The Examiner U-46 News Feed

District U-46 approves multiple policy updates

By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 approved updates to 25 policies at its meeting on Monday, Feb. 26.
  The board took various votes, one of the policies being approved by a 5-1 vote with board member Dawn Martin voting no and Veronica Noland was absent. The details of the updates were not posted publicly.
  The 5-1 vote came on updates to Policy 6:230 (library media program).
  Trisha Olson, chief legal officer, said the Illinois Association of School Boards’ recommendation was to align with the American Library Association’s stand against banning of books and materials, but the U-46 administration preferred “stronger language explicitly stating that the practice of banning books and other materials within the district and within our media program is prohibited.”
  Martin said that “while I do not agree with the banning of materials in schools… I also feel like the language is just an insane knee-jerk reaction to what's going on in partisan politics.”
  “I don’t think there’s any reason to not tie something to the American Library Association,” Martin added. “It is their job. They don’t believe in the banning of materials, and I’m concerned about such a black and white stance that is based on politics being our language.”
  All of the additional policy updates were approved by 6-0 votes.
  Also approved at the meeting, by 6-0 votes, were school fees for the 2024-2025 school year and a revision to the 2023-2024 school calendar.
  The district will once again waive school fees because the district still has Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, which is federal covid bailout funds, to use, according to Ann Williams, deputy superintendent of operations.
  Optional fees remain, including middle school athletic participation ($80) as well as various high school fees: athletic participation ($150/$200 for football and lacrosse), basic yearbook ($45), driver education ($250 behind the wheel/$13 textbook), lifeguard course fee ($45.75) and parking permit ($100).
  Regarding the calendar revisions, May 3 will now be a school attendance day and May 31 an Institute Day.
  Superintendent Suzanne Johnson said the revision is “an attempt to accommodate and address some of the emergency weather days.”