On Monday, Nov. 27, 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. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, roll call, approval of the agenda and board and superintendent salutes, two public comments were made regarding the Kaneland IgKnight Personalized Learning Academy (KIPLA).
“My son is thriving at IgKnight. He’s noticeably happier, and he looks forward to school,” said Elburn resident Aimee Corbett, whose son attends the academy.
Virgil resident Lara Ekstrom, whose daughter attends KIPLA, also described her belief in the academy.
“It feels like I won the lottery when I chose my house – getting to be in this school district – to have this program available to us,” Ekstrom said.
The first item under new business was the Indicators of Success data presentation. Director of Educational Services EC-5 Dr. Sarah Mumm presented first through fifth grade i-Ready and third through fifth grade Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) data, comparing and reviewing scores. Mumm looked at the increases and decreases in scores in certain grade levels and the plan to see more growth in the future.
Next, Director of Educational Services 6-12 Patrick Raleigh summarized the i-Ready and IAR scores for the middle school and recognized the KHMS honor roll. Raleigh acknowledged some significant decreases in math scores. He also summarized data on SAT scores, college-level coursework, ninth grade on track and the KHS graduation rate and honor roll.
Raleigh said there is a plan to continue to focus on working with individual students through multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) and tutoring for middle and high school students.
“It’s safe to say that we’re never satisfied with our data. There’s always room for us to improve,” Raleigh said.
The board then discussed looking at data from other districts in the area, as well as seeing long-term data in these presentations in the future.
District Associate Superintendent Dr. Julie-Ann Fuchs then briefly covered a presentation of the School Report Card data, which looked at test scores and information about enrollment, instructional settings, staffing, finances and school performance data. Kaneland’s data was looked at in comparison with other districts in the area.
The second item under new business was the approval of a $1,000 donation from the Hansen family to the KHS boys track and field program. The board voted to approve the donation from the Hansen family.
Following the approval, select board members and administrators gave feedback on the Joint Annual Conference they attended, which was put on by the Illinois Association of School Boards. Board President Addam Gonzalez discussed several breakout sessions and a board president roundtable he attended.
“It made me feel good about our board and confident that we’re in a good spot,” Gonzalez said.
Topics for future meetings were then discussed. Board member Jennifer Simmons asked to see an example presentation in the future of students who have worked with MTSS at the elementary, middle and high school level.
Board Vice President Bob Mankivsky also sees a need to review the discipline policy.
“There are issues that seem to be recurring where disciplinary issues are getting to the point where it’s interfering with students’ ability to learn and a teacher’s ability to teach,” Mankivsky said.
After a brief discussion between board members regarding the discipline policy, two public comments were made again regarding KIPLA. Corbett again stated her appreciation to the academy as well as KIPLA Principal and Personalized Learning Coordinator Laura Garland. Corbett’s son also commented.
“They have made me so much happier to come to school and so much more successful,” fifth grader Joey Corbett said.
The next board meeting will be held on Monday, Dec. 11.
![When I chose to take a tour of the Old Joliet Prison in Joliet, IL, I had no idea what I was walking into. I’ve heard of multiple paranormal events happening here, but I was more interested in how a prisoner lived. I wanted to feel their hopelessness and wanted to understand what it must have been like to sit in an empty cell and yearn for sunlight.
The Old Joliet Prison is a daunting structure that appears, seemingly, out of nowhere. When driving to the prison, it isn’t until someone is a few feet away that they see the large walls and barbed wire. Just driving past it, they can feel a change in the atmosphere.
When a prisoner is being driven there, they don’t know how close they are. They are driving through a suburban neighborhood before they reach a small unassuming bridge. Yet, as soon as they go under the bridge and back into the sunlight, they finally see the prison and know that as soon as they go in, they will never come out.
“In 1878, the Prison was filled well over capacity with nearly 2,000 inmates,” according to jolietprison.org, a website that tells the history of the prison and allows for you to sign up for tours. “[There were] reports of unsanitary and dangerous conditions emerged.”
Throughout the state, people knew the allegations that staff was abusing the prisoners as well as killing them. Once a prisoner was told that they were going to Old Joliet Prison, they knew that it was a death sentence](https://kanelandkrier.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/prison1.jpg)
