On Monday, Nov. 14, Kaneland Community Unit School District 302 hosted its 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 Meg Junk. There were no public comments and it was a closed session. Following the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call, the board members were recognized as Nov. 15 is School Board Members Day in Illinois. District Board President Teresa Witt was awarded for being a distinguished board member.  

     “On behalf of the school district, we would like to thank you for your work and dedication to our school board and community. It is a [challenging] and tiring job at times. We appreciate your hard work,” District Superintendent of Schools Dr. Todd Leden said. 

     The board members then reviewed the question for the April 4, 2023, ballot regarding the decision to spend $57 million on making improvements to Kaneland High School. The referendum question that will go on the ballot reads, “Shall the Board of Education of Kaneland Community Unit School District 302, Kane and Dekalb Counties, Illinois, build and equip an addition to and alter, repair and equip the Kaneland High School building, including but not limited to the repair and replacement of infrastructure and mechanical systems and the renovation of learning environments; build and equip a stadium facility on the high school campus site; improve the high school campus site; develop an expanded secure vestibule and a new entrance at said high school building; issue its bonds to the amount of $57 million for the purpose of paying the costs thereof?”

     The last referendum cycle was in 2008 when Kaneland Harter Middle School was built. There is concern about informing versus advocating. While administrators, school faculty and board members can inform people leading up to the referendum vote, they cannot advocate while they are in their official capacity.  

     Following the review of referendum guidelines, Director of Human Resources Dr. Chris Adkins shared a presentation on the plan for summer school. There will be transportation to and from summer school with the pick-up and drop-off spots being at Kaneland Blackberry Creek Elementary School (KBK) and Kaneland John Shields Elementary School (KSS). Summer school will be at KSS and Kaneland Meredith Academic Center (KMAC), previously known as Kaneland Meredith Middle School. Kindergarten through fifth-grade students will be at KSS. Sixth graders through high schoolers will be at KMAC. With the exception of high school students, they would like to offer a full-day experience. With the teacher shortage, they would also like to have clinical students from education programs at local universities help out. 

     “With offering transportation and expanding the program to the afternoon as well, we would like to raise the fee to attend summer school from $125 to $150. With the added cost of the transportation and expanding the program to the full day, we would need to pay the secretary and summer school administrators [more],” Adkins said.

     Since $10,000 is set aside for summer school, the board decided not to increase the cost from $125 to $150. 

     The board then reviewed the Illinois Report Card and the Indicators of Success for the district. 

     The agenda for future meetings were shared with the board and the Fox Valley Career Center (FVCC) will be a topic of discussion at the next meeting. 

     During the superintendent report, senior and student ambassador Lindsay Yost gave an update on the high school. 

     “The first boys basketball home game will be on Tuesday, Nov. 29, against West Chicago Community High School and the first girls basketball home game will be on Wednesday, Dec. 7, against Sycamore High School. Girls gymnastics has its first meet on Nov. 23, and boys gymnastics will be in the spring. The holiday concert is [on] Wednesday, Nov. 16, and Thursday, Nov. 17,” Yost said. “The tickets are for sale on the Kaneland website. It [costs] $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens, $5 for non-Kaneland students and [it is] free for Kaneland staff and students. The tickets are almost sold out. Madrigals dinner is Dec. 16 through Dec. 18. The Madrigals also just had their retreat to [help them] grow together as a choir. The Kaneland chess team won the 2022 Sterling Invitational for the first time and senior Matt Manugas earned first place individually.”    

     The next board meeting will be held on Monday, Nov. 28.