On Monday, Sept. 12, Kaneland Community Unit School District 302 hosted their regularly scheduled board meeting at 7 p.m. in the sixth-grade team room at Kaneland Harter Middle School. All board members were present at the meeting, except for Ryan Kerry. There were no public comments during the meeting, and it was a closed session. Following the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call, District Superintendent of Schools Dr. Todd Leden introduced Kaneland’s first student ambassador to the Board of Education, senior Lindsay Yost. 

     “One of the ways [for students to have a voice] was to have a student representative or student ambassador for the Board of Education, so Dr. Horne and I went through a process. We met with Lindsay last week, talked with her and looked at her materials and application,” Leden said. 

     Yost expressed her gratitude for the position. Her role as the Student Voice Ambassador will officially start at the next board meeting on Monday, Sept. 26.

     “I am so excited to have this role, and I just want to share a good perspective for District 302,” Yost said. 

     Following Yost’s introduction, Leden took time to recognize Kaneland’s first-year teachers for this school year and offered them all a round of applause.

     With board member Kerry’s unexpected absence from the meeting, the new business of the discussion of the master facility plan will be at the next board meeting when all members are present. An upcoming topic is the renaming of Meredith Middle School. It is currently not used as a middle school, and it will be a new business item in the next board meeting to create a plan and timeline of the process to change the name.

     Since there was no new business, it was time to move on to the superintendent’s report which went over what is happening during Homecoming week. This year, the Homecoming parade is in Kaneville on Wednesday, Sept. 14 and the powderpuff game will also be later that night at 7:30 p.m. The Homecoming football game will be on Friday, Sept. 16, with the junior varsity team playing at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity team playing at 7 p.m. The Homecoming dance is on Saturday, Sept. 17, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the high school, and there is still a need for chaperones for the dance. 

     District Associate Superintendent Dr. Julie-Ann Fuchs reported that the health insurance committee met Thursday, Sept. 8, regarding voluntary benefits. So far, there has not been much interest, but they will continue with the three-week enrollment process.

     “The primary goal of Thursday’s meeting was to view the two new voluntary benefits the board approved last spring. We are in the process of enrolling staff members for accident insurance and critical illness insurance,” Fuchs said. 

     The next board meeting will be held on Monday, Sept. 26.