News from July 21, 2022 Board of Education Meeting

The District 64 Board of Education held a regular meeting on July 21st, 2022, at Lincoln Middle School. The meeting highlights included:

VIEW MEETING VIDEO

• Discussion on School Resource Officers- The Board revisited adding School Resource Officers to District 64's schools (Action Item 22-07-6). The motion brought to the Board was to direct the Superintendent to start negotiations for Intergovernmental Agreements with the City of Park Ridge and the Village of Niles to place School Resources Officers in the District’s middle schools. The vote ended in a 3-3 tie, and the motion did not pass. 
  • After that, Board Member Gareth Kennedy proposed an amended motion to direct Superintendent Dr. Olson to invite the Park Ridge Police Chief and Niles Police Chief to the next board meeting to discuss the implementation of SROs in the school district. 
    • To gather more information on the topic, the Board passed this motion. 
• Construction Update- District 64's Chief School Business Official, Dr. Adam Parisi, and Director of Facility Management Anthony Bersani gave an update and outlook on the district's numerous and extensive construction projects. 
  • Dr. Parisi said, "Overall, things are going well. The buildings that are being built for the schools, for the students, for both full-day kindergarten and Jefferson--it's on target, and we're moving towards opening the doors at the beginning of school." 
  • The teamwork between everyone involved in the projects was highlighted as a big reason the construction has remained on schedule. "Things come down to what went wrong today and how can we make it right today?" said Bersani. "That's why we're so proud to work with these groups. They've overcome every challenge they've been faced with."
• Contract Awarded- District 64 took the next step in selling the ESC Building. The Board unanimously voted to award “805 Touhy LLC” the contract to buy the administration building at 164 S Prospect Avenue, Park Ridge, for $1.32 million. 
  • The administration offices will eventually be moved to Jefferson School.
• Tentative Budget-The Board approved Resolution #1294 of the 2022-23 Tentative Budget. There will be a public hearing on the budget at 7:00 p.m. on September 15, 2022, at Emerson Middle School, 8101 N Cumberland Avenue, Niles, IL, 60714.
  • The final budget will be approved on September 15th. 
  • You can find the 2022-2023 Tentative Budget here at this link. 
• Welcome to D64!- Maria Soulias is the new Assistant Principal at Emerson Middle School after the Board approved her hiring on Thursday. Soulias joins District 64 after serving as a middle school math and tier 3 math intervention teacher at Mannheim Middle School in District 83. 
• The Board also approved the recommended Personnel Report that Assistant Superintendent Dr. Joel Martin presented.