Public Meeting Agenda: May 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting

1. Call to Order
Meeting was called to order by Eric Stiegler, Board President, at 6:01.

2. Roll Call

3. Adjourn to closed session to discuss: the employment, compensation, performance, discipline of specific employees of the district.

4. Reconvene in open session no earlier than 6:30 p.m.

5. Public Comments-No more than five (5) minutes.

Alex Dague shared a request to consider a stipend for a Girls Wrestling Coach.
Amanda Mielke spoke in support of teacher retention.
Sarah Judd shared thoughts on professional development specifically for elementary staff.
Justine Bessert shared support of a staff member.
Lindsey Janicke reflected on our mission statement and requested carpet be removed in Kindergarten rooms.

6. Approve Consent Agenda

6.A. Approve Activity Accounts

6.B. Pre-paids

6.C. Approve Accounts Payable

6.D. Approve Board Meeting Minutes

7. Communications

7.A. High School Update - John Paddock

Graduation is complete - 95% grad rate
113 Students with Q4 perfect attendance
Perfect Attendance for entire SY 15.9%
Chronic Absenteeism Rate - 8.4%
FFA Highlights
- Lexi Kuhlmeier has been elected as the 2026-27 Section 1 FFA President
- FFA was represented at the state competition: Maverick Weber for Welding, Randy McPeek - Carpentry, Dustin Banderet - Electricity, Drake Merriman - Surveying, and Zev Riley in Small Engines.

7.B. Elementary Update - Chris Berogan

Dakota Elementary has been counting down and getting ready for the end of the school year.
We just had a kindergarten promotion ceremony on Friday.
We are finishing up our end of the year field trips and celebrations; field days are scheduled and ready to go.
Summer School will be servicing kindergarten - 3rd grade this summer. Student invitiations have been sent home and we are solidfying the class lists right now.

7.C. Athletic Director Update - Jallen Bashford

Finished preparations for the Stephenson County Jr. High Boys Track Meet held on Tuesday.
Continuing preparations to host the IHSA Softball Regionals on May 19th and May 22nd.
Finalizing arrangements for the Softball All-Conference meeting that our school will be hosting.

7.D. IT Update - Ross Eberle

Final planning for summer projects is underway. An upgrade of the phone system is planned to bring the district up to date with modern standards. The existing phone system was installed in the early 2000s. That system is showing its age with increased issues and parts are becoming difficult to find in the event of an issue. The new system will abandon the existing internal analog lines that classroom phones are currently on and utilize VOIP phones which work over the network.

Due to MS-ISAC no longer offering free memberships for Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting for our upstream DNS, we migrated this service to Cisco Umbrella which is offered to Illinois school districts via DoIT/ICN, the state level agency responsible for Internet connectivity to public entities in Illinois. This was done on May 12 and we have been monitoring this change to verify it is working correctly. In the future we may take additional steps if we see any malicious websites in our DNS logs. This is an additional layer of network security outside of the web filter for the school district.

Updates to network gear were done over the weekend of May 9 in order to keep up to-date on current security best practices.

7.E. Building and Grounds Update - Tim Wilson

Working with the Superintendent and Business Manager to wrap up the department’s fiscal year. Starting to layout needs for the next school year.
Drafted and posted a RFP for the 2027 custodial support services. A total of (4) bids were received and are set to be opened and discussed on May 14th .

7.F. Superintendent Update - Jenny Keffer

I am meeting with Brittney to plan for the FY27 budget, as well as to amend our FY26 budget.
Veregy will be on-site weekly throughout the summer to meet on our projects and keep us apprised of timelines.
The administrative team is working on instructional planning for next year, which includes finalizing our PD plan.
Finally, a survey was sent to parents on traditional vs. e-learning snow days. Two-thirds of families requested traditional snow days, and therefore we will not move forward with a plan for e-learning days.

8. Presentations

8.A. Dakota FFA Annual Report - Lizzy Reutter

8.B. District Office Transformation through Professional Development - Jenny Keffer

8.C. Wonders Curriculum from McGraw Hill - Chris Berogan

9. Old Business

10. New Business

10.A. Shot Clock Donation

10.B. Increase in Meal Prices

10.C. 2026-2027 District Handbook

10.D. Consolidated District Plan

10.E. Total Loss Settlement - 2004 Ford Truck

10.F. Wonders Curriculum from McGraw Hill

10.G. Surplus Equipment in Cardio Room

10.H. District Summer Hours - Informational Only

10.I. Summer Staff

10.J. Summer School Staff

10.K. Drive Right Contract

10.L. Health Life Safety Amendment

10.M. Custodial Contract

10.N. Insurance Renewal Rates

10.O. Title I Schoolwide Plan

10.P. Overnight and Out-of-State Field Trips

10.Q. Dairy Product Proposal - Muller Pinehurst Dairy

10.R. IHSA Membership Renewal

10.S. Approve Increase in Project Spending

11. Action items from closed session

11.A. Hire Fourth Grade Teacher

11.B. Hire a Special Education Teacher

11.C. Hire Sixth Grade Teacher

11.D. Hire a 10-month Administrative Assistant for the High School

11.E. Hire Special Education Mentor

11.F. Employee Resignation

11.G. Non-renewal of an Administrative Contract

11.H. Dismissal of Educational Support Personnel For Reasons Other Than Reduction in Force

11.I. Dismissal of Educational Support Personnel for Reasons Other Than Reduction In Force

12. Other

13. Adjournment

May 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting

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