Action Items
Approval of Additional Student Services Support
The Board approved the addition of a 1.0 FTE Social Worker for the 2023-24 school year. This approval represents a continued progression of the Student Services delivery model and staffing plan resulting from an analysis to determine where student needs and staffing match and where gaps may exist. The driver for the proposal for the multi-phase shifts and changes remains: understanding student needs across the academic counseling, post-secondary planning, social/emotional wellness and mental health domains and ensuring that the educators serving in these roles can meet these essential needs as determined.
This progression has brought a significant increase, at each grade level, of support for students and provides a staffing pattern that increases prevention and data-driven practice capacity, and is aligned with the recommended staffing ratios published by national professional organizations and the Illinois State Board of Education.
Discussion Items
Summer Curriculum and Program Development Workshops
The Board conducted a first reading of summer curriculum and program development workshops. For summer work requiring board approval of expenditure, a proposal, review and approval process is utilized involving Division Chairs, the Director of Equity and Belonging, the Director of Student Services, and the Director of Curriculum and Instruction. The approval process includes prioritized criteria, submission of proposals, individual review by the curriculum office with applicants, and Board approval of Workshops. One workshop was added since the March 6 Committee of the Whole meeting to support the expansion of LT’s EL/Bilingual program as a result of an ISBE EL/Bilingual audit.
For the summer of 2023, 21 summer curriculum and program development workshops
were reviewed, Highlights include:
- Co-Teaching training and a co-teaching workshop for teachers who will begin co-
- teaching in the fall;
- Cultivating Curriculum workshop for teams for teachers to create a unit of study
- incorporating Gholdy Muhammed’s five pursuits of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy;
- 6 workshops for freshman core course teams who have been a part of the curriculum review this year;
- EL/Bilingual Curriculum Map Updates;
- Curriculum change proposal workshops, including:
- Adaptive PE Leaders
- Medical Terminology
- Sustainable Urban Agriculture
- Earth and Space Science
- Updates as required by Indiana University for Spanish III ACP.
- Updates to the AP Psychology course as necessitated by the College Board.
Five-Year Financial Forecast
Every year as part of the annual budgeting process, the Five-Year Financial Forecast for the district is updated. The purpose of this forecast is to give some definition to the financial trajectory of the district based on current known factors as well as unknown factors and to point out possible issues in the coming years related to those factors. The unknown factors, such as collective bargaining agreements and increases to the tax levy, are estimated for several of the years. It is important to remember that accuracy is not a guarantee because the assumptions used are based more on the current financial climate. The district has control over some of the factors in its financial health, such as collective bargaining agreements, and has very little or no control over other factors, such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is used as a maximum increase (excluding “New Property”) to the annual tax levy.
Taking into consideration the known facts at the current time, the Five-Year forecast discussed during the meeting shows that the District remains on solid financial ground.
2023-24 Staffing Items
Capstone Courses and Courses with enrollments Under 18:
At the March 20 Regular Action Meeting, the Board reviewed the Capstone Courses and courses with enrollments under 18 as presented.
Capstone Courses:
A capstone course is a final course within a well-defined, multi-year course sequence within a department. Capstone courses are reviewed by the Central Leadership Team and the Board of Education each spring, with special consideration given with regard to enrollment. If possible, and given appropriate enrollment, the District will recommend that a capstone course is run during the school year to allow for students to complete the full course sequence. A list of courses was included for Board review.
Courses with Enrollments Under 18:
During the sectioning process, all efforts are made to run course sections with approximately 18 students. There are situations, however, where some courses are being recommended to run with fewer than 18 students per section.
Courses with enrollments under 18 fall into three general categories:
Courses with healthy enrollments and multiple sections being offered. By nature of dividing the total number of course requests by the number of sections, we may find that certain courses have an average class size of under 18;
Capstone/Specialty courses are given special consideration when determining which courses will be offered the following year. Specialty courses may include courses that are not the end of a well-defined sequence, but one where the course provides a unique opportunity for students. In these situations, and given appropriate enrollment, the District will recommend that the course is offered;
Courses with a value and connection to subsequent courses in a course sequence are given special consideration. If a course within the sequence is not running, for instance, students may not have the opportunity to continue the sequence and eventually reach the capstone course.
Certified Staff Requests for Leave of Absence:
At the March 20 Regular Action Meeting, the Board reviewed the certified requests for leaves of absence as submitted, and as subject to change as indicated through student enrollment numbers.
Each year administration provides the Board of Education with certified staff requests for leaves of absence for the upcoming school year. Requests for the 2023-2024 school year were made noting that the requests reflect the FTE number as of March 20, 2023, and is subject to change as indicated through enrollment numbers.
Administrative and Certified Staff Non-Tenured Employment Recommendations for
2023-2024 - First Reading
A list of recommendations for employment or release of probationary (non-tenured) certified and administrative staff for the 2023-2024 school year was presented..
- Section I. included certified staff recommendations for non-renewal or honorable dismissal.
- Section II. included certified staff recommendations to re-employ.
- Section III. included administrative staff recommendations to non-renew.
- Section IV. included administrative staff recommendations to re-employ.
Resolution Authorizing the Honorable Dismissal or Reduction of Teachers for 2023-
2024 - First Reading
In conjunction with the Administrative and Certified Staff Non-Tenured Employment Recommendations for 2023-2024 - First Reading, the Board reviewed the accompanying resolutions related to the release and honorable dismissal of non-tenured staff.
Instructional Aide/Paraprofessional Staff Employment Recommendations for 2023-
2024 - First Reading
At this time each year, administration releases all first-year Instructional Aides/Paraprofessionals (ParaEducators). This is done because it is unknown at this time what the complete staffing needs for this employee group will be for next year. When complete staffing needs are determined, administration will return to the Board with recommendations to re-employ ParaEducators per the Negotiated Agreement.
Administrative Staff Contract Renewals for 2023-2024 - First Reading
Each year the administration brings to the Board employment contract recommendations for the following school term. A list was presented. It was recommended that the Board of Education approve the administrative contract renewals for the 2023-2024 school term.
Review of Closed Session Minutes
The Board voted to keep the closed session meetings minutes confidential.
Destruction of Closed Session Recordings
The Board voted to dispose of verbatim recordings of closed sessions that are 18 months or older.
Superintendent’s District Report
Superintendent Dr. Brian Waterman presented a report that included the following updates:
- Congratulations to LT’s National Merit Finalists. More than 1.5 million students nationwide entered the Merit Program as juniors by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. High scorers were designated Semifinalists, representing less than 1% of the state's graduating class. In total, just over 16,000 academically talented seniors qualified nationwide. Out of over 16,000 Semifinalists, approximately 15,000 qualified as Finalists. Congratulations to Anne Dillon, Taylor Dudek, Ella Happel, Nicholas Lorenzen, Peter Mikulski, Matthew Ozark, Josephine Powell, Joseph Wall, and Anna Zierdt.
- Dr. Waterman presented LTHS School Nurse, Julie Loftus, with a Vita Plena Award. The Vita Plena Award has been presented by the Superintendent to a deserving individual since the mid 1990’s. The themes that are typically present in our Vita Plena Award winners are inspiration, creativity, dedication and commitment, and overall someone who is selfless and goes above and beyond. All of those qualities, plus many more, are evident in Julie Loftus. Julie Loftus began at LTHS in the 2006-2007 school year as a Certified School Nurse. Prior to joining LT, Julie previously worked in the same role in Western Springs School District 101 for one year, as well as in nursing roles for various organizations, including Northwestern and the University of Illinois. Julie received her bachelor's degree in Nursing from the University of Illinois, as well as a master's degree in Public Health Administration from Loyola University Chicago and additional graduate work from UIC in school nursing. Julie has been a trusted health professional at both campuses throughout her career. Prior to 2020, the role of the school nurse was significant with ensuring that students and families were supported properly from an overall wellness perspective, but also with ensuring that schools worked collaboratively with the Illinois Department of Public Health in making sure that whole communities remain healthy. In 2020, however, the role of the school nurse took on a whole new significance with the COVID-19 global pandemic. Julie thrived in this setting through her constant communication and focus on student and community health and played such a vital role in ensuring that the LT community remained healthy and safe. Above all else, Julie is a respected colleague who always does what is best for our students and community. Congratulations to Julie Loftus, Vita Plena Award recipient!
- Dr. Waterman provided the Board with a FOIA update, as well.
Student Representative to the Board Report
Student Representative to the Board, Matthew Walsh, presented an update that included the following highlights:
Athletics
- The Special Olympics Blue Basketball Teams placed 3rd and the White Team placed 4th in State this past weekend.
- Congratulations to LT Boys Wrestler Griff Powell for placing 3rd at the Freshman/Sophomore State Tournament.
- Congrats to the LT Boys Swim Team for placing 11th in the State Finals for the 200 MR. They set a new team record, and placed as All-State Swimmers!
Activities
- Last week was the SAVE Promise Club’s “Say Something” Week.
- Menagerie was named one of the top 15 lit magazines in the country as a Literary Arts Magazine Pacemaker Finalist.
- LT Theatre concluded their recent performance of Mavros. Students were able to direct and act in One-Act plays.
- Choir Students recently performed at their Solo and Ensemble on March 7th. Some singers met with Northwestern School of Music’s Kurt Hansen at a Masterclass on March 16th.
- Last weekend was the Spring Snowball Retreat in Wisconsin.
- Model UN won Best Small Delegation at the Francis Parker Model and hosted the 9th LYMUN at LT..
- On March 3rd, the LT Marching Band went to Disney World where they performed in a parade.
- 6 of the student managers from WLTL went to New York City where they won 7 national awards at the 83rd Intercollegiate Broadcasting System Conference.
LTEA Report
At the March 20 Regular Action Meeting, LT Education Association President Andrew Johannes shared the following report:
- Andrew highlighted the amazing teachers at LT. There are approximately 300 teachers between the two campuses. The average teacher at LT has 15 years of experience and 91% have at least a Master’s degree. There are several teachers who have earned their PhDs and a few who are National Board-certified. This means that the LT teachers have over 4,500 years of experience and have engaged in approximately 16,000 hours of graduate work. The teachers are not only committed to providing an excellent education, but also a well-rounded experience for all students. A majority of teachers are involved in extracurricular activities: this means that the 100 clubs and 30 sports are all staffed by the LT faculty.
- The LTEA continues their commitment to collaborating with the administration to address any issues or concerns that LT faces. Working together can truly make LT a great place for all students. The teachers appreciate the continued collaboration around topics such as summer workshops and committee meetings. They value the long-standing tradition of open communication.
- Andrew also noted that the teachers would like to express their gratitude to the board for their continued support of all LT students, both in academics and extracurricular activities. They appreciate the many ways in which the board members demonstrate their dedication to the students of LT. One example of this is the Board’s support for student trips, of which many are occurring over the next few weeks.
Public Participation
19 individuals participated in agenda or non-agenda related public participation.
