Huntley Community School District 158 staff presented a package of professional learning contracts for the 2025–26 school year and said the work will be funded from Title II, IDEA and local budget dollars.

At a committee meeting, Dr. Martino (staff member) and Ms. Gill (staff member) described contracts that include classroom-setup coaching with Easterseals, crisis prevention and de-escalation trainer certification with the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), Build Capacity LLC for professional learning communities, ROE 4 literacy and curriculum supports at the 6–12 level, the Math Institute of Wisconsin to continue Illustrative Math coaching, NeuroEd support for special-education eligibility and IEP compliance, and Infinitiq licenses and training for assistive technology.

The board discussed funding and program details. Ms. Gill said the district will allocate federal grant funds where required and local budget dollars for the remainder. On CPI, staff said the district plans to expand its pool of district trainers from two to about 10–12 so more staff can be trained in shorter and full-day options; staff noted recertification requirements vary by the trainer standard and state rules. As staff explained, “if someone leaves, we would have to train a new trainer. But then that training is good for 2 years,” and the state requires annual training for trainers in Illinois.

Board members raised procurement and cost concerns. One board member criticized consultant rates for Build Capacity LLC and the Math Institute of Wisconsin as “not respectful of our taxpayers” and urged looking for lower-cost local alternatives. Staff responded that some vendor fees are consistent with prior years and that in-district trainer development can be more cost-effective than sending individual staff off-site.

Board members also asked for outcome data for CPI training. A board member requested staffing and incident data to evaluate whether CPI is reducing staff and student injuries; district staff said they track any physical interventions and report holds to the Illinois State Board of Education and can provide that data to the board.

What’s next: Staff said the full set of contracts will be forwarded to the board agenda for formal approval at the May 15 meeting. The district will provide data on CPI-related incidents and the expected breakdown of grant and local funding when the items come forward for action.