On Monday, Nov. 28, 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 but Aaron Lawler showed up late. The meeting was a closed session. Following the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call, the approval of the Fox Valley Career Center (FVCC) for the use of Kaneland facilities was moved to new business. After the agenda was approved, Director of Human Resources Dr. Chris Adkins recognized the new supporting staff members. 

     “We have [many] support staff new to the district this year and we still have more to hire. [There are many] that we would like to recognize tonight. We have 39 [new] employees – three food service staff, six paraprofessionals, three building administrative assistants, one certified nurse, one maintenance staff member, fifteen monitors, [one] occupational therapist, three district office administrative assistants, four crossing guards and two information technology interns,” Adkins said. “We still have [plenty] we still need to hire, but we wanted to take a moment to recognize those 39 people who come in every day and do things with students or behind the scenes for students to make sure that we can run and operate [smoothly]. We could not do it without them.”

     Following the recognition of supporting staff, the first item under new business was the approval for the building repair of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) control units for Kaneland High School. 

     One of the HVAC control units recently failed at the high school and the recommendation was to replace all three of the units. The unexpected unit failure was not budgeted and District Associate Superintendent Dr. Julie-Ann Fuchs explained why the administration recommended the replacement of all three HVAC units.

     “We [would] bring the high school up to current technology and provide spare parts, which are hard to come by for Kaneland Meredith [Academic Center], Kaneland Blackberry [Creek Elementary School] and Kaneland McDole [Elementary School]. The cost for this is $124,355, which is over the administrative authority of $25,000,” Fuchs said.  

     After the board approved the recommendation, Adkins and Personalized Learning Coordinator Laura Garland gave an updated presentation on the Kaneland IgKnight Personalized Learning Academy for the 2023-24 school year.  

     According to Garland, as of Nov. 28, there are 27 fourth and fifth-grade students registered, 51 sixth through eighth-graders registered and 12 third-graders on a waitlist. Registration for the learning academy will close on Dec. 16, and only 90 of the 200 spots have been filled. 

     After the presentation on the update of the learning academy, Director of FVCC Dr. Rick Burchell gave a presentation on the FVCC financial practices after it was a topic for future agendas at the Nov. 14 board meeting. 

     According to Burchell, the FVCC has spent $30,000 to install a separate electrical system to the computer technology classrooms and $18,000 to upgrade the ventilation system in the smaller welding shop. The FVCC also recently finished paying off a 10-year $175,000 investment to replace the roof of the FVCC wing at KHS. 

     Because Burchell explained the finances with his presentation, the approval of FVCC fees for Kaneland facilities did not need to be discussed as a new business topic anymore. 

     The last item under new business was the review of the Policy Reference Education Subscription Service (PRESS). The updated version of PRESS policies includes not having COVID testing and updating the names of KHS Principal Dr. James Horne and KHMS Principal Brian Faulkner. 

     During the superintendent and board report, Fuchs explained how the KHS auditorium is closed due to replacing the lights. The auditorium will open in January as not all the lighting parts will come in until later, but it will close again in June when it is least used to finish replacing the lights. 

     Senior and student ambassador Lindsay Yost gave an update on high school events.  

     “Boys bowling just earned third [place] in the copper division of the Plainfield North [High School] Invite. [Senior and girls golf team member] Katharine Marshall was awarded the Kane County Preps Girls Golf Player of the Year,” Yost said. “The fine arts holiday concerts sold out and the madrigals dinner will take place Dec. 16, through Dec. 18. [Junior] Brie Booher made All-State for [the Illinois Music Education Association].”

     Following the superintendent and board report, parent Tonia Groezinger had one public comment regarding summer school transportation talked about at the previous board meeting.

     “My biggest concern is the buses and transportation. There was something [at the last board meeting about] the [elementary students] being bused with high school and middle school students. As a parent of [child] who will be in third grade next year, [I do not want] my child getting on a bus with a junior. That does not sit well with me and I know that is a concern for [other] parents,” Groezinger said. 

     The next board meeting will be held on Monday, Dec. 12.