By Chris Fox
For The Elmhurst Independent
The Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held a regular meeting on Oct. 12 at the District 205 Center, 162 S. York St. All seven board members attended the meeting.
Students recognized
The meeting featured recognition of several Sandburg Middle School students. Principal Linda Fehrenbacher noted the achievements of the school’s cross-country program. Sandburg’s eighth-grade boys and girls teams both earned first-place finishes at the West Suburban Middle School Conference Meet. Allison Kocinski was the individual champion in the eighth-grade girls level, while Grant Hickman won the individual title in the seventh-grade boys level.
Fehrenbacher also noted the achievements of seventh-grader Samantha Koerth, who proposed and formed a club to engage the school community in education and awareness opportunities.
Grant rec’d for podcast equipment
An announcement during the meeting stated that York High School received a $900 grant to purchase professional podcasting equipment. The school’s official podcast is titled “DukeCast.” A new student podcast is titled “In the Halls.” This is an exciting time for these students as they will get to be part of something that has become incredibly popular as time has gone on, so hopefully, their foray into this will provide the outcome that they want. To get their show out there, the school and students will need to look into the best ways to promote the podcasts to peers and staff.
Student growth and achievements
The meeting also included a presentation about the district’s student growth and achievement highlights. Scott Grens, the interim associate superintendent of schools, and Kevin Rubenstein, the assistant superintendent for student services, noted an array of data in a variety of key performance indicators, including performance of District 205 students at various grade levels in reading and math. Grens said that the administration will present information about the district’s school improvement process at a board meeting in November.
Trumpet donation accepted
The board unanimously approved the approval of a donation of a trumpet valued at $500 to York’s Performing Arts Department. Larry Coha, the parent of alumni of District 205 music programs, made the donation.
Capital projects update
The meeting included a brief facility update regarding capital projects from the summer of 2021, as well as upcoming projects scheduled for the summer of 2022. Todd Schmidt, the district’s director of buildings and grounds, delivered the presentation to the board. He noted that the summer of 2021 project to replace the boiler at York’s pool. He also mentioned that the project to install larger air handlers to provide more fresh air to the pool area is just about complete. Schmidt added that the summer 2021 project to replace the roof in the area above York’s two gymnasiums is nearly complete.
The district’s capital projects scheduled for the summer of 2022 include more roof replacement at York, in the area above the field house. Other projects include roof replacement at Emerson Elementary School, the renovation of York’s library and the replacement of the scoreboard at York’s stadium.
Company approved for demographic study
Board members voted unanimously during the meeting to authorize the administration to contract with Cropper GIS Consulting to perform a demographic study. The cost of the study is $20,000. Cropper GIS Consulting performed the last demographic study for the district in 2014. The study, which should be completed by the end of this year, will provide projections that the district will use to anticipate future enrollment, school capacity and staffing needs. The results of the study should be presented to the board in January 2022.
Campbell presents COVID-19 policy updates
District 205 Superintendent Keisha Campbell gave a brief presentation during the meeting about the district’s policies related to COVID-19. Beginning the week of Sept. 20, adults who work in district schools were required to either be vaccinated or present a negative COVID-19 test each week. Campbell said more than 91 percent district staff members have received a COVID-19 vaccination. The district partnered with Jewel-Osco to offer a clinic for booster doses (for those who have already been vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine) on Oct. 15. The district hopes to continue to offer similar clinics as the school year continues.
On Oct. 5, the district’s testing partner, North Shore Clinical, began onsite PCR testing twice per week for unvaccinated staff who desire testing.
Board members commented on their desire to continue reducing the number of district students who have to quarantine and miss in-person instruction due to a close-contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. That number has decreased significantly from the 2020-21 school year to the current school year. Board members noted that during the previous school year, as well as during the current school year, nearly none of the students who quarantined because of a close-contact at their school eventually tested positive for COVID-19.
Next meeting: The board will hold its next meeting on Oct. 26.
