Good News
a 'No-Brainer,'" which addresses the ethical questions associated with using stem cells to engineer brain-like structures to study disease. She then introduced student liaison Carson Kotecki, who provided the board with the following information and updates from his report.
- South celebrated National Kindness Month by holding an optional virtual assembly on March 8 titled “No Place For Hate" that promoted the importance of being kind to one another.
- Students, staff and parents/guardians used the 5Essentials Survey to provide feedback about the academic and social environment at South.
- Eleven students from South placed in the top 10 in their events at the competition that was held in conjunction with the recent Illinois Business Professionals of America State Leadership Conference. Four of those students (Brigid Rudolph, Nick Momchev, Aayush Patel and Dimitrije Gujancic) qualified for the national competition.
- South recently recognized its Breakfast Club winners for the third quarter. Teachers nominate students for this award based on their academic or extracurricular accomplishments, contributions to the community or school spirit/pride.
- South recently announced the 17 students who were nominated for the school's annual Homecoming Court.
- Junior Safia Khan, who is an award-winning writer and a member of South's Creative Writing Club, has been invited to attend the online version of the Summer Academy that is organized and run by The School of The New York Times.
- South's varsity danceline team took seventh place at state, which was its best finish in program history.
- Central's Forensics team took second place at the state tournament and earned top 10 finishes in several individual events. The team has also accumulated more than 15,000 points for its speech and debate presentations, competition and service. As a result, Central has earned a 1st Diamond degree of membership in the National Speech & Debate Association’s Honor Society.
- Students from Central had top five finishes in 16 individual events at the competition that was held in conjunction with the recent Illinois Business Professionals of America State Leadership Conference. Of those students, five (Bilal Mohammed, Ajay Gupta, and the team of Angelina Buonavolanto, Simran Karamchandani and Emma Schackart) qualified for the national competition.
After sharing the school's good news, Principal Walsh introduced student liaison Heather Raslan, who provided the board with the following information and updates from her report.
- Teams from Central amassed a number of impressive accomplishments in recent weeks, including the Scholastic Bowl team taking first place in regionals, the Latin Club claiming the regional championship, and the Science Olympiad team taking second place in the virtual College of DuPage Regional Science Olympiad competition.
- The National Art Honor Society artists are finishing Memory Project portraits for youth in India who are living in group homes due to extraneous circumstances.
- The Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) from Central made 40 ribbon-tied towel kits with supplies that will be donated to PADS to help the homeless.
- The Hinsdale Central Culture Fair was held on March 17, and gave students the chance to learn about different cultures and cook alongside several clubs.
- All juniors will be taking the SAT in person on April 13.
Raslan also shared feedback about the changes to the district's grading scale and the move to five days of in-person instruction following spring break. You can access her report by visiting
https://bit.ly/3tSltgA.
The Good News portion of the board meeting concluded with the recognition of recent accomplishments by the speech teams and Business Professionals of America organizations from both schools.
Approve Staffing Recommendation
The board approved the staffing recommendation for the 2021-22 school year. This recommendation, which will keep staffing flat for the 2021-22 school year, was reviewed and discussed by the HR Committee on March 2 and the board on March 11.
Return to School Update
The administration provided the board with an update on the district’s return to school plan. This update included:
- COVID-19 data for the district and the communities we serve. As of March 19, there were seven confirmed positive cases in the district, 55 people in isolation and 60 people in quarantine. There have also been a total of 331 positive cases in the district since the start of the 2020-21 school year.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- DuPage County Health Department
- State of Illinois - Bridge to Phase 5
- Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE)
- An update on the number and percentage of students who are currently scheduled to be in person or remote the rest of the school year.
- In person - 1,917 students at Hinsdale Central (75% of the school's total enrollment) and 894 at Hinsdale South (66% of the school's total enrollment).
- Remote - 661 students at Hinsdale Central (25% of the school's total enrollment) and 453 at Hinsdale South (34% of the school's total enrollment).
- Impact of the updated IDPH-ISBE guidance on instruction.
- Masks must continue to be worn.
- Social distancing in instructional spaces changed to a range of 3 to 6 feet.
- Lunch - Social distancing must remain at a minimum of 6 feet; tables, desks and/or chairs will continue to be forward facing; assigned locations.
- Total capacity for school buses is 50.
- On April 6, District 86 is moving to in-person instruction five days per week that will follow the normal bell schedule; will continue to offer a remote learning option.
- Information about close contact.
- Still defined as anyone (with or without a face mask) who was within 6 feet of a confirmed case of COVID-19 (with or without a face mask) for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period during the infectious period. Close contact needs to quarantine for 14 days.
- People who had a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 within the past 90 days or have been fully vaccinated in accordance with CDC guidelines are not required to quarantine if identified as a close contact to a confirmed case.
- We anticipate a potential increase in students who need to quarantine in classrooms where social distancing is less than 6 feet.
- The instructional calendars for the months of April and May.
- Activities conducted following the board meeting on March 11.
- Focus group/meeting with students from Central and South on March 15.
- Meeting with HHSTA leadership on March 17.
- R3 Committee meeting on March 18.
- Meeting between department chairs, building administrators and district administrators on March 22.
- Opportunity on March 23 for R3 to provide feedback on various instructional items.
- Check in between buildings principals and district administrators on March 24.
- Information for remote learners.
- Will have the opportunity to switch to in-person instruction; information about the process and a link to the form that families will use to submit requests will be shared via email on March 26.
- Will continue to use Zoom to access and engage in synchronous learning from home; expected to have their camera on and face visible at all times during class unless given permission by the teacher.
- Teachers will share additional strategies that remote learners can use to communicate during instructional time.
- Criteria for students who want to be remote during the 2021-22 school year will be forthcoming; will align with the updated guidance from IDPH and ISBE.
- Answers to frequently asked questions about the topics listed below (detailed information will be shared with students and families in a separate email on March 26).
- Zoom - Use by students who are on campus for in-person instruction will be limited. These students will not need to log in to Zoom unless it is being utilized to facilitate collaboration between learners who are in class and at home.
- Assessments - Students will have access to the same resources and materials whether in person or remote; teachers will communicate expectations for the testing environment.
- Attendance - Unexcused absences will no longer automatically result in a student being switched to the remote model; practices for tardies and absences will be guided by the student handbook
- Updates regarding the status of assessments.
- Final exams (same as first semester) - No finals for seniors; no alternate final exam schedule; exams may be given, but will not be weighted like a traditional final exam; additional week may be used for instruction; no schools in the West Suburban Conference are giving traditional final exams.
- Assessment equity - Per a professional development session held on Jan. 4 and 5 and department conversations about assessment development and administration, there should be no testing advantage to being remote (i.e., assessments should not be part of the rationale for remaining remote).
- Overview of professional development - All assessments should be designed to be taken remotely or in person. In addition, all students should have access to the same resources when taking assessments (e.g., texts, notes, Google, etc). If they do not, families are asked to please confirm with their children that they are aware of the resources that can be used in class, and to contact teachers about what students are able to use on tests.
- State assessments - SAT (no essay) will be administered to all juniors on April 13 (in person only); graduation requirements related to the SAT have been waived for the class of 2021 (seniors only); ISBE has moved the PSAT 9 and 10 to the fall (date TBD); the Illinois Science Assessment will be administered in the fall (in person only); ACCESS testing for all ELL students will be administered in the fall (in person only).
- AP exams - There will be three testing windows and two exam formats (paper-pencil and digital); first testing window (in person; paper-pencil) will likely take place off-site due to space constraints on campus. Students given a choice of testing windows:
- 38.5% selected the first window featuring paper-pencil exams administered in person May 3-14.
- 39.8% selected the second window featuring digital exams administered May 21-28.
- 21.7% selected the third window featuring digital exams administered June 1-11.
- Update on senior activities.
- Based on the updated guidance, Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South anticipate being able to host in-person graduation ceremonies in their stadiums on Monday, May 17 (rain date on May 18). The format for the event will be determined via collaboration with student groups.
- Tentative dates for a prom-like experience are May 1 for Hinsdale Central and May 21 for Hinsdale South.
- Continue to monitor guidance from DCHD, IDPH and ISBE.
- Continue to serve as a community vaccination site.
- Utilize spring break to ensure that facilities are ready for the return to five days of in-person instruction.
- Presentation on planned interventions for credit recovery and learning loss.
- Calendar for the 2021-22 school year.
- R3 Committee meetings.
Future Ready Facilities
The board took the following actions in conjunction with the work being done to advance the district's Future Ready Facilities plan.
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Approved the purchase of furniture for several Phase 2 projects at Hinsdale Central (i.e., fine arts, classrooms and the pool) and Hinsdale South (i.e., fine arts, classrooms and the cafeteria). The district will use the Sourcewell Cooperative to buy the furniture through the Lowery McDonnell Company for an amount totaling $809,646.78.
Committee Reports
- Confirmed its support of the administration's recommendation to implement the Infinite Campus student information system during the 2022-23 school year. By making the switch to Infinite Campus, the district will be able to save money and streamline different systems. The committee recommended that this item be presented to the board for review and discussion on March 25 and action on April 8.
- Received the current financial forecast from Josh Stephenson, who is the district's chief financial officer. This forecast included actuals through the end of February. Stephenson shared that he anticipates the district will end the year with $3 million in favorability, which he attributes to reduced operating and salary costs resulting from the pandemic and tax collection remaining at historic levels.
- Reviewed a list of the district's capital equipment needs, and a proposed solution that would enable the district to meet these needs through the use of budget surplus and also build replacements into the budget going forward. The committee advised the administration to present its recommendations to the board for action on March 25.
- Received information about the bids for the renovation of the Transition Center, which were opened the day before the committee's meeting. Josh Stephenson shared that the bids had come in significantly under projections, which were the result of a competitive marketplace, the timing of the bids and the use of conservative estimates. The savings realized through the bid process will reduce the debt certificate required to fund the renovation.
In addition to receiving the report mentioned above, the board voted to release the draft minutes from this meeting as part of the consent agenda.
Consent Agenda
The board approved the consent agenda as presented. The consent agenda includes personnel, stipends, board bills and meeting minutes. Please visit
http://bit.ly/3cnzbCt to access the consent agenda items beginning under number nine.
Honorable Dismissal of Teachers
The board approved Resolution #21.10, which will result in the honorable dismissal of teachers at the end of the current school year due to reasons related to a reduction in force.
Honorable Dismissal/Reduction in Hours of Teachers
The board approved Resolution #21.11, which will result in the honorable reduction of hours for teachers at the end of the current school year due to reasons related to a reduction in force.
Approve the Purchase of Capital Equipment
The board approved the purchase of capital equipment to replace items that are at or beyond their useful life cycle, as well as buy new ones that will generate revenue or help avoid other costs. The list of equipment, which was reviewed by the Finance Committee during its meeting on March 17, includes items for the Transition Center, family and consumer sciences, technology education, physical education, driver education, art, music, athletics, buildings and grounds, and security.
Accept Donation of Personal Protective Equipment
The board accepted a donation of 10,000 white cotton reusable masks valued at $5,000 from community member, local business owner, and Hinsdale South parent and alum Amisha Patel. They will be used by the district's students and/or staff as needed.
Board President’s Report
There was no board president's report during the meeting.
Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Tammy Prentiss mentioned that the district has received inquiries from external organizations about using the athletic facilities at Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South. She shared that, given the number of sports that are currently in season, the district is not in a position to grant access to most of these groups. However, she said that we might be able to allow outside swim clubs to use the pools now that the schools are shifting from swimming and diving season to water polo. The board expressed its support for allowing the swim clubs to use the pools as long as they cover any related costs and provide the necessary documentation from an insurance/liability standpoint. Superintendent Prentiss said that she will work with the athletic directors and business office to process these requests.
Superintendent Prentiss shared that the district will be mailing the spring 2021 edition of the D86 Forward newsletter to nearly 38,000 residences and businesses on April 1. The publication features information on the work we are doing to align the curriculum across our high schools, and addresses some of the common myths and misperceptions about this work. It also includes:
- Updates about what we are doing to advance our commitment to equity.
- A summary of the improvements and upgrades we have made to our schools through our Future Ready Facilities plan.
- Details about the COVID-19 vaccination sessions we held in February and March.
- A list of some of the honors, awards and accomplishments our students, staff, schools and district earned this year
Superintendent Prentiss thanked the student leaders and members of the R3 Committee for the role they have played and contributions they have made to the success of the district's return to school plan. She also thanked the technology department, the district's instructional innovation coordinator, the assistant principals for operations, the assistant principals for curriculum and instruction, the building principals, the counselors and the deans for all of the work they have done to prepare for the move to five days of in-person instruction following spring break.
Superintendent Prentiss shared that she recently conducted walkthroughs in math and social studies classes at Hinsdale South and in English and math classes at Hinsdale Central.
Superintendent Prentiss also introduced/played a video about the district's equity statement. The video features District 86 students, staff members and parents/guardians reading the statement and sharing insights about who they are, how they want to be seen and what they hope to accomplish. You can check out the video by visiting
https://youtu.be/D_7GX4UBd8E.
RFP 21-033 (Student Information System)
The board reviewed and discussed a recommendation to award RFP 21-033 (Student Information System) in the amount of $105,666 to Infinite Campus-Computer Information Concepts Inc. The Finance Committee talked about this recommendation during its meeting on March 17. The item is scheduled to be brought back to the board for action during its meeting on April 8.
Treasury and Financial Reports
Per its regular cadence of reporting, the administration provided the board with the treasury and financial reports for February 2021. You can access the treasury report by visiting
http://bit.ly/3clj4oP and the financial reports by visiting
http://bit.ly/3vWevZP.
FOIA Requests
The board received information about the FOIA requests that have been processed since its last regular action meeting. This information included the names or titles of the individuals and departments who helped respond to the requests, a summary of the records that were requested and who asked for them, and trend data about the number of requests that have been processed and the legal fees the district has incurred in responding to them.
Operational Calendar and Future Agenda Items
The board reviewed and discussed its operational calendar for the year and possible agenda items for future meetings. You can access additional information about this agenda item by visiting
https://bit.ly/39bRcle.
