Taxes, the Kaneland IgKnight Personalized Learning Academy (KIPLA) and the upcoming referendum were major topics of the Dec. 9, 2024, Kaneland District 302 Board of Education meeting.
All board members were present. Other topics covered by the board were the prices of a la carte menus in the middle school and high school and plans for the summer of 2025. In the public comments, there was also discussion of disability treatment in the district.
The board meeting started with a board salute. Assistant Superintendent for Business Dr. Jackie Bogan saluted Sierra Hardwoods who donated roughly $1,300 of hardwood floors for the industrial arts class at the middle school taught by Micheal Livorsi. The next salute came from the Elburn Lions Club presented by Joseph Kryszak to Superintendent Dr. Todd Leden for their Distinguished Distributor Award that highlights people who create caring and educational environments for people in the community.
“Whatever the Lions’ Agenda is seems to be [the board’s] agenda,” Kryszak said. “It’s not by accident.”
Public comments in this meeting had a focus on a situation with a six-year-old boy with Down syndrome. He has been out of school for 13 days due to his disabilities. His parents, Giovanna and Rob Owens, and the Director of Disabilities at Chapelstreet Church, Chris Duffey, spoke on behalf of the child. They believe the treatment of the child was unfair and wish to see a response and outreach from the district.
“It is inconceivable to us that this is happening in this day and age,” Giovanna Owens said. “This approach to exclude our son from his school undermines the discussion had with the team and the special education department and disregards his rights under Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).”
Deputy Superintendent Dr. Kurt Rohlwing began the discussion of the Referendum with feedback from the community and staff members across the district that he got when he held multiple town halls, staff meetings in every school and various school events. He highlighted shared concerns from both groups, such as the safety and security of the students and the infrastructure of the school. The state of the classrooms, outdated science equipment and the restroom facilities were all widely talked about in responses to a survey Rohlwing sent to community and staff members after their meetings.
“Honestly, I can see it in the crowd that some people were shocked by the state of the outdated classrooms at the high school,” Rohlwing said.
An issue many community and staff members found with the previous referendum was the lack of transparency with where the money gained would go. Rohlwing and Bogan are working with Director of Communications David Chavez in order to be as transparent as they can be.
“The community is asking us to be very transparent, which they feel [we have not been] in the past,” Bogan said. “It’s been complicated because, you know, our budgets are huge [with] a lot of pages and stuff like that. For somebody to be able to read that, [it became] very difficult, so if we can make it more streamlined and make it more available consistently, that would be very helpful.”
Next, Dan Kritta, an Education Planner at Wold Architects, and Portfolio Management Account (PMA) Financial Network President Robert Lewis led the discussion on the finances and ideas for what work will be done if the referendum passes. The plan includes building a field house, improving drainage outdoors, expanding the tennis courts, replacing and expanding the bleachers, replacing the roofs, fixing congestion and traffic problems in the hallways, making improvements to air conditioning and heating , modernizing science labs, improving the security of the main and Fox Valley Career Center (FVCC) entrances, replacing flooring and repurposing the west gym for Career Technical Education (CTE) classes at the high school. These changes would be in the effort to improve the overall experience of students, staff and community members.
“[The field house] would actually replace, as Rohlwing said, the west gym as well,” Kritta said. “[It] frees up the space to become something different.”
The board then shifted their focus to KIPLA Principal and Personalized Learning Coordinator Laura Garland to update the board on their plan on whether or not to expand to grades nine and 10. The last time this was brought up to the board was in July of 2024, when the board asked Garland to do more outreach and release more information on KIPLA’s program as a whole. She held information nights at the school and conducted parent meetings, student panels and homeroom visits to eight and ninth graders. So far, there are six students projected for the high school level of KIPLA if it were to expand.
“We’re looking and we’re wanting to garner interest in expanding to ninth and 10th grade,” Garland said.
Rohlwing also told the board about a possible next step for a high school level of KIPLA. He discussed different models that could work for personalized learning at the high school level outside of making a separate school for it.
“With the high school, [personalized learning] is more complex,” Rohlwing said. “[We have to go] back to the drawing board to look at different models that might be more sustainable [and] more attractive to our student body for possible launch in the fall of 2026.”
Also in the new business section of the meeting, Bogan discussed the pricing of a la carte food in middle school and high school lunch lines. There will be a raise in prices on pre-packaged food from 25 to 75 cents. The change will be in effect at the start of the new semester.
“[The items with increases in price] are really those pre-packaged items,” Bogan said. “Things like donuts, things like ice cream, Uncrustables, cinnamon rolls [and cookies].”
Director of Buildings and Grounds Mark Payton also announced plans regarding the summer of 2025 . These plans have been made in the assumption that the referendum will pass. The district has planned to be under budget, so if the referendum doesn’t pass, they can use the excess money to start with certain projects that take the most priority. Replacing the auto yard fence, kitchen improvements and new furniture are all part of the plans for the high school. They also want to change the radio systems from analog to digital across the whole district.
“Something we started to do [in previous years] was refreshing the furniture in the high school,” Payton said. “It took a pause for several years, [but] we’d like to get back to doing that.”
Towards the end of the meeting, the board mentioned that Kaneville Fire Chief Kevin Tindall has been asked to provide the board with a report of community activities starting on Jan. 13, 2025. The board also talked about activities, events and meetings that have taken place since the previous meeting. Student Representative Sarah Slattery recapped the recent boys and girls basketball games, the current spirit week and the beginning of the boys track and field practices. Rohlwing, Board President Addam Gonzales and Bogan talked about the Illinois Association of School Boards conference that they attended. Rohlwing also reported on the Kaneland Madrigals, who went on a tour of the elementary and middle schools and will hold their annual Madrigal Dinner on Dec. 13, 14 and 15.
“We got a sneak peak [of the Madrigals],” Rohlwing said. “They sang for the district office folks in the foyer of the high school. I’m not sure the acoustics in there are ideal, but they did an amazing job.”
The meeting ended with a closed session where no possible action could be taken. The next meeting will be held on Monday, Dec. 16.
