The meeting was streamed live on the District 34 YouTube channel; the recording is available. Please note that there were sound issues the first few minutes of the meeting and the recording beings with the meeting in progress.

Each month, Superintendent Dr. Dane Delli updates the Board of Education and the community about programs, events, notable achievements, and other timely information and celebrations.

Dr. Delli turned over the presentation to Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning Dr. Matt Silverman. Dr. Silverman introduced instructional coach Adrienne Hoffer, who described the District's literacy framework, and the mission and vision around literacy, and introduced D34 writers! Students in first through fifth grade from across the District, joined by their teachers, shared personal narratives. They wrote about losing a tooth, getting lost in a corn maize, shared stories about friends and families and food, and read their stories in Spanish and in English.

Dr. Delli shared that the District continues to keep abreast of changes in vaccine eligibility and take advantage of existing partnerships to provide opportunities for our staff, students and families to get vaccines or boosters. He pointed to the item on the agenda to accept a donation of $2,500 from NorthShore University Health System; that donation is a thanks for partnering in community education programs and a vaccine clinic at St. Catherine's. That partnership, as well as work with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to set up clinics at Springman, has been led by our director of EL/Bilingual Raquel Kim, and involved many District 34 staff and partners who served as interpreter/translators.

Cathy Kedjidjian shared that the FDA advisory panel is meeting on October 26 to discuss emergency authorization use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine for children ages 5-11. Then, the CDC's advisory committee on immunization practices will meet November 2-3. Though it is not clear what the final approval will entail, or the exact timeline, Raquel Kim sought and received approval from the IEMA to have our intermediate schools serve as vaccine sites. To be prepared, the district has set clinics for Nov. 18 (1st dose) and Dec 9 (2nd dose) for eligible children to be held in the afternoon/evening at Glen Grove, Hoffman and Pleasant Ridge, and is working to make the spaces comfortable for younger children. The District will share registration information for parents to sign up children who are eligible if and when the vaccine receives emergency use authorization.

Dr. Delli recognized Board members Scott Nelson and Mike Korman who pursued professional learning and received awards from the Illinois Association of School Boards.

The community is encouraged to attend Board of Education meetings, and contribute during the community participation periods. In all regular Board of Education meetings, the Board follows a set agenda that include two opportunities for community participation.

During the first opportunity for community comments, a District 34 student shared her concerns about the school lunches. She explained that they are generally not nutritious, and that fruits and vegetables are rarely fresh. The food does not reflect the diversity of the students and families. She said that she represents a group of students who want healthier and more diverse food at lunch, and encouraged the Board to support them.

The Board approved the consent agenda, which included a personnel report and payroll and vendor warrants, and authorization to accept a donation of $2,500 from NorthShore University Health System.

Dr. Delli reminded the Board and community that, in addition to the construction projects at Henking, Lyon, Westbrook and Springman, half of the classrooms in all of the buildings will be completely renovated over the summer of 2022. In reviewing the timeline for Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the widespread construction and renovation in all eight of the District's schools, the construction managers have firmly stated the need to have classrooms and buildings vacated entirely on Friday June 3 to help ensure the on-time opening in the fall.

Teachers and staff need time to clear out their work spaces, and to identify items that need to be packed, labeled and stored so that they go to the right place at the right time to be unpacked in the fall. While some purging and packing will take place throughout the year, the District does not want teachers to be without the materials they need for students while students are still in the classrooms. Therefore, the administration proposed, and the Board approved, changes to the 2021-2022 calendar:

• The last day of student attendance is Friday, May 27, the day before Memorial Day weekend (changed from Wednesday, June 1)
• The last day for staff remains Thursday, June 2.

This provides staff the opportunity to focus on student learning through the last day of student attendance, and then have the needed time to pack, sort and completely clear out their classrooms so that work can begin on June 3.

There had been additional days built into the calendar, so with this change, the District still meets the state requirement of 176 days of student attendance. While the District hopes that there are no further adjustments to calendars or operations, this is a significant construction project -- a $150M project that includes $119M of referendum funds -- and it may require future flexibility.

The District's municipal advisor, Elizabeth Hennessey of Raymond James, gave an update of the market conditions and an overview of the work of the Citizens Finance Advisory Committee (CFAC). She explained that interest rates have been low; the District captured the lowest rates last December in the first issuance of referendum bonds. Due to the low interest rates, the District will pay off referendum debt four years earlier than originally planned.

She said that interest rates have gone up since September, though rates still are near all-time lows. She provided a history of the promise of the referendum, and the plan to accelerate the issuance of bonds to take advantage of low interest rates.

CFAC considered two options:

1. Issuing the remainder of the referendum bonds over two years ($45M in 2022 and $14M in 2023)
2. Issuing the remainder of the referendum bonds ($59M) in 2022

Total interest cost would be lower in Option 1 because the $14M debt would be outstanding for one year less. However, if interest rates increase by more than .27% on the $14M issue in 2023, then the lower cost option would be Option 2 – issuing all the bonds now in 2022.

The Board discussed the likelihood of an increase in rates and approved the issuance of $59M in referendum bonds in 2022.

Dr. Delli and other District administrators presented an update on full-day kindergarten planning, including the schedule and curriculum and considerations for setting a fee. Board members shared their thoughts on setting a fee. Overall, Board members do not want to go into significant deficit spending, but also don't want to set a fee that puts an undue burden on families.

Board members were unanimous in wishing to have a fee closer to the lower first estimate of $3,300, that the families who are able to pay do not bear the cost of fee waivers (the District should cover those costs), that the District should limit deficit spending. The Board, in setting the fee each year, will have flexibility to adjust that fee in the future.

The administration will continue to update the community on the progress of planning not only for the fee, but for the schedules, curriculum, programming for both full- and half-day kindergarten, and registration (which is expected to open in late November or December). The FDK website will be continually updated, and the District will be seeking input from parents and community members through a ThoughtExchange survey. [POST-MEETING NOTE: The survey was launched on October 19 and the community is encouraged to click here or the image below to participate, adn the survey is available in any language.]

The administration will bring a proposal forward in November of $3,600 fee for FDK (with a $300 discount for early registration). The Board will take action on that proposal at that meeting.

Mr. Miller shared the results of a request for proposals for worker's compensation insurance for the upcoming calendar year. The District received four proposals from insurance carriers and one proposal from an alternative risk pool. The insurance carriers annual premium ranged from $215,000 (approximately) to in excess of $300,000. The alternative risk pool proposal came in at $201,992.

The Citizens Finance Advisory Committee (CFAC), made up of D34 administrators and staff, as well as community members, has been in existence for 18 years.

The CFAC charge for 2021-22 was presented:

1. Based on discussion of key inputs and assumptions, the committee will present the five-year financial forecast. In addition to the base forecast, the committee will present key sensitivities including COVID-19 related considerations or a contingency forecast. (January 2022 Board of Education Meeting).
2. CFAC will review the capital debt structure previously proposed and make any other revised recommendations based on the changing economic conditions given the global pandemic.

Glenview District 34 is governed by a seven-person Board of Education, elected by the community, that consists of the following individuals:

• Scott Nelson (President)
  
• John Heggie (Vice President)
  
• Mike Korman (Secretary)
  
• Jim Baumstark
• James Dolan
• Natalie Jachtorowycz
  
• Diane Stefani
  

You can find information about Board members, meeting dates, Board policies and more on the District 34 website.

You can contact the Board at board@glenview34.org.