On Thursday, January 19 District 158’s Board of Education conducted a regularly scheduled meeting which featured a closed session. The meeting was headed by the boards president Donald Drzal.
After an hour long closed session, members resumed the regular public meeting.
Once seated Drzal took a few minutes to honor the tragic deaths of two students from Marlowe Middle School which occurred on January 10.
“As a district we have definitely been weakened by their loss,” Drzal said.
Drzal announced that a candle lighting ceremony to honor Ezequiel and Ariana Garcia would be held on January 20 at 5 p.m. on the campus of Marlowe Middle School.
After the announcement, an assembly of preschoolers from the district’s Early Childhood Center lead the pledge of allegiance. After which Drzal commenced the meeting.
The board also recognized two cheer squads from the Huntley Cheer Association who both won first place at the state championships. Drzyl congratulated Squad 4 from the 4th Grade Medium Division and Squad 7 from the 7th Grade Medium Division.
Overall very few significant issues were discussed at the meeting. The board announced that they plan to restripe the entrance of Huntley High School, and that they are considering proposals to reduce traffic in the parking lot, but that at the moment no such plans are in place.
Superintendent John Burkey also talked about the importance of finding great staff from current cohorts and from outside sources.
“We are trying to do a better job at recruiting in areas where it is difficult to find a lot of teacher candidates. We are beginning to attend career fairs and going out and contacting potential candidates,” Burkey said.
He explained that the district has created a program for current district teachers to progress their careers even further and become administrators.
The final proposal to be voted on an agreement with College Board (creators of the SAT and PSAT) to allow 8th graders to take the PSAT. The district believes it will allow students to prepare earlier for college aspirations. The proposal was unanimously agreed upon.
After two hours of various minor policy discussions, Drzal adjourned the meeting. Overall nothing abnormal occurred and the meeting was declared a success.