Regular meeting of the Freeport School District Board of Education

March 7, 2023

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The Board received numerous Reports that will be detailed in the Board Meeting Minutes:

Superintendent’s Report

Spotlight: Celebrations & Recognitions

FHS Jr, Cadence Diduch is the 2023 IHSA Girls Wrestling Champion at 125 lbs.  Dr. Alvardo shared a lengthy listing of Cadence accomplishments from Conference to State to National.

In November, Austin Brobst ran a 2-mile race with 100 other middle school students for the IESA sectional. Austin qualified for state as an individual. He placed first on the Freeport team and fifth overall. We look forward to seeing Austin running the 800 meters, 1600 meters and a few relay races as the middle school track season gets underway.

After becoming the regional champions on Feb. 25th, our Middle School Wrestlers competed in sectionals this weekend. Seven of our wrestlers punched their tickets to state and will compete this weekend. Congrats to the whole team and the coaches for their regional win and outstanding 4th place sectional performance. We’ll definitely be cheering for those who are headed to state! The state-bound wrestlers are Braxten Robertson, Le’Darius Felton, Mason Lehman, Kyler Paul-Brown, Jrue Montoya, Jisiah Jacobs and Blake Slusser

Our 7th grade girls basketball team won the championship game last week. Thank you to the players and the coaches for an outstanding season. Job Well Done!

 

The 5 Essentials Survey Window is still open until March 31st.  Dr. Alvarado updated the BOE on the participation rates so far. All schools are working to increase their parent participation rate by March 31. 

Student Participation Rate:

 

The following schools have met the minimum response rate threshold of 50% for students participating in the survey. 

 

SEL Data Report  

Dr. Alvarado and Asst. Superintendent Dr. Randle provided detailed updates and next steps to the BOE.  This will be detailed further in the board minutes.

 

IL ASCD PreK State Conference

FSD PreK teachers, Sara Latimer, and Sarah Kuhlemeier (ROE director) had the opportunity to attend the IL ASCD PreK and K State Conference on March 2nd and 3rd in Chicago.  The opportunity was funded by the regional office of education. There was no cost to the teachers or the district. Two other schools from our region also attended. 100’s of Early Childhood and Kindergarten teachers from across the state participated, which was uplifting!. 

 

Sessions  on various topics included instructional practices, social/emotional learning, the learning environment, culturally responsive teaching, adverse child effects, and engaging parents. There were keynote speakers on both days. 

 

Sara Latimer and Sarah Kuhlemeier led a session during the conference titled “Ensuring Continuous Improvement”.  Sara L shared the story of creating the Freeport EC Framework and strategic plan (free bags of pretzels were a hit)  and the positive impact of collaboration with the ROE.   

 

LUDA Conference Key Takeaways

1. Culmination of the Equity Cohort where 35 school districts shared their Equity Journey for this school year. We learned:

•  Focusing on Instructional Practice Changes 

• System Changes in areas such as differentiated counseling, tiered teacher recruitment incentives, grading practices, etc. 

•  Dr. Alvarado & Dr. Randle had the opportunity to share FSD’s Equity Framework that provided the blueprint for how we ensure that we align to our mission of creating an inclusive learning environment that is supportive of our students and families. 

 

2. The superintendent of Huntley presented his district’s Educational Equity Framework highlighting their work on creating a diverse teaching staff with students in mind. 

3. Just hearing from other districts validated the work that we are doing.

4. Legislation: Governor’s budget, TIF Reform, PERA Bills, Comprehensive Literacy Plan from ISBE. 

 

The District & Community are invited to attend the 20th Annual Worlds Arts Festival on Thursday, March 9th. The program begins at  4 pm and takes place at FHS & the Jeannette LLoyd Theater.

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Information Reports

Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) Coaching

Dan Holder, Assistant Superintendent of Pupil Personnel Services presented this item, seeking to enter into an agreement with Love Your Classroom, LLC for purposes of providing coaching and consultation support for special educators and related services personnel in the areas of Comprehensive Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) and Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) as well as more general classroom coaching. The cost of services provided under this contract should not exceed $22,000 over the course of the next fiscal year. While we may be receiving BCBA support at no cost to the district next school year through an ISBE grant, we are proposing this contract so that we may begin providing these supports and coaching in the absence of the ISBE grant funding. We will be using funding from the IDEA grant in the event the services are not covered through the ISBE grant.

 

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Took Action in Favor of the Consent Agenda:

Freeport School District & CareerTEC bills

Personnel Report, February 21, 2023

Tennis Court Improvement Bid

SITE & Athletic Field Improvement Bid

Took Action in Favor of the Following Previously Presented Item(s):

New Early Childhood Job Descriptions

Coordinator Job Description

Bilingual Director

Navigate 360: Threat Assessment Plan

 

Committee Reports

Board Member Simmons gave a report from the Curriculum (EC) committee reports. 

Asst. Superintendent Patrick McDermott gave a report from the Buildings & Grounds Committee.

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The public is always invited and encouraged to attend Freeport School District Board of Education meetings. ​The next scheduled regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 8, 2023 at 6:00 PM.  Meetings are held at the FSD administrative office, located at 500 E. South St and can be accessed virtually. Information on joining the meetings can be found here.