Naperville District teachers decry midyear after-school meeting directive; board asked to place issue on future agenda

Several elementary teachers and parents at the Naperville District 203 Board of Education meeting on Sept. 22 said a new district directive requiring weekly after‑school meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays will hurt staff and students because it was issued after the school year began. Teachers asked the board to examine the directive and asked administration to provide clearer, earlier notice.

The directive, announced to elementary staff by the assistant superintendent of human resources on Sept. 15, requires 60‑minute meetings on Tuesdays and 45‑minute meetings on Wednesdays outside the student attendance day beginning the week of Oct. 13, teachers said. Alicia Smith, identified in public comment as an elementary math specialist, told the board she had five weeks' notice and had already arranged child care and other commitments based on previously shared schedules.

"Communicating this information with me five weeks after the school year has started is inadequate," Smith said. "We already arrange our lives around our work, but we need adequate notice to make those arrangements. Five weeks after the school year has started is not adequate notice."

Other teachers described similar concerns. Erin Meehan Browning, a fifth‑grade teacher at Elmwood Elementary, said the change required staff to rework childcare arrangements they had made months earlier and forced some school‑level extracurricular clubs to be canceled because elementary clubs could not be scheduled after school on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. "Elementary staff are not afraid of meeting the expectations of the contract. However, the change of the schedule and the impact it has had on our personal lives is stressful and frustrating," she said.

Janelle Kreiling, a 33‑year Elmwood teacher, told the board the additional weekly hour will deepen workload stress. Kreiling said she is spending an average of 12.5 extra hours per week planning under a newly adopted HMH curriculum and that the new meeting requirement contributed to her decision to suspend a long‑running extracurricular club.

Speakers asked why the district waited until after contract negotiations or until several weeks into the school year to issue the change. Smith said contract negotiations did not change the relevant Workday language, and that administration could have issued the directive earlier. "If the district administration wanted to change the current practice, they should have made this decision before the current school year or at the very least, at the beginning of the school year," Smith said.

Board members acknowledged the public comments and discussed next steps. Board member Melissa Kelly Black formally requested that the topic be placed on a future meeting agenda; President Charles Kush confirmed the request was received and advised that board procedure requires the request be submitted in writing (which Kelly Black had done). Superintendent Dan Bridges said such requests are documented and will be scheduled in accordance with board agenda procedures.

The transcript records public comment only; there was no board vote or formal policy change at the Sept. 22 meeting. Board members and administration repeatedly said staff would follow board policy and that the superintendent is the board's designee to coordinate responses to operational public comment.

Why this matters: The directive affects elementary teachers across the district, with potential knock‑on effects for childcare access, student extracurricular offerings and staff morale. Teachers said midyear changes reduce predictability for employees and families and asked the board to examine both timing and implementation.

What the board documented as next steps: At the meeting Kelly Black asked to have the meeting schedule directive included on a future agenda; Bridges and board leadership confirmed the request was logged for future consideration. The superintendent also said that staff would respond to public comment as appropriate and apprise the board.

Additional context: Speakers repeatedly distinguished contractual obligation (they said they have no objection to fulfilling contractual duties) from the timing and notice of this administrative directive. The district's published guidance for public comment and board procedure were cited at the meeting as the route for follow‑up.