At its Aug. 28 meeting the Woodland District 50 Board of Education set next steps for several governance items: the board asked administration to develop a community presentation on Prairie Crossing (target date Nov. 3), sent a draft board-member attendance policy to legal review, and began scheduling an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) governance workshop.

Board members discussed Prairie Crossing’s multi-decade history and agreed the community presentation should include background/history, the district’s financial impacts, and suggested next steps for community members who want to assist the district (for example, contacting legislators). Administration and board members favored an outreach event open to the public; the board settled on Nov. 3 as the proposed community presentation date and asked the superintendent to confirm availability with the district calendar and cabinet.

On board governance, the board discussed a draft policy that would set expectations for elected board-member attendance and a multi-step process for the board president to follow when a member misses multiple governing-board meetings without notification. Board members clarified the draft policy does not itself remove a member from office but would provide a pathway to engage the superintendent of schools and Lake County if escalation were required; the draft includes a statement that the Illinois School Code supersedes any language in the policy. The board asked staff to send the draft to legal counsel for review.

The board also discussed setting an ISBE governance workshop with the district’s assigned ISBE field representative to review the six foundations of governance. The board targeted Oct. 16 as a preferred date (with Oct. 14 as alternate) but requested staff confirm availability of the ISBE representative and board members’ calendars.

Why it matters: The Prairie Crossing outreach addresses a long-running community issue with fiscal and political implications; an attendance policy clarifies board expectations and a governance workshop aims to build the new board’s capacity for policy and oversight.