News
March 25, 2025
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Glenbard News for March 25, 2025

In this issue:

  • South places second at Illinois Tech Pitch Day; district-wide entrepreneurship final pitch contest scheduled for May 7
  • West Theatre Trivia Night on March 25
  • How we navigate our inner world ultimately drives our careers, relationships, happiness and health
  • Highlights of March 24 board meeting


South places second at Illinois Tech Pitch Day; district-wide entrepreneurship final pitch contest scheduled for May 7
Glenbard South’s dual credit entrepreneurship startup company BEED recently took second place at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Pitch Day 2025. BEED aims to create a hydration-tracking lid that fits on your favorite bottle brands. Its goal is to develop sustainable water lids to track hydration, empower healthier lifestyles and be an affordable option for everyone.

Glenbard’s INCubator program empowers student-led startups like BEED to turn their idea into reality. INCubator has expanded to all four of our high schools in 2024-25 through Dual Credit Entrepreneurship 1161. In this class, students work in small teams to develop a business idea. Mentors, coaches and the classroom teacher guide them through a hands-on, authentic entrepreneurial experience.

We’re excited for our first district-wide entrepreneurship final pitch contest on May 7, 2025, and we’re grateful for the continued support from local business experts and entrepreneurs. The winning team will receive $5,000 to be used toward growing their business.

2025 Glenbard Final Pitch Night details
Wednesday, May 7 at 6:30 p.m.
Glenbard West High School Auditorium
670 Crescent Blvd
Glen Ellyn, IL  60137


West Theatre Trivia Night on March 25
Glenbard West Theatre is hosting a Trivia Night from 7-9 p.m., on Tuesday, March 25 at Two Hound Red (486 Pennsylvania Avenue in Glen Ellyn). A portion of food and drink sales will benefit West Theatre. In addition to fun trivia, several raffle prizes will be distributed.


How we navigate our inner world ultimately drives our careers, relationships, happiness and health
Glenbard North Assistant Principal for Operations Eric Johansen is reading “Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself” by Dr. Kristin Neff. Dr. Neff will be in conversation with author Dr. Susan David for two virtual presentations on Wednesday, April 16 titled Emotional Agility: Skills to Navigate Change and Embrace Self-Compassion.

Please share information about this special event with friends and relatives, and check out the preview online.

Visit the GPS Parent Series website for links and the complete list of upcoming speakers.


Highlights of March
24 board meeting
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: Margaret DeLaRosa, Kermit Eby, Bob Friend, Hetal Lee, Martha Mueller and Jim Shannon. Absent: Rosemarie Montanez.

SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT:

  1. The Illinois State Board of Education honors educators across the state with the annual Those Who Excel Awards, which recognize the exemplary educators who go above and beyond to make positive impacts in their school communities.
        Brandon Catt, music teacher and fine arts department chair at Glenbard East, has been named as a Those Who Excel – Award of Excellence recipient in the school administrator category. Tim Fawkes, music teacher at Glenbard East, has been named as a Those Who Excel – Award of Excellence recipient for classroom teaching.
        The Award of Excellence is the most prestigious category of achievement in the Those Who Excel Awards. To receive the Award of Excellence, educators must have demonstrated a commitment to equity and to the success of all students. They regularly collaborate with colleagues, students, and families to create positive school cultures. They are lifelong learners who connect their schools to the community at large and who inspire other education professionals within and beyond their schools.
        Congratulations to Brandon and Tim on receiving these prestigious honors.
  2. Glenbard was represented by two teams at the Special Olympics of Illinois basketball state tournament, which was held March 7-9. Congratulations to the Transition programs team that placed second in their division, and the Glenbard East team that placed fourth in their division.
  • The Glenbard East team: students Jacob Burnett, Paolo Cielo, Arthuro Garduno, Omar Guemez, Jaxson Di Nicola, Oscar Alexander CruzSanchez, Mario Magana, CJ Mundinger, Jacob Reiche, Jacob Regelbrugge, Jeremy Spontak, Annabelle Vang and Andre Williams. Tydra Davis and Liz Rose are the coaches.
  • The Transition programs team: students Emily Celestino, Kelly Espinosa, Ema Wegrzyn, Dorcas Matthew, Cameron Santos, Ivan Khiev, Veronica Aldama, Aidan Bosley, Isaiah Hayes, Luke Perry, Payton Perry, Andrew McCluskey and Abraham Cegarra-Penaloza. Justin Payne, Sean Hyland, Dustin Guevara and Thomas Hoder are the coaches.
  1. Congratulations to the 56 Glenbard students who qualified for the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics state finals, which will take place on April 26 at Illinois State University:
  • Glenbard East students Shoaib Khan, Mackenzie Fodrey, Jewel Mathew, Gavin MacDonald, Myles Pascasio, Jonas Ong, Ferni Amezcua and Zachary Nguyen. Brad Podraza is head coach.
  • Glenbard North student Derrick Xianto. Laura Jungmann is head coach.
  • Glenbard South students Dougy Biesenkamp, Nick Crawford, Emily Goodin, Adi Lehr, Owen Martinez, Aditya Narayanan, Mia Siguenza, Aspen Usalis, Sophia Assaf, Priscilla Ha, Zach Jones, Simon Kubik, Azam Muneer, Michael McIntyre, Will Pope, Aryeri Funez-Sanchez, Ben Gower, Gavin Loftsgaarden, Alex Long, Lizzie Pekkarinen, David Puchalski, Ashrith Valluri, Grace Bittlingmaier, Andrew Lullo, Zach Nielsen and Ella Pope. Dave Jodelka is head coach.
  • Glenbard West students Simon Ellis, Madeline Jacobson, Michael Price, Ollie Ramos, Steven Hockett, Tanya Le, Mel Martinez, Martin Millar, Shaan Patel, Gabe Shapiro, Angela Jaeger, Sadie Jewell, Charles MacDonald, Joanna Piczak, Nathan Sowa, Asiya Ahmed, George Andrianopoulos, Camden Marschand, Colton Nikols, Amy Tran and Aleksander Wrobel. Neil Eckman is head coach.
  1. Congratulations to Glenbard East student Elisabeth Andrusyk on earning the rank of Eagle Scout. To fulfill her requirement for Eagle rank, Elisabeth built a scent wall for training police dogs for the Elmhurst Police Department. The skills she learned during scouting and her Eagle project will help her in various aspects of her life going forward.
  2. Our spring break begins on March 31. The schools and administrative center will be open during spring break with staff available to assist students and families. Classes will resume on April 7.
  3. We encourage community members to attend the following GPS Parent Series events. Details and links to each event are available at GPSparentseries.org.
  • March 25 at noon and 7 p.m. – How to NOT Raise a Narcissist in an All-About-Me World
  • April 10 at noon and 7 p.m. – Tap into Your Intuition to Connect with Your Child and Go Easy on Yourself
  1. On February 17, 2025, the district received a Freedom of Information Act request from Inovo AI Solutions LLC, Abbas Khan, requesting all Glenbard purchasing records from July 1, 2020 to present. The district has responded to this request.

THE BOARD APPROVED:

the March 10, 2025 regular meeting minutes and closed session minutes.

the following personnel items:
LICENSED STAFF – EMPLOYMENT:
Name                                    School/Position                                                           FTE            Effective Date
Jablonski, Kimberly     South / Assistant Principal for Instruction      100%                07/01/2025

LICENSED STAFF – CHANGE OF POSITION:
Name                                   School/Position                                           FTE            Effective Date
Contreras, Andrea       West / EL Site Coordinator                      20%                 08/11/2025
Contreras, Andrea       West / World Language & EL                  80%                 08/11/2025

LICENSED STAFF – LEAVES OF ABSENCE:
Name                                   School/Position                                       Term                               Reason
Castro, Natalie               East / EL Teacher                03/19/2025-05/19/2025        Personal

LICENSED STAFF – RESIGNATION/TERMINATIONS:
Name                                   School/Position                                                              Effective Date
Hudgins, Nicholas       South / School Counselor                                                05/23/2025
Rivera, Jelisa                 East / Social Worker Interventionist                             05/23/2025

SUPPORT STAFF – RESIGNATION/TERMINATIONS:
Name                                   School/Position                                                                       Effective Date
Blanco, Jose                   West / EL Bilingual Interpreter                                               03/21/2025
Darschewski, Cassandra       North / Administrative Assistant to Deans          03/28/2025
Ungaro, Steven              South / Administrative Assistant for Activities               03/28/2025

accepting the following donations: Carol Stream Travel Softball and Baseball Association, $500.00 to softball at North. Anonymous, $500.00 to the Raider Family Fund at South.

DuPage West Cook member school district resolution. The DuPage West Cook (D/WC) Board is planning to change its board structure from a governance unit to an oversight committee. 

The D/WC Board met on February 13, 2025 and passed an agreement to eliminate the D/WC Board and to have it act rather as an oversight committee. As a member district of D/WC, Glenbard is asked to take action on the resolution that resolves the proposed amendments to the D/WC agreement.

Through the years, the D/WC Board has transitioned from overseeing the daily operations of the programs, approving the budget as well as the hiring of staff to an advisory and informational board. The aforementioned duties are now the responsibility of the boards directly overseeing these programs – the School Association for Special Education in DuPage County and the La Grange Area Department of Special Education. Committee membership will continue to be composed of member district representatives who will meet at least twice annually to review programming and budget recommendations. Programming will continue to be provided and no interruption of services will occur.

summer 2025 capital improvement projects – PSI. Following the release of Wold Architects & Engineers’ design specifications, Glenbard assistant principals of operations have made recommendations regarding the mechanical and electrical work previously proposed by Performance Services (PSI). These items are added scope and will require additional costs to the PSI contract. Below is a summary of the modifications proposed with the necessary additional costs.

Glenbard East (Total = $224,294)

  • Mechanical and lighting revisions to the Lindsey library media center. Modify unit vents in existing science labs.

Glenbard North (Total = $80,982)

  • Install controls on nine additional variable air volume boxes = $38,677
  • Add an additional stall to women’s restroom = $18,374
  • Heating, ventilation and air conditioning temperature control work for science rooms = $23,931

Glenbard West (Total = $35,479)

  • Heating, ventilation and air conditioning temperature control work for science labs = $35,479

BOARD INFORMATION/DISCUSSION ITEMS INCLUDED:

Inspire … Empower … Succeed Awards. Congratulations to the North recipients of the district’s Inspire … Empower … Succeed Award: Gary Heilers (department chair of physical education, health, & driver education); Darlene Meglio (administrative assistant to the assistant principal for athletics); Scott Meyers (English teacher and instructional coach) and Grace Moon (math teacher and instructional coach). The award recognizes faculty and staff members who: demonstrate exceptional levels of initiative or innovation; exceed expectations and make a positive difference for students; and demonstrate outstanding student service or achievement.

awards & recognition of North parent leaders. Congratulations to our 2024-25 North parent leaders who received recognition for their support and dedication to the district:

  • Glenbard North Athletic Boosters – Klaudia Czernek (President)
  • Glenbard North Music Boosters – Christine Housour (President)
  • Glenbard North Theatre Boosters – Kristy Nasciamento (President)

awards & recognition of North student-athlete. Congratulations to the following North student for earning All-State status in athletic competition:

  • Kalani Khiev, All-State in IHSA Boys Wrestling. Head coach is Travis Cherry.

master plan capital projects update – schematic design. In spring 2024, the district received voter approval for a $183 million referendum. This will contribute to a total of $312 million of capital project improvements to our high schools over the next decade. Since June, Gilbane and Wold Architects have led bi-weekly building meetings to get feedback from building and district administration on use and location of spaces that will be incorporated in future capital project bid specifications. Schematic design has been completed for all four schools, and we are now in the design development phase of the design.

Quarterly, we will be presenting updates on our design progress at the Finance and Facilities Committee meeting. Monday’s board presentation summarized the discussion at the committee meeting.

Equal Opportunity Schools update. An update was presented on our ongoing partnership with Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) in pursuit of the goal of increasing opportunity and access to Advanced Placement and dual credit courses to all students, regardless of race or income.

The presentation included a review of the EOS model, trend data on AP and dual credit enrollment and performance, a summary of outreach and recruitment strategies, and a review of supports in place to help students and teachers.

Equal Opportunity Schools collaboration agreement. We submitted for approval the extension of our collaboration agreement to continue our partnership with Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) for the 2025-26 school year. After discussing our partnership options with our school leadership teams, we have decided to continue our partnership with EOS at the sustain level that will provide all of the technical tools and data analytics that are essential to the process of identifying all students who have the assets to be successful in an Advanced Placement course. At this partnership level, on-site consultation is limited, but we have found that EOS staff has been very supportive and flexible in their willingness to schedule ad hoc conference calls and webinars to consult with our staff throughout the year.

The cost per school is $14,000, which includes a $6,000 discount per school and a district discount of $5,000 due to partnership with EOS as one of the inaugural Illinois partners in 2015-16. There is no change in the cost of the agreement from last year. The total agreement amount is $56,000.

2025 custodial, maintenance and grounds services bid. The district currently contracts with ABM for custodial, maintenance and grounds services. The original contract, in which we are currently in the 13th addendum, dates back to 2006. District administration felt it was in our best interest to do a comprehensive bid. While evaluating the district’s needs, current full-time equivalent per building, staff training and quality, existing equipment, existing policies, and future needs were taken into consideration.

The public bid opening took place on March 4, 2025, where we received a total of five bids. From that, four of the bidders were invited to present and interview with our team. The team included Glenbard assistant principals of operations, assistant principals for athletics, building managers and district representatives.

District administration will share recommendations at the April 14, 2025 board meeting.

general education transportation services bid results. The district currently contracts with Safeway for its general education transportation services. In July 2025, alongside Glen Ellyn District 41, we began the first year of a five-year contract with Safeway. With a rocky transition at the start of the year, the overall performance has improved. However, a few failed days in the second semester prompted a desire for District 41 to review their potential options. 

Based on District 41 board’s interest to go out to bid again, District 87 went out to bid on February 11, 2025. On March 5, 2025, we publicly opened the transportation bids. We received a total of three bids. We are under no obligation to accept any bids at this time. District 41 and District 87 hold separate contracts with Safeway and retain the option to continue under our existing contract if desired.

The administrative teams at each district are currently reviewing the results. Initial thoughts were discussed, and a formal recommendation will follow at the April 14, 2025 board meeting.

policies and procedures for first reading and discussion. 4:80 Accounting and Audits; 4:80-AP1 Asset Protection; Equipment Inventory and Disposal; 4:80-AP2 Annual Audit; 4:120 Food Services; 4:120-AP1 Food Services; Competitive Foods; Exemptions; 4:120-AP2 Food Services; 4:140 Waiver of Student Fees; 4:140-AP1 Fines, Fees and Charges – Waiver of Student Fees; 4:140-AP2 Student Expenses; and 5:270-AP1 Confidential Employees.