January 20, 2026 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Meeting
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I. Welcome and Call to Order
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I.A. Pledge of Allegiance
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I.B. Roll Call
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I.C. Recognition of Audience, Announcements, and Correspondence
Description:
This is an opportunity to welcome guests, make announcements, and share Board correspondence.
The Board received a FOIA request from CT Mills and the Illinois Retired Teachers Association. |
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I.D. Student and Staff Spotlight and Recognition
Description:
We would like to recognize teachers Marie Musil and Lauren Niedziela for providing our 5th grade students with an incredible learning opportunity with the recent wax museum project. The kids seemed to truly enjoy bringing history to life, and sharing about the people they studied.
Also, we appreciate Darien Deputy Police Chief Austin Jump, who joined in our training of staff on school safety and crisis response planning. Deputy Chief Jump is a great partner as we constantly work to develop our relationship with the Darien Police Department. |
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I.E. Public Comments
Description:
This is the first opportunity for any guests to comment, per Board Policy 2:230. |
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II. Consent Agenda
Description:
The consent agenda allows for approval of routine action items together in one motion when discussion is typically unnecessary. Upon the request of any Board member, a consent agenda item can be withdrawn and placed on the regular agenda for independent consideration. Questions in advance of the meeting are appreciated in the event any background information needs to be obtained.
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II.A. Approval of the January 20, 2026 Regular Meeting Agenda
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II.B. Approval of the December 16, 2025 Regular Meeting Minutes
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II.C. Approval of Personnel Recommendations
Description:
We faced a challenge with some staffing changes mid-year, which is never ideal, but we are pleased to have three excellent people who are already making a positive impact. It is a pleasure to recommend the following three staff members for the remainder of the 2025-26 school term:
Bridget Gilmartin Concord Social Worker 0.82 FTE (80 Total Days) Prorated Salary - $27,090.03 Madeleine Canong Cass STEAM Teacher 1.00 FTE (100 Total Days) Prorated Salary - $31,549.09 Dr. Karen Fitzgerald Speech Pathologist Approximately 30 Hours per Week Contracted - $90.00 per Hour We also have a request for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act for Cass Junior High teacher Djola Jemin. |
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II.D. Approval of Financial Reports
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II.E. Approval of the District Bills
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III. Reports, Updates and Informational Items
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III.A. Administrative Reports
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III.B. Strategic Plan Progress Review
Description:
We typically keep our mid-year strategic plan progress review more concise, so we will mainly focus on three indicators in which we found growth (shown in green in the narrative of 1F, 2C, and 3G), while we focus our work where it needs to continue (shown in red for 1A, 1C, 1D, 1E, and 2D).
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III.C. Second Reading of Recommended Board Policy Updates
Description:
After the first reading last month, I had shared that we wanted to take a deeper dive into the policies since it was a larger set and several had some language changes. While there are several we are paying attention to internally, there is nothing contained in the recommended PRESS policies that would cause us to modify or go against the recommended updates from IASB. If it helps, following are the policies that contained the more substantive changes:
6:60 Curriculum Content 6:210 Instructional Materials 7:150 Agency and Law Enforcement Requests 7:180 Prevention of and Response to Bullying, Intimidation, Harassment 7:190 Student Behavior Please let me know if you have any specific questions, otherwise the policy updates are included for Board approval under recommended action items. |
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III.D. Update and Discussion Regarding Phase III Facility Planning
Description:
Since the last meeting we have been coordinating with our architects, asbestos consultants, and our staff on both the floor tile products and scope of the summer 2026 project. As I recently shared with Chris and Urszula, provided below is the Concord floor plan that identifies the 14 spaces in which we would like to pursue updated flooring, lighting and ceiling tiles at Concord, with four additional classrooms as a potential alternate bid.
We also have a total of six spaces at Concord in which asbestos abatement is required when the time comes to replace the flooring. While there is no urgency to do so, this is just provided for awareness. For the Phase III project, I'm recommending getting 106 and 114 (shown as AA26) done now, and the remaining rooms (FAA) can wait until later when the district is ready to take the next steps. We are ready to pursue bidding for the asbestos abatement, but it should not be a significant cost for the two recommended rooms. We have also continued with the flooring product research and after a recent visit to Hinsdale 181, we verified that we would like to pursue a flooring product from Mannington. District 181 has been incorporating this into their nine schools over the last several years and has remained with the same product throughout. We feel this is a far superior option for appearance, wear, and maintenance over the product we tried this past year in several rooms at each school. The new flooring would also no longer require stripping and waxing. This addresses the rooms with by far the worst carpet issues and would also take care of the lights and ceilings in those spaces. The architect is finalizing drawings, specifications, and an estimated budget before we go to bid soon. This bid package would also include the new STEM room and roof shingle replacement at Concord, as well as replacement of the retractable band room and stage wall and the installation of required storage room doors at Cass. Separately, we have the parking lot bid opening in cooperation with the city coming soon. Compared to our previous two summers, Phase III is a fairly straightforward project. I will be happy to answer any questions and get any final direction before we get ready to go out for bids. |
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IV. Recommended Action Items
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IV.A. Approval of Recommended Board Policy Updates
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IV.B. Approval of the 2026-27 School Year District Calendar
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IV.C. Approval of the 2026-27 Board Meeting Dates, Times, and Locations
Description:
Following are the recommended Board meeting dates for the 2026-27 school year, with all meetings scheduled to be held at 7:00 p.m. in the District Community Room.
Tuesday, August 18, 2026 Tuesday, September 22, 2026 Tuesday, October 20, 2026 Tuesday, November 17, 2026 Tuesday, December 15, 2026 Tuesday, January 19, 2027 Tuesday, February 16, 2027 Tuesday, March 16, 2027 Tuesday, April 27, 2027 Tuesday, May 18, 2027 Tuesday, June 15, 2027 |
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V. Closed Session
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V.A. Discussion and Semi-Annual Review of Closed Session Minutes from Meetings Held from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2020, and July 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025. 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(21)
Description:
Below are the closed session minutes from the past six months, which warrant no recommended redactions. Also attached are minutes from July 2015 through June 2020. A few redactions for this five-year stretch are highlighted in blue. Back then, the Board held closed sessions regularly and handled business that we now discuss and manage in open session, whenever we possibly can.
Since July of 2020, our other change in practice has been to release closed session minutes, except when sensitive issues need to remain confidential. I felt that it was important to go back farther in time and if the Board agrees, after this meeting over 10 years of closed session minutes will have been made available for public inspection, with a small number of exceptions that require minor redactions. In the future, Dr. McGuire and the Board can determine if reviewing and releasing closed session minutes prior to 2015 is necessary, but quite a bit of history is now open. I welcome any questions on these recommendations. |
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V.B. Discussion Regarding Pending Litigation Against, Affecting or On Behalf of the School District. ILCS 120/2(c)(11)
Description:
I recently shared with the Board details of pending litigation against the school district related to a FOIA requesting the release of all details from the previous two years of invoices from our law firm. While I feel the district did nothing wrong and this lawsuit is clearly problematic on several fronts, after talking it through with legal counsel, my recommendation is to pursue the quickest route to a settlement. I believe getting this settled will be in the best interest of the Board and school district.
Hearing no opposition to the pursuit of a speedy resolution at the lowest possible cost, we appear to be on track for a quick settlement of $770, obviously not counting the time and cost for our attorney. In the meantime, we have had correspondence with Judiocracy and received an immediate and positive response. As part of that correspondence, we shared the unredacted documents as requested, which are included for your information below. This is all we are giving up besides the $700, our legal costs, and more of my time than I care to admit. We are also fortunate that our law firm does not provide excessive detail when it comes to the topics discussed with our attorney. Also shared below is the settlement agreement, which we chose not to negotiate or amend to expedite the resolution. It is both my belief and that of our attorney that they likely want to separate the entities who were able and willing to fully comply with their request, from those who they will drag through the legal system. If the Board agrees to move forward, pending action is provided on the agenda after closed session. We would be accepting their terms and signing as is, and will choose the option of "Dismissal Upon Satisfaction" found immediately before the Signature line on page 4. Exhibit 1 does not apply to the route we are recommending. Assuming all goes as planned, once Judiocracy also signs and returns the settlement, at that time we would forward payment of the $770. To be prepared for this, we will include this payment under the additional set of bills that will be added the same day of the Board meeting. I welcome any questions on this matter, and hopefully this is the end of it. |
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VI. Recommended Action Items After Closed Session
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VI.A. Approval to Release Closed Session Minutes with Any Exceptions Noted in Which the Need for Confidentiality Remains
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VI.B. Authorization of Destruction of Verbatim Audio Records from Closed Sessions Held Prior to July 1, 2024, per the Illinois Open Meetings Act
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VI.C. Approval of Settlement Agreement of Judiciocracy LLC and COGS Lawsuit
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VII. Conclusion
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VII.A. Public Comments
Description:
This is the second opportunity for any guests in the audience to share public comments, per Board Policy 2:230.
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VII.B. Board Member Comments
Description:
This is the opportunity for Board members to share any comments, as well as to announce the next meeting date, time, and location.
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VII.C. Adjournment
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