february 11

The bOARDBuzz is put together following District 25 School Board Meetings and serves as a recap of what occurred.

• For the full agenda of the Regular Meeting, please click here.

This meeting was recorded and that recording can be viewed here: www.sd25.org/0211FullMeeting.

As always, the bOARDBuzz is archived at www.sd25.org/BoardBuzz.

6:15 PM

7:00 pm

A. District Spelling Bee Participants

The Board recognized and celebrated the following middle school students for participating in the District 25 Spelling Bee.

South Middle School

Joshua Barnes | Ziva Delgado | Jacob Grubba

Thomas Middle School

Naqueeb Mohammad | Anagha Prasad | Prakash Siva Subramarian

Anagha Prasad won the District 25 Spelling Bee, and will represent District 25 in the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee. Joshua Barnes, Ziva Delgado, Naqueeb Mohammad, and Prahash Siva Subramarian will represent District 25 in the Knights of Columbus Bee.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

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B. Qualifiers for the Illinois All Junior Band

The Board recognized and congratulated the following Thomas Middle School students that qualified for the 2025 All-Illinois Junior Band. Ms. Candace Horton is their Band Director.

Caroline Hong, Oboe | Colin O'Brien, Trumpet | Andrew Rice, Clarinet

Landon Rice, Euphonium | Ishaan Varma, Alto Saxophone

To qualify for the All-Illinois Junior Band, students had to prepare a scale sheet and two selections of music. In November, they submitted audio recordings of their performance to be considered/judged for acceptance, and competed with several hundred applicants from all over the state for a limited number of spots. The event was held on January 17-18 on the University of Illinois campus where students had rehearsals and sectionals all day Friday and Saturday, culminating in a performance in Krannert Center on Saturday afternoon.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

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C. Qualifiers for the ILMEA Composition Contest

The Board recognized and congratulated Thomas Middle School 8th grade band student, Andrew Schrenk, who entered the ILMEA Composition Contest and won Second place in the Junior Division. Joining about 300 other hopefuls from Illinois, Andrew wrote and submitted for consideration a beautiful and imaginative composition for keyboard. He received his award at the annual Illinois Music Education Conference in Peoria on February 1.

The Board thanked Candace Horton, Band Director, as well.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

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D. South 7th Grade Girls Basketball Team Qualifier for the State Tournament

The Board recognized and congratulated the South 7th Grade Girls Basketball Team that Qualified for the State Tournament, and came in 3rd Place.

The Board recognized the following players:

Eva Bevacqua | Bella Caldera | Marley Camardella | Kate Fischer | Maddie Fourman

Georgia Hill | Gia Humann | Mila Kacprzynska | Ioanna Kalergis | Mia Rigg

Madelyn Searle | Anissa Stanley | Kailen Stevens | Mallory Tosch | Arianna Conenna | Macy Joyce

The Board thanked coaches: Dan Burdi, Scott McTague, and Katelyn Sparlin as well.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

In this portion of the meeting, Board members catch one another up on the happenings each member has experienced as an individual since the last meeting. Also, some Board members are appointed as representatives to attend meetings on behalf of the District 25 Board of Education for different organizations. Those members convey relative information to the entire Board at the monthly meeting.

• Board Member Updates
• ED-RED Education Research Development
• Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB)
  
• NSSEO
  

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

Community members are invited to address the Board during this public comment portion of the meeting. According to Board Policy, public comment is heard for 30 minutes at Board of Education meetings and members of the community have three minutes to address the Board.

Click here to watch this portion of the meeting.

Please remember that the Board can be reached outside of Board Meeting hours by emailing boardfeedback@sd25.org.

In this portion of the meeting, the three organizations below addressed Board Members.

• AHC PTA
  
• ABC25 Foundation
  
• ATA (Arlington Teachers Association)

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

MOTION: APPROVED

That the Board of Education approve those items on the Consent Agenda as follows: (A) Personnel Report and Addendum to Personnel Report; (B) Invoices; (C) Regular and Closed Session Meeting Minutes of January 14, 2025; (D) Hold Closed session minutes of July 16, 2024, August 13, 2024, September 24, 2024, and November 12, 2024 per Board Policy 2:220-E1; (E) Release Closed session minutes of August 12, 2024, October 8, 2024, and December 10, 2025 per Board Policy 2:220-E1; (F) Destruction of Audiotapes January 1, 2023 through June 30, 2023 per Board Policy 2:220-E1.

The consent agenda documents can be seen by clicking here to visit BoardDocs.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

There were no items presented by the Department of Student Learning.

There were no items presented by the Department of Student Services.

MOTION: APPROVED

A. Student Photography Contract

That the Board of Education award the contract for Student Photography Services to Stuart-Rodgers, Ltd. for the school years 2025-26 through 2027-28.

Currently the District has five separate student photography companies overseen by our nine PTA’s. The District solicited a Request for Proposal (RFP) for these services on behalf of the School PTA’s to secure one company in efforts to streamline services, as well as increase potential commission rates back to our PTA’s.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

To view this in BoardDocs, including any documents associated with this item, click here.

To watch the Board discuss and vote on this item, click here.

There were no items presented by the Department of Facilities Management.

There were no items presented by the Department of Personnel & Planning.

A. Superintendent Update

Superintendent Dr. Brian Kaye updated the Board on some general topics and shared some news from around the District by showing the three videos listed below:

Out & About: Digital Citizenship Week

Reel: South's Wednesday Wellness for FEB

Reel: Gators Care Week

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

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B. Freedom of Information Act Report

Superintendent, Dr. Brian Kaye, updates the Board on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from the public. The following were the FOIA requests:

• Sheila Norman, Director of Marketing and Membership Communications, of the Illinois Retired Teachers Association, requested information on retiring certified staff; a response was provided on January 15, 2025.
• William Boodro requested information on electric bills, Miner School window replacement, and Miner School toilet renovation; a response was provided on January 24, 2025.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

To view this in BoardDocs, including any documents associated with this item, click here.

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E. Full Day Kindergarten Survey Results

Superintendent, Dr. Brian Kaye, presented the Board with the results of the Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) survey the District sent to all FDK families on November 14, 2024. The survey ran through December 6, 2024. It was an open ended survey using a platform called ThoughtExchange.

For a PDF of the presentation, click here.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

To view this in BoardDocs, including any documents associated with this item, click here.

To watch the Board discuss this item, click here.

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F. Strategic Plan

Superintendent, Dr. Brian Kaye presented a plan to embark on the District's next Strategic Planning Process, lead by Perry D. Soldwedel, who facilitated the District's previous Strategic Plan that was adopted by the Board on April 8, 2021.

Over the course of the next year, a series of facilitated meetings will bring together district leaders, educators, parents, and community members to assess current performance, identify priorities, and establish a roadmap for achieving long-term success. Stakeholder feedback will be actively solicited throughout the process to ensure alignment with the district’s mission and vision.

The goal is to have a final plan, ready for the Board's review and potential adoption by February 2026.

For a PDF of the presentation, click here.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

To view this in BoardDocs, including any documents associated with this item, click here.

To watch the Board discuss this item, click here.

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G. Draft Board Meeting Dates | 2025-2026

Superintendent, Dr. Brian Kaye, presented the Board with a Draft of potential Board Meeting dates for the 2025-2026 school year.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

To view this in BoardDocs, including any documents associated with this item, click here.

To watch the Board discuss this item, click here.

C. Second Reading of Policies | PRESS 117

That the Board of Education approve the policies and exhibit as presented.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

To view this in BoardDocs, including any documents associated with this item, click here.

To watch the Board discuss this item, click here.

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D. Illinois Vision 2030 Resolution

That the Board of Education approve the Resolution "Illinois Vision 2030" as presented.

In October 2023, the following organizations worked together to write Vision 2030:

• Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA),
• Illinois Principals Association (IPA),
• Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB),
• Illinois Association of School Business Officials (IASBO),
• the Superintendents’ Commission for the Study of Demographics and Diversity (SCSDD),
• Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools (IARSS),
• Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education (IAASE), and
• The Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools (AIRSS)

Together, they launched Vision 2030 to articulate what the education community stands for and aspires to realize. The District presented the recommendation to the Board of Education at last month's meeting to adopt this resolution, showing the District's commitment to the Vision 2030 framework.

For a PDF of the presentation last month, click here.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

To view this in BoardDocs, including any documents associated with this item, click here.

To watch the Board discuss this item, click here.

The District 25 Board of Education often offers a second opportunity for public comment at each Board Meeting that takes place once all the agenda items have been presented, discussed, or voted on.

*No community members chose to address the Board during this public comment at this meeting.*

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

FUTURE TOPICS & TOPICS WITH DATES TO BE DETERMINED

• Professional Development

NEW TOPIC

• No new topics.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

To watch this portion of the meeting, click here.

TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2025 @ 6:15 PM at Greenbrier

*The meeting will begin with Closed Session at 6:15 p.m., followed by the Regular Open meeting at 7:00 p.m.*

This meeting will be held at the Greenbrier Elementary School (changed from Dunton) and broadcasted live and recorded. The link for the livestream can be found on the Board Agenda page (www.sd25.org/BoardAgenda) the week of the meeting.

Public Comments

Anyone who wishes to make a public comment can do so, in-person, at our Board of Education meetings. The Board hosts two public comment opportunities on their agenda: 1) at the beginning of the meeting, prior to any agenda items, 2) at the end of the meeting after the agenda items have been discussed/presented.

Meeting Recordings

A video of the meeting will be recorded and uploaded to our site on the 'Board Agenda' page and on our 'Catch up on Meetings' page.