By Chris Fox
The Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held a regular meeting on Jan. 11 at the District 205 Center, 162 S. York St. All seven board members attended the meeting, which was the board’s first regular meeting of 2022.
[Ed. note: Due to technical difficulties, there was no audio on the online recording of the meeting. The district did provide an audio recording of the meeting, but the audio was not clear during portions of the meeting.]
IMEA students honored
The board recognized the district’s middle school students who were selected to perform at the Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) District 1 Music Festival, which was held on Nov. 6, 2021, at Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox. The festival recognized middle school students from more than 60 area schools. The honored students were selected to perform at the festival after displaying their talents in rigorous auditions.
Presentation on clubs at Field School
The meeting also included a presentation highlighting the many clubs available to students at Field Elementary School. The presentation noted that those clubs “offer a variety of opportunities for students to demonstrate commitment, leadership, communication skills, and continue to build their collaboration skills.”
Public forum brings out mask controversy
Three people spoke during the meeting’s public-participation segment. One of the speakers talked about the need to focus on the mental health of the district’s students and staff members. He said that children have been robbed of many milestones and memories during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he was tired of hearing about mask breaks and mask enforcement in schools.
Another speaker noted that no one in District 205 has died from COVID-19. He didn’t mention that the DuPage County Health Department has reported nearly 1,600 deaths related to COVID-19 since March 2020, and that none of those deaths in the county have involved a resident under the age of 20. The speaker claimed Gov. Pritzker’s mask mandate was prescient. He stated that the board and Pritzker could take credit for the lack of COVID-19 related deaths in the district.
[Ed note: See related letter to the editor on this week’s Viewpoint page.]
Speaker questions ‘ideological agenda’
The third speaker during the public-participation segment said he was worried about education focused on an ideological agenda and stated that a large number of young people approve of communism and socialism.
Audit presentation given
The meeting also included a presentation about the district’s annual audit review. Andrew Mace of the district’s auditing firm—Wipfli—delivered the brief presentation about the annual audit report for the one-year period that ended on June 30, 2021. Mace spoke of the need for maintaining a fund balance for a variety of reasons, including cash-flow purposes, covering increased costs of capital projects and being prepared for changes in state policies. Mace noted during his review of the year ending June 30, 2021, that the district was able to take advantage of favorable interest rates to retire previously issued debt. He said that move will result in a decrease in debt service payments of almost $700,000 over the next 10 years.
Board pays for strategic plan consultants
Board members voted unanimously to approve an expense of $39,900 to pay the professional services firm of Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates to assist in the district’s strategic planning process.
Foundation donation will offer support
The board unanimously approved a $2,000 donation from Foundation 205 to assist district students who face economic challenges. School social workers will have discretion to use the funding to support individual students. The funding could pay for a variety of expenses, including school supplies, instrument rentals, summer school and gift cards for food, clothing or gas.
Rotary BRIDGE donation accepted
The board also unanimously approved a donation of $6,422 from the Rotary Club of Elmhurst to assist the York High School BRIDGE program, which provides support to students returning to school from mental health hospitalization programs. The program helps “bridge” students back to York after an extended absence.
Campbell notes many absences with COVID-19
Providing an update about the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, District 205 Superintendent Keisha Campbell noted the difficulties in staffing the district’s schools. She said about 42 to 52 staff members are absent each school day due to COVID-19 related issues. She said the district’s administration and staff have been deploying an “all hands on deck” approach to provide safe in-person instruction in District 205 schools. She said the district has not had a lot of success with building its pool of substitute teachers.
The board will hold its next regular meeting on Jan. 25.
