May 13, 2025 at 7:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  Per Policy 2:230 - Public Participation at School Board Meetings and Petitions to the Board
During each regular and special open meeting of the Board, any person may comment to or ask questions of the School Board (public participation), subject to the reasonable constraints established and recorded in this policy’s guidelines below. The Board listens to comments or questions during public participation; responses to comments to or questions of the Board are most often managed through policy 3:30, Chain of Command. 
To preserve sufficient time for the Board to conduct its business, any person appearing before the Board is expected to follow these guidelines:

1. Address the Board only at the appropriate time as indicated on the agenda and when recognized by the Board President. This includes following the directives of the Board President to maintain order and decorum for all.
2. Use a sign-in sheet, if requested.
3. Identify oneself and be brief. Ordinarily, the time for any one person to address the Board during public participation shall be limited to five minutes. In unusual circumstances, and when an individual has made a request to speak for a longer period of time, the Board President may allow a person to speak for more than five minutes. If multiple individuals wish to address the Board on the same subject, the group is encouraged to appoint a spokesperson.
4. Observe, when necessary and appropriate, the Board President’s authority to:
   • Shorten the time for each person to address the Board during public participation to conserve time and give the maximum number of people an opportunity to speak; and/or b.
   • Determine procedural matters regarding public participation not otherwise covered in Board policy.
5. Conduct oneself with respect and civility toward others and otherwise abide by Board policy 8:30, Visitors to and Conduct on School Property.

Petitions or written correspondence to the Board shall be presented to the Board in the next regular Board packet.

Description: 

We will be recognizing our 2024-2025 Years of Service Awards for the following staff members:

5 Years
Nicole Richardson

10 Years
Jeff Prieboy

15 Years
Rebecca Georgopulos

20 Years
Marcella Stateman

25 Years
Lucinda Fiday

Description: 

At our meeting Tuesday evening, we would like to recognize Mrs. Kathy Gallagher for her dedicated service to the children of District 91. 

Thank you, Mrs. Gallagher, for your service and support! You will be missed.

Description:  On Tuesday evening, we will be recognizing the KG students of the month, the KG Brown Bag Book Club, and the Drama Club.

Description: 

Attached are multiple FOIA requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act that have been received over the past 45 days.  There are ten FOIA requests from the same sender that request information from different years within a short period of time.  Given the information that was being requested and attorney guidance, a request was made to contact a person to inquire about further information before putting the response together.  In all ten responses made by District 91 for a specific contact person, no return information was received.

Please find the request, response, and/or attachments to each FOIA included below.

Description:  Attached is the suspension report for Milne Grove for the month of April 2025.  There were no suspensions at Kelvin Grove for the month of March 2025.

Description: 

Registration for the 2025 Joint Annual Conference is expected to open on Monday, June 2, 2025. The conference is scheduled for November 21-23. 

Please review your calendar and let me know Tuesday evening if you will be attending the conference and if you will be staying in Chicago. This will allow Mrs. Melber to register members as soon as registration opens.

Description: 

Graduation is scheduled for 7:00 pm on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in the LTHS East Campus Auditorium. All members are invited to attend the graduation ceremony. Members of the Board of Education sit on stage throughout the ceremony, the board members will be assigned a group of students to hand each graduate their diploma and then shake their hand.

Please be prepared to let Mrs. Melber/Mr. Jennings, know at the board meeting if you will plan on attending the ceremony.

Description:  The Committee of the Whole will meet on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at 5:45 pm in the Kelvin Grove LRC.  The agenda was posted and available on the website.  If there are board members who were not in attendance at the committee meeting, an update will be provided.

Description: 

Below is a list of revised/new/updated policies and exhibits that are being brought to the Board of Education for a first reading as a part of the May meeting:

Please look over the included update memo and the policies.  Changes will be made as the Board deems necessary and submitted for official Board approval as part of the June board meeting.  On Tuesday evening, Dr. Wilkey will provide an overview of the policy changes that are presented.

Description: 

In April, the Board approved posting the required notice regarding the budget hearing in June and putting an amended budget on review for 30 days.  The budget amendment files will be available on our district website's main page.

The budget amendment reflects all known revenue updates and expected expenditures for FY25. I have attached a copy of the budget amendment and account details showing the changes by account.  In addition is the amended state budget form.  

Members will have until the June meeting to review the amendment. If any member has questions, please contact me before the June meeting.  At the June 3, 2025, meeting, after a budget hearing is held, it will be recommended that the budget amendment be approved.

Description: 

On Tuesday evening, Dr. Wilkey will provide an update on the IL State Literacy Plan as well as the accelerated/enriched ELA and math placement criteria.

Attached you will find a few of the documents I will reference during the update.

Description: 

RECOMMENDATION
The multiple donations made to the district in the past month.

BACKGROUND
We received multiple donations at both Kelvin Grove and Milne Grove in recent months to include the following:

 

• KG LRC book donation - multiple class sets of books from Grove Middle School Library (see attached)

• $1000 Noah Kuchinski Memorial donation to Kelvin Grove - $250 to each of the following clubs: Drama Club, Science Club, Chess Club, and Library.

• $1000 Noah Kuchinski Memorial donation to Milne Grove 

• $200 PAA donation to 8th grade dance

• Girl Scout Donation as presented

Description: 

BACKGROUND
Each year, the district is required to receive board approval for the Consolidated District Plan for federal grants we apply for each year, including: Title I, Title II, Title IV, IDEA Part B Flow-Through, IDEA - CEIS,  and IDEA Part B Preschool.  This plan must be approved by each district’s Board of Education before we can submit our individual federal grants for FY26.  We have no changes within our plan from the current school year to next school year, therefore, we plan to continue allocating the federal funds in the same manner as we have in the past.

It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the Consolidated District Plan as presented for FY26.

Description: 

Description: 

BACKGROUND

Eleven years ago, the board approved, in the absence of a full-time athletic director, the position of assignment chair to oversee the scheduling of all referees for athletic competitions played at home.  Mr. Mondrella was hired to fill this position and has done an excellent job each year. 
It is recommended that the Board of Education employ Mr. Mondrella as the assignment chair for the 2025-2026 school year at the rate of $85 per each of the six athletic sport seasons ($510).

Description: 

RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the rate of pay for athletic officials increase by $5 per each respective sport.  

 

BACKGROUND
For the 2023-24 school year, the LL7 Conference provided recommended raises for basketball and volleyball, so our district raised the rates to $90 and $85, respectively, and maintained them for the 2024-2025 school year.  This year, we are recommending an increase of $5 for each rate to stay competitive with other districts in the conference.  Below is a list of historical rates as well as the recommended rate to attain athletic officials who are IHSA certified:

Sport	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26
BASEBALL/SOFTBALL	$65	$75	$75	$75	$80
Double Header			$125	$125	$130
BASKETBALL (2 refs)	$65	$75	$90	$90	$95
BASKETBALL (1 ref)			$125	$125	$130
VOLLEYBALL (2 refs)	$65	$75	$85	$85	$90
VOLLEYBALL w/one official (Boys VB)			$85	$85	$90

Description: 

RECOMMENDATION
To approve the submission of the FY26 COPS SVPP Application

BACKGROUND
I am asking the Board to approve the submission of the FY26 COPS SVPP application.  Attached you will find a more detailed explanation of what will be included in the grant request.

It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the submission of the FY26 COPS SVPP grant for a total request amount of $750,000, which would require a local district contribution of $250,000 to be paid from local funds.

Description: 

RECOMMENDATION
Approve the breakfast price of $2.75 and lunch price of $4.50 for the 2025-26 school year.

BACKGROUND
With the approval of the new food service contract at the May meeting and the need to adjust the breakfast and lunch prices, it is important to consider the trends in both the new food contract prices along with food prices. 

Below is a comparison of the previous meal prices we were billed through our Intergovernmental Agreement with LTHS and the new approved food service prices for next year:

 

	2022-2023	2023-2024	2024-2025	2025-2026	Difference
Breakfast	$1.60	$1.65	$2.10	$2.18	+$0.08
Lunch	$2.75	$2.80	$3.36	$3.48	+$0.12
Snack	$1.30	$1.35	$1.30	$1.35	+$0.05

 

Below are the lunch price trend differences between the price billed and the price charged per meal:

 

	2022-2023	2023-2024	2024-2025	2025-2026	Difference
Breakfast	$2.20	$2.25	$2.50	$2.75	+$0.57
Lunch	$3.85	$3.90	$4.20	$4.50	+$1.02
Snack (PFA grant)	$1.30	$1.35	$1.35	0	0
Additional Milk	$0.50	$0.50	$0.50	0	0

 

As you can see, the actual charge for the school breakfast/lunch prices follows a pattern of what the district has charged over the food contract price, which helps to subsidize the district’s cost for personnel to prepare the meals. 

To continue honoring the same practice but also considering our families, below is what was proposed last year to spread the jump in cost over two years:

	2023-2024	2024-2025	Difference	2025-2026	Difference
Breakfast	$2.25	$2.50	+$0.25	$2.75	+$0.25
Lunch	$3.90	$4.20	+$0.30	$4.50	+$0.30
Snack (PFA grant)	$1.35	$1.30	0	$1.35	0
Additional Milk	$.50	$.50	0	$.50	0

 

The recommendation for students to purchase additional milk will remain at 50 cents per carton, and the snack for our EL program will be at the actual contract price charged.

It is my recommendation that the District 91 Board of Education approve food prices for the 2025-26 school year only that include a two-year price increase for our families, instead of all at once this past year.

 

Description: 

RECOMMENDATION:

Approval of bid for painting the ceiling tile grid at Milne Grove with Creation Carpentry.

 

BACKGROUND:

Unfortunately, following the approval of the lowest bidder at the April meeting, the vendor was unable to produce the bond insurance required in the RFP.  Therefore, we are asking for board approval to go with the second-lowest bidder, Performance Painting, at a bid amount of $25,800.  Attached you will find information from Mr. Pierson as well as the original bid opening form.  Given this information, it is my recommendation for the board to approve a contract with Performance Painting in the amount of $25,800.

Description: 

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the list of summer camps for Kelvin Grove be approved.  

 

BACKGROUND

Due to the construction schedule for the summer, the dates for summer camps took longer to coordinate than in the past. Below is a list of summer camps that have been scheduled to run at Kelvin Grove:

June:

Girls Basketball Camp (Hollatz/Hollatz): June 2-5, June 9-12, 8:00-10:00 am in Hornet's Nest

Yoga Camp (Dickson): June 2-3, June 16-17, June 23-24, 10:00 am-12:00 pm in Hornet's Nest

Tech Camp (Lakics): June 23-26, 1:00-3:00 pm in Room 23B

Drama/Singing (Fowler/Velcich): June 30-July 3, 12:30-3:30 pm in Feneli Gym

July:

Volleyball Camp (Burdette/Lindstrom): July 7-10, July 14-17, 8:00-10:00 am in Hornet's Nest

Boys Basketball Camp (London): July 7-10, July 14-17, 10:30 am-12:00 pm in Hornet's Nest

Softball Camp (Cushman/Hollatz): July 22-24, 9:30-11:00 am on softball diamond

*Cheer (Draper/Lyons) will be practicing on Tuesdays & Thursdays in the Feneli Gym, 9:00 -11:00 a.m. May 27-July 17

Description:  The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the District or legal counsel for the District, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee or against legal counsel for the District to determine its validity. [1] However, a meeting to consider an increase in compensation to a specific employee of a public body that is subject to the Local Government Wage Increase Transparency Act may not be closed and shall be open to the public and posted and held in accordance the [the Open Meetings Act].  5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1), as amended by P.A. 99-646