H-F Board Notes 2/21/2023
A summary of D233 Board of Education meeting happenings
Meeting Date: February 21, 2023
School Board President Gerald Pauling expressed condolences to the family of junior Angela Clayton.
He also shared that HF won more Illinois State Board of Education Those Who Excel Awards than ever in school history. The school took home awards in every possible category.
- Teacher Special Recognition Emily Carroll
- Administrator Meritorious Service Lawrence Cook
- Teacher Special Recognition Andrew Gaus
- Educational Support Personnel Meritorious Service Candice Hall
- Community Volunteer Excellence Dr. Aginah M. Muhammad
- Early Career Educator Meritorious Service Cody Rudnik
- Student Support Personnel Meritorious Service Lauren White
- Team Meritorious Service HF Resiliency Project
- Team Meritorious Service Co-Taught Social Science with Reading
Black History Month Festivities
Student-Staff Discussion: On Being Young & Black in 2023 —Tuesday, Feb. 21, 3:15-4:15 p.m. in the Viking Room
STEM Panel: Village of Flossmoor and H-F present: Local Black STEM professionals share their experiences and advice with students —Thursday, Feb. 23, 3:15 p.m. in the Viking Room
Black Excellence Showcase — Tuesday, Feb. 28, 3:15-5:45 p.m. in the South Cafeteria
Teachers of the Quarter (2nd Quarter)
Reginald Brown
Ameera Odeh
Fatima Simmons
Matt Raglione
Rick Pavinato
Kanoa Mulling
Danny Gould
Paul Fasse
BJ Engrav
Jeffrey Corso
Winter Sports Updates
Competitive Cheerleading
IHSA State Qualifying Team.
7th Place at the IHSA State Final (The team was in 1st Place in the Preliminary Round).
Head Coach, Zenia Boyd received the IHSA Country Financial Teacher Spotlight Award.
Boys' Wrestling
We are very proud of the three individuals that qualified for the IHSA State Final: Jermaine Butler placed 7th, Vincent Robinson placed 3rd, and Deion Johnson placed 2nd.
Girls' Wrestling
The team has six individuals that qualified for the IHSA State Final. The team travels to Bloomington this weekend.
IHSA State Qualifiers: Ini Odumosu, Alima Toheeb-Lawal, Jocelyn, Williams, Basirat Sodiq, Nina Hamm, and returning State Champion Attalia Watson-Castro.
Boys' Swimming and Diving
The team placed 2nd in the IHSA Sectional. The best finish for our team since the 2010-2011 school year.
IHSA State Qualifiers/Sectional Champions: Charles Niemiec in the 100yd Breaststroke and Christian Curtis in Diving.
Christian is currently seeded 2nd in the state.
Diving Coach, Rick Carlson was named IHSA Sectional Coach of the Year.
Girls' Basketball
SWSC Conference Champions.
IHSA Regional Champions. The tournament was hosted at Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School. The team travels to Romeoville tonight.for the first round of the IHSA Sectional.
The Athletic Department recognized sports writer, Tony Baranek for his 50 years of service before the championship game.
Principal’s Advisory Committee
The PAC continues to meet monthly with a focus on a Profile of a Viking competency at each meeting. In January Dr. Wakeley shared about Communication and Collaboration. Dr. Alexander highlighted that the students used their communication and collaboration skills to develop 5 key requests of the administration earlier in the school year. They were able to celebrate the achievement of all 5 at this meeting:
Performance Incentives
School Spirit Calendar
2nd Semester Pep Rally
SEL Check-Ins
School Spirit Decor
The next Principal Advisory Council meeting will feature Michelle Chen, an alumna who is an engineer with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and was a lead engineer on the NASA DART Mission to change the trajectory of an asteroid. She will present on innovation and problem-solving.
He also shared his thoughts on gun violence in America including his personal experience as a student at the University of Iowa in 1991 for one of the first recorded school shootings. He encouraged community members to take action, write elected officials, and have conversations with children.
She also is excited to see that the Principal's Advisory Council has a forum to share their voice and their ideas. She wants the community to see the impact this group is having through the implementation of their ideas. She also posed the question of how we can get students involved at Board meetings since we have such strong Social Science, Politics and Government offerings that students are excited about.
On March 6 and in April staff will be working with the GLSEN Institute related to the LGBTQ+ community. The organization's mission is to ensure that every member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Inclusion and safety will be the first focus, looking at language and then practices for inclusion. Future work will include an equity audit and establishing measures for implementation.
- Susan Page, Class of 1982 — First United States of America Ambassador to the country of South Sudan
- Sophia Danenburg, Class of 1990 — first African American and the first Black woman ever to summit Mount Everest
- Dr. Nnedi Okorafor, Class of 1992 — First FEMALE BLACK Writer for The Black Panther Series (Long Live the King)
- Alana Mayo, Class of 2002 — First Female African American President of a Major Motion Picture Company (Orion Pictures)
- Dr. Seun Adigun, Class of 2005 — First African Summer & Winter Olympian; 1st Nigerian Winter Olympian
- Ron Bowden, Class of 2008 — First Black Technical Director for the Illinois High School Theatre Festival in its 47 years as the TD for this year's All-State production of Shrek the Musical
- Jarad Higgins, Class of 2017 — His album, Legends Never Die, is the biggest posthumous debut of the 21st Century
Net Zero Science Building
The administration and architects have been working with the Illinois Clean Energy Foundation to secure a $2 million grant to support the creation of what would be only the second Net Zero educational building in the state of Illinois. The building will include solar, geothermal and green construction materials and methods. From a pool of 80 proposals, the Foundation has narrowed the grant applications to a very short list with Homewood-Flossmoor High School being the only one remaining. The Foundation is particularly interested in the HF project as it will serve as an educational hub for those around the country who are interested in net zero construction.
A building of this size would typically incur energy and maintenance costs of around $84,500 annually. As a Net Zero building that cost will be reduced to $0.
The overall cost of the project including building the new Net Zero Science Building and renovating existing science classrooms is estimated at between $17,665,000 - $20,855,000. The school district sold bonds last year to pay for this project.
Timeline
- March 2023 submit Illinois Clean Energy Grant Proposal
- April 2023 Illinois Clean Energy Grant decision
- Late April 2023 issue bid
- May 2023 bids due
- June 2023 construction begins
- September 2024 construction complete
Culinary & Fashion Design Expansion Project
An expansion of the Culinary course offerings including the addition of a commercial kitchen that will allow students to earn restaurant management certifications is also in the works. This project, which was bid out earlier this year but came back with costs significantly higher than anticipated, will now be included in the larger Net Zero Science Building bid. HF and architects anticipate that a more favorable bidding climate this spring as well as a connection to the larger project will bring the costs for this project down significantly. The anticipated cost is $3.1M for this project. The bidding process will be as inclusive as possible to attract a diverse bidding pool for the project while following all legal requirements. The space needed for the expanded commercial kitchen will allow fashion design classrooms to be moved into newly renovated spaces. These classrooms will better serve the growing student interested in these career paths.
Timeline - established in collaboration with culinary teachers.
June 2023: Construction begins
August 2023: Current space renovated for start of the school year.
January 2024: Additional commercial culinary lab ready for the second semester.
Tax abatement of $2.1M
For the owner of a $250,000 house, this equates to $619 in savings.
From FY19 through FY23, HF has abated $18M to the taxing body. This includes all possible abatements over the past 5 years.
2023-24 and 2024-25 School Year Calendars Approved
Links to calendars:
Planning Committee Meeting Report – 1.25.23
Personnel Committee Meeting Report – 2.2.23
Finance Committee Meeting – 2.7.23
Two-Year Administrator Contracts
The Board of Education approved two-year administrator contracts for the following individuals:
- Carla Erdey, Director of Communication & Community Engagement - 2023-24: $140,400.00 and 2024-25: $146,016.00
- Jennifer Hester, Director Curriculum, Instruction & Professional Development - 2023-24: $185,399.28 and 2024-25: $192,815.25
- Matthew Lyke, Director of Athletics - 2023-24: $140,105.47 and 2024-25: $145,709.68
- James Patterson, Director of Operations and Maintenance - 2023-24: $130,326.00 and 2024-25: $135,539.04
- Gail Smith, Director of Activities - 2023-24: $120,000.00 and 2024-25: $124,800.00
- Shannon Swilley, Associate Principal - 2023-24: $132,500.00 and 2024-25: $137,800.00
Suzette Diaz named Executive Assistant to the Superintendent
In action, the Board of Education:
- Regular Board Meeting Minutes, January 17, 2023
- Acceptance of the Hearing Officer’s Findings regarding Student Discipline Matter -Placement Hearing – Student #30024
- Extended Field Trips - Scholastic Bowl Team and Varsity Baseball Varsity Baseball
- Approval of Expenditures, $2,114,181.76
- Approval of Imprest Fund, $56,127.12
- Ratification of January 2023, Payroll, $2,706,328.03
- Extra Responsibility Contracts for Activities, Athletics, Auxillary and 6th Assignments
- Authorized the annual Career Preparation Network Intergovernmental Agreement between Crete-Monee School District 201-U, Bloom Township High School District 206, Rich Township High School District 227, Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School District 233, and Prairie State College District 515.
D233 Homewood-Flossmoor High School Board of Education
Gerald Pauling II, HF '85
Debbie Berman, HF '84
Personnel Committee Chair
Steve Anderson
Michelle Hoereth
Pam Jackson
Nathan Legardy, HF '89
Cynthia Turnquest
Upcoming Board of Education Meetings
The District 233 School Board meets at 7:30 p.m. in the school's South Building Library - unless otherwise indicated. Upcoming meeting dates:
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 - library
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
Tuesday, June 20, 2023