Watch a Video of the Meeting

Recognition, Awards, Presentations, and Public Hearings
Heartland Elementary School (HES) Principal Kimberly Hornberg presented the Viking Leaders Award to the HES Student Council students who organized, and now take care of, a portion of Keslinger Road as part of the Kane County Adopt-A-Highway program (listed in order of appearance): Principal Mrs. Hornberg, Alina Zadro, Maggie Helland, Eliseo Sida (standing back), Sophia Behrens, Kendall Harbach (standing back), Charlotte Mulcahy, Ginny Brylka, Nate Apgar (standing back), JJ Rooney, Mrs. Jessica Yonkman, Mrs. Christie Jennings.

Legislative Update
Board member Jackie Forbes shared several senate bills proposed that are related to manufacturing filed by Senator DeWitte. Another proposed bill is related to teaching about manufacturing. One proposed bill requires the school district to post learning materials and activities for student instruction on the website. Another is about students who live in a district but do not attend school in the district allows them to participate in extracurricular activities at the school in the district.

Superintendent's Report
Dr. Barrett reflected on the recent inclement weather events and the challenges of balancing the needs of students at all levels. He said the district received positive feedback on making a decision the night before. Our teachers and students demonstrated preparedness, in spite of some technology issues on the first day due to the volume of people accessing the system. Some adjustments were made to technology to accommodate this. 

He updated on the Strategic Planning Process. A good number of people attended the Community Forum, and the survey is closed now. We are happy with the responses we received from all the stakeholder groups, that were large enough to be statistically significant. A presentation will be made by Dr. Harris at the February 28 board meeting. The report will be available on the website. Next steps will be determined after the data is available.

Board Member Comments and Reports
Several board members thanked everyone who helped students through the tough weather events. They reminded everyone about the high school play "The Last Lifeboat." They commented on the Policy Meetings that the months where there is no policy to update, they are reviewing older policies to reflect on how the new policy updates are going. They discussed the accelerated placement policy; the video will be posted. Several members thanked the Heartland students work on the Adopt-A-Highway project. Another member commented on the Technology Task Force meeting and thanked the tech team on their work to keep everyone connected during e-learning. They gave a shout out to all the faculty who participated in the Faculty Recital saying we have many talented faculty. Another talked about the Facility Task Force meetings discussions about projects that were done in the summer and finishing up projects to complete the punch lists and make sure that contractors complete their work. Another member said they are constantly impressed by everything that staff do throughout the year.