Niles Elementary School District 71
Minutes
Regular Session
Date and Time
Tuesday September 15, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Directors Present
Georgia Chronopoulos, Jackie Jaime, Matt Glancy, Matthew Holbrook, Victoria Luz
Directors Absent
Dexi Karabatsos, Kenny Krueger
Guests Present
Debra Jordan, Erica Smolinski, John Kosirog, Katie Russ, Ken Kaufhold, Laura Guarraci
I. Opening Items
A.
Roll Call and Pledge of Allegiance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
II. Presentation of New Staff
A.
New Staff Members were introduced to the Board.
III. Public Comment
A.
There were no comments.
Teachers in Attendance included: Liz Lawrence, Michelle Baum, Kellie Conklin, Kim Perez and Sarah Goodrich.
IV. Closed Session
A.
Closed Session
- Closed Session for the Discussion of minutes of the meetings lawfully closed under the Open Meetings Act as described by 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(2).
- Consider the appointment, employment, compensation, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the District 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(9).
V. Budget Hearing
A.
Call to Order
The Budget Hearing was Called to Order at 7:57 pm by Matt Holbrook, Board President.
B.
Presentation of the 2026-2027 Budget
C.
2026-2027 Budget
Ken Kaufhold, CSBO , presented the 2026-2027 Budget to the Board.
D.
Public Comment on Budget
There were no comments.
E.
Adjourn
Budget Hearing was adjourned at 8:10pm.
VI. Acknowledging Communications to the Board of Education
A.
Communications
There were magazines from IASB for the Board members.
VII. Consent Agenda
A.
Motion to Approve the Consent Agenda
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Jackie Jaime |
Aye
|
| Victoria Luz |
Aye
|
| Georgia Chronopoulos |
Aye
|
| Matthew Holbrook |
Aye
|
| Dexi Karabatsos |
Absent
|
| Kenny Krueger |
Absent
|
| Matt Glancy |
Aye
|
VIII. Discussion and Action Items
A.
Motion to Approve Accounts Payable
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Matt Glancy |
Aye
|
| Dexi Karabatsos |
Absent
|
| Matthew Holbrook |
Aye
|
| Jackie Jaime |
Aye
|
| Victoria Luz |
Aye
|
| Georgia Chronopoulos |
Aye
|
| Kenny Krueger |
Absent
|
B.
Approval of Minutes of the Finance Committee Meeting held on August 11, 2026.
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Matt Glancy |
Aye
|
| Jackie Jaime |
Aye
|
| Georgia Chronopoulos |
Aye
|
| Victoria Luz |
Aye
|
| Dexi Karabatsos |
Absent
|
| Kenny Krueger |
Absent
|
| Matthew Holbrook |
Aye
|
C.
Approval of the 2026-2027 Budget
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Georgia Chronopoulos |
Aye
|
| Matt Glancy |
Aye
|
| Victoria Luz |
Aye
|
| Jackie Jaime |
Aye
|
| Dexi Karabatsos |
Absent
|
| Matthew Holbrook |
Aye
|
| Kenny Krueger |
Absent
|
D.
Approval of the IGA Reciprocal Reporting
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Victoria Luz |
Aye
|
| Kenny Krueger |
Absent
|
| Matt Glancy |
Aye
|
| Matthew Holbrook |
Aye
|
| Jackie Jaime |
Aye
|
| Georgia Chronopoulos |
Aye
|
| Dexi Karabatsos |
Absent
|
E.
Approval of Board Policies
| Roll Call | |
|---|---|
| Georgia Chronopoulos |
Aye
|
| Matt Glancy |
Aye
|
| Matthew Holbrook |
Aye
|
| Dexi Karabatsos |
Absent
|
| Kenny Krueger |
Absent
|
| Jackie Jaime |
Aye
|
| Victoria Luz |
Aye
|
IX. Informational Items
A.
NTDSE Report
Member Holbrook attended this month's NTDSE BOE meeting. The discussions were about Staff pay, Air Conditioning and the retirement of Christina Dimas.
X. Administrative Report
A.
Admin Report
B.
Admin Report
Strategic Plan Activities:
Advance Learning and Innovation
- PLC
- HMH PD
- Special Education Teacher Professional Development
Responsibly embrace technology to empower creativity, problem solving, collaboration, communication and learning.
- Student Devices
- Cleartouch Panel Update
Meet students' increasing social emotional needs.
- Athletic/Extracurricular Update
- Calm Halls Update
- PBIS
- Recess
Engage and expand community and parent resources
Community Building
- 8th Grade Car Wash
The new staff members included:
Carli Antuna, Amanda Garcia, Emily DeLaVega, Natalie Lasaru-Harris, Teresa Gamble, Leah Hood, Teagan Quill, Aolani Marquez, Marhawit Beraki.