispanic and English-language student cohorts.

Recommendation: This item was for information and discussion purposes only.

Each November, the Learning and Teaching team presents the Student Achievement Report to the School Board and the community. The report analyzes the District's progress toward the 2025 goals and interim benchmarks and outlines recommendations for continuous improvement.

Discussion

Administration sought consensus on the Board's expectations for the overall purpose, format and information in the Student Achievement Report, including what data to include, how it will be analyzed, how it is organized and what additional information may be needed.

Recommendation: This item was for information and discussion purposes only.

• Grade-Level Center Update

• Student Achievement Report

The special Learning and Teaching meeting for October 2 was canceled (see summary above). The next Learning and Teaching meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 16 at 5:30 p.m.

Meeting memos, presentations and other documents in BoardDocs

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Background

District 303 is exploring boundary changes for implementation beginning with the 2024-2025 school year. This process aims to ensure each student is provided with a safe, equitable and effective academic and social-emotional experience. Changes to the boundary lines will impact each school to varying degrees. The Board previously approved construction for summer 2024 that includes reopening Fox Ridge as an elementary school, relocating L&T and Transition to Lincoln, and relocating early childhood to Haines. The boundary timeline is as follows:

The guiding principles identify the Board’s priorities for the new boundaries and will be used by demographer RSP & Associates to create the various boundary scenarios for consideration. The boundary criteria is used to evaluate the various scenarios. The primary criteria are considered to be the highest priorities for the District and will be used as the predominant method of evaluating the scenarios. Once the top two scenarios have been identified with the primary criteria, administration will evaluate those two scenarios with the secondary criteria to determine the final recommendation to the Board.

Recommendation: Administration recommends the Board adopt the guiding principles and boundary criteria, as presented, for the development and analysis of boundary scenarios.

Discussion

The Board engaged with Administration and RSP to review both primary and secondary boundary criteria, and made adjustments to the order of certain criteria. The realigned criteria will be presented at the October 10 Regular Board meeting for approval.

Repurposed Buildings

In July, the Board approved construction for the purposes of reopening Fox Ridge as an elementary school, relocating L&T and Transition to Lincoln, and relocating early childhood to Haines. The Board has since approved the hiring of a project manager, Pepper Construction, which has been meeting with Administration and Wold Architects to assess the buildings to being planning. Work has and will include:

• Assessment of internal mechanical and electrical components
• Assessment of external building needs, including roofing
• Assessment of elevator installation at Lincoln
• Preparing specifications for construction bids
• Hosting meetings with internal building staff

Air Conditioning

Administration has conducted assessments with Wold Architects and Helm Mechanical to assess cooling supports to rooms and gyms throughout the District. A/C installation would be completed annually over multiple phases. For summer 2024, Administration anticipates providing A/C supports in the following areas:

• Anderson - Cafeteria
• East - Gymnasium
• Community Rooms - Bell-Graham, Corron, Norton Creek and Thompson

Other areas of need would be accomplished in phase 2, beginning in summer 2025.

Access Control

Administration has been conducting multiple site assessments to help finalize bid packages for enabling buildings with electronic keycard access. This will also be done in phases, with the first phase to include installations at the high schools, middle schools, Lincoln, Haines, the Administration Building and the Peck Road facility.

Recommendation: This agenda item is for discussion only.

Background

The Board in September gave Administration authorization to begin the process of issuing long-term debt through non-referendum bonds estimated to be $22.75 million. For the homeowner of a $350,000 home, the estimated annual tax increase will be $23.

Funding from these bonds will support summer 2024 construction projects as part of the reopening of Fox Ridge as an elementary school, relocating Learning and Teaching offices and staff and the Transition Program to Lincoln, and relocating early childhood to Haines. Funding will also support long-term capital improvement needs.

Discussion

In accordance with state law, the Board must first approve a Resolution of Intent. Since the issuance of long-term debt will not occur until next year, the Resolution establishes a higher than estimated value to allow flexibility should interest rates decrease. This would not change the impact to taxpayers. The Board will also need to sign an order calling for a Bond Issue Notification Act (BINA) hearing.

Recommendation: Administration recommends that the Board approve the Resolution of Intent and schedule a public hearing for the November Board meeting, as presented.

Background

The WeVideo software has been widely used by students and staff for the past six years. The service enables easy video creation and editing for class projects from a web-based system.

Recommendation: Administration recommends the Board approve the WeVideo renewal at a total cost of $35,171.

Administration continually monitors the actual revenues and expenditures for Mid Valley and District 303 throughout the fiscal year, and reports them to the Board on a monthly basis.

• Mid Valley: Revenue received to date is higher than budget estimates over the same time last year due in large part to tuition revenue. Currently, there are no areas of immediate concern within the revenue and expenditure budgets.
• District 303: At this early point in the fiscal year revenue trends and expenditures cannot be identified at this time, with the with the exception of salaries and benefits. There are no areas of concern at this time.

Recommendations: Administration recommends that the Board accepts the Mid Valley and CUSD 303 Financial Reports as presented.

• 5-year budget projections

• Long-term capital projects

The next Business Services meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 30 at 5:30 PM.