Glenbard District 87 Board of Education meeting highlights (8-24-2026)

Board Highlights feature a brief description of the action items and discussion items on the meeting agenda. Board Highlights do not replace minutes. The minutes are approved by the Board and posted after the next regularly scheduled Board meeting. Present: Tod Altenburg, Jay Bastian, Margaret DeLaRosa, Hetal Lee, Martha Mueller, Pete Nolan and Jim Shannon.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT

1. We will be hosting open houses at each of our high schools on Thursday, August 27. This is a great opportunity for families to connect with our principals and counselors, meet their teachers, walk their student’s daily schedule, and explore all the exciting courses and programs lined up for this year. Open house is part of our home/school partnership, which is critical to ensuring that students reach their goals.
      
2. September is National Suicide Prevention Month. At Glenbard District 87, the safety and well-being of every member of our Glenbard family is our highest priority. If you or someone you know is struggling, students are encouraged to speak with a trusted adult at school, such as a counselor, social worker, dean, teacher, or principal for support. Our district website offers up-to-date mental health resources, crisis lines, and tips for helping a friend; please visit for details. For 24/7 confidential help, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and in an immediate emergency, call 911.
      
3. We are proud to celebrate Glenbard West seniors Tori Fors and Eliana Nicholas for their exceptional achievements in the Distinguished Young Women of Illinois scholarship program. Selected from over 400 statewide applicants, both students were named among the top 26 state finalists following a rigorous evaluation of their scholastic achievement, academic extracurriculars, interviews, public speaking, physical fitness demonstrations, and talent presentations.
        Congratulations to Eliana on being named the Distinguished Young Woman of Illinois for the Class of 2027. Eliana took first place in both the talent and fitness categories, placed in the top five for self-expression, and earned $3,200 in cash scholarships. She will represent Illinois at the national finals in Mobile, Alabama in June 2027. Congratulations to Tori Fors on earning recognition as a top five finisher in the fitness category, taking home a $200 college scholarship.
        In addition to their cash awards, both Tori and Eliana earned college-granted scholarships to more than 10 universities across the country. Congratulations to both of these outstanding students on their achievements, and best of luck to Eliana at Nationals.
      
4. The district received the following donation: Custom Cares Charities, $400 to Football at East.
      
5. We encourage community members to attend the GPS Parent Series events noted below. Details and webinar links are available at GPSparentseries.org.
   • August 26 at noon and 7 p.m. – Parenting Anxiety: Breaking the Cycle of Worry and Raising Resilient Kids
   • August 27 at noon and 7 p.m. – Dopamine Kids: Understand Addictive Triggers and Rewire Young Brains
   • September 1 at noon and 7 p.m. – Born to Flourish: Science and Ancient Wisdom Reveal a Simple Path to Thrive
   • September 9 at noon and 7 p.m. – Understanding Adolescence: A Complex Journey of Growth and Transformation
         

THE BOARD APPROVED:

– the August 17, 2026 regular meeting minutes.

– invoices for payment.
August 24, 2026
Education Fund                                     $   829,499.30
Operations & Maintenance Fund  $      93,278.09
Debt Service                                           $                  0.00
Transportation                                       $      16,620.49
Capital Projects                                    $1,844,973.11         
IL Munic. Retire/Soc Sec.                $                   0.00
Interim – Checks                                  $                   0.00
Interim – Wire Transfers                    $                   0.00
TOTAL                                                       $2,784,370.99

– the following personnel items:
LICENSED STAFF – EMPLOYMENT:
Name                                 School/Position                                                  FTE                Effective Date
Previti, Anna                 South/English Teacher (addtl. FTE)         20%               08/24/2026

SUPPORT STAFF – EMPLOYMENT:
Name                                School/Position                                                   FTE                Effective Date
Hardtke, Cole               South/Special Education Assistant          87.5%           08/21/2026
Mowinski, Michael     East/Special Education Assistant             87.5%           08/12/2026 

SUPPORT STAFF – RESIGNATION/TERMINATIONS:
Name                                School/Position                                                                            Effective Date
Balger, Julie                 South/Special Education Assistant                                   08/14/2026 

SUPPORT STAFF – LEAVES OF ABSENCE:
Name                                School/Position                                                         Term                           Reason
Peoples, Brenda        West/Special Education Asst.        11/06/2026-01/05/2027      Personal

– accepting the following donation: Calamos Investments, $5,000 to Football at East.

– one excursion.

– ACT prep program agreement 2026-27 – Progress Learning. Progress Learning is District 87’s ACT test preparation tool and is used to provide access to quality test preparation for all students. Based on the results we experienced last year with Progress Learning, we want to expand this opportunity to additional students this year.

Progress Learning’s ACT solution will meet the district’s specified goals by providing the following:

• A PreACT/ACT diagnostic and benchmarking tool, which includes three full-length benchmark assessments that provide immediate data to help identify student strength-and-improvement areas and plan interventions. The instructional diagnostics pinpoint student performance by skill and standard and track mastery of high-impact ACT concepts across subjects and fully support ACT accommodations.
• Materials such as ready-to-use PreACT/ACT curriculum with individualized learning paths, practice questions, and support videos for every standard assessed on the exam.
• Multi-level reporting, which allows administrators to view performance data at district, school, classroom, and student levels. The reporting provides clear data to inform grouping, reteaching, and intervention, as well as measures progress over time to align instruction with college readiness goals.
• Assessment results render within minutes of completion and deliver actionable diagnostic and benchmarking insights to drive instruction and support accountability goals.

This contract accounts for licenses for all grade 9-11 students in the district for one year. The cost per building is $17,016. The total amount is $68,064.

– e-learning program verification for 2026-2029. Glenbard has successfully used several e-learning days in place of emergency days over the past six years. Glenbard is seeking to reissue this program for another three-year span. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) provides guidance for school district e-learning program verification and the DuPage Regional Office of Education approves these plans.

This proposal is for traditional emergency days, such as winter storms, water or electrical outages in buildings, etc. These e-learning days could be used for specific buildings with emergencies or district-wide.

In this plan, students would participate in five hours of e-learning activities on an emergency day, instead of canceling school and adding days at the end of the school year. Licensed staff would provide these learning activities and collect attendance information. Please note that there may still be a need to use emergency days without e-learning if an emergency happens with little warning and there is not enough time to activate the e-learning plan.

– Amendment 1 to the emergency contract for general education transportation services. At the December 1, 2025 Board of Education meeting, the Board approved entering into separate emergency transportation service agreements with Durham and Cook Illinois to ensure continuity of general education transportation services.

An amendment to the contract is necessary in order to clarify confusion in the method and quantity of costs associated with supplemental drivers. Glenbard worked with its attorney to make a few minor language modifications which were enclosed in the packet.
     

BOARD INFORMATION/DISCUSSION ITEMS INCLUDED:

– Directions program report 2025-2026. The student services year-end report included a comprehensive picture of student services staff and work in the Directions program. The Directions program was established to offer Glenbard students the opportunity to recover credit, gain skills, plan their futures and access the diverse coursework in the Technology Center of DuPage. The data revealed the powerful impact the Directions staff has in changing the trajectory of many students.

– maintenance vehicles purchase. Currently, the district’s maintenance department has nine vehicles. Four of them are used by the district engineering team, one by the mail carrier, one by the district grounds manager, one by the construction owner’s representative, and two vehicles out of service. After a close evaluation of the district fleet, we replaced three vehicles last year, and this year we are scheduled to replace two additional vehicles. In this transaction, we will trade in three existing vehicles valued at a total of $26,836.

The district is recommending continuing its relationship with Enterprise Fleet Management as they have access to a large inventory of vehicles nationwide. The vehicles proposed are two new vans (2025 RAM 1500) at a proposed cost of $95,356. The total proposed budgeted cost to the district would be $68,520.

– Freedom of Information Act requests. By School Code, a Board of Education is to be informed at its regular meeting of any requests made under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the status of the district’s response. Here are the recent FOIA requests to which the district has responded:

DATE RECEIVED: 6/25/2026
REQUESTOR & COMPANY: Harrison Pike (The Data Branch)
REQUESTS SUMMARY: The Data Branch is submitting a public records request for records pertaining to vendor procurement and purchasing activity.
Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140)
Scope of Request:

• All purchasing records from vendors (if existing): Verkada, Triton Sensors, Soter Tech, Motorola, IPVideo Corporation, Vocabulary.com.

We are interested in records from 2022 to now that document the financial terms of any engagement with the vendors listed above. Where available, this may include per-unit pricing, subscription or licensing fees, and any implementation or onboarding costs.
We are looking for the following types of records:

• Contracts, service agreements, order forms
• Purchase orders relating to the above vendors
• RFP or solicitation documents
• Task orders issued against cooperative purchasing agreements

DATE RECEIVED: 7/2/2026
REQUESTOR & COMPANY: Brooklyn Adams (The Data Branch)
REQUESTS SUMMARY: The Data Branch is submitting a public records request for purchase order records issued between April 15, 2026, and the present.
Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140)
Scope of Request:

• We are requesting all purchase orders issued between January 1, 2023, and the present, reflecting purchasing or procurement activity across all departments, divisions, and offices.

If your office does not maintain a centralized report, we are glad to accept:

• Department-level or segmented purchasing data
• Any readily available reports
• Records grouped by department, if that is how they are stored

To the extent readily accessible, we are interested in records that include:

• Purchase order number (or equivalent)
• Purchase date
• Vendor ID or name
• Department or issuing entity (if available)
• Line item description
• Quantity
• Unit price
• Total price

DATE RECEIVED: 8/7/2026
REQUESTOR & COMPANY: Eric Barry
REQUESTS SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140/1 et seq., I request electronic copies of the following records concerning Chad Hetlet, including records relating to his service as a teacher, football coach, or other school employee:

1. All written complaints, reports, grievances, or allegations submitted by parents, guardians, students, employees, coaches, or members of the public concerning:
   • verbal abuse or degrading language toward students;
   • bullying, intimidation, humiliation, harassment, or retaliation;
   • inappropriate treatment of student-athletes;
   • coaching conduct or disciplinary practices; or
   • conduct affecting students’ participation in school or athletic activities.
2. All emails, letters, memoranda, text messages maintained by the District, meeting summaries, incident reports, or other correspondence transmitting, discussing, acknowledging, or responding to such complaints.
3. All final investigative reports, factual findings, investigation summaries, final determinations, corrective directives, written reprimands, or other final records reflecting the District’s disposition of such complaints.
4. Records sufficient to identify, for each responsive complaint:

• the date the complaint was received;
• the school or department that received it;
• the general nature of the allegation;
• whether an investigation was opened;
• the date the matter was closed or otherwise resolved; and
• the final disposition, if one was reached.

5. Any resignation letter, exit memorandum, exit-interview record, or written communication from a football coach, assistant coach, athletic-department employee, or other District employee referencing concerns about Chad Hetlet’s treatment of students or student-athletes.

This request covers all responsive records maintained by the District concerning Chad Hetlet, from the commencement of his employment and/or coaching service with the District through the date of the District’s search.