Indian Prairie Board approves Gregory Middle School principal, adopts calendar and MOU on parent‑teacher conferences

The Indian Prairie School District 204 Board of Education voted unanimously March 10 to appoint Patrick Raleigh as principal of Gregory Middle School effective July 1, 2025, to approve a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Prairie Education Association on parent‑teacher conferences, and to adopt the 2026–27 school calendar.

The actions came during the board’s regular meeting after Superintendent Dr. Talley recommended the appointment and staff presented the conference schedule changes. The appointment motion passed on a roll call with all members voting in favor. Patrick Raleigh, currently an assistant principal at Gregory, said he was "beyond excited" for the opportunity and introduced family members who attended the meeting.

Board members and staff framed the memorandum of understanding as a limited, schedule‑specific agreement to allow flexibility for parent‑teacher conferences. "It is all about our conferences that we have and parent teacher conferences," a district administrator explained, saying the agreement follows the same approach used for the 2025–26 school year with one notable exception: the district will include the first week of November as a potential window for fall conferences to allow flexibility around major election dates. Under the calendar option the board adopted (Option B), one conference date moves to a Monday evening and the following Tuesday is an off day for students for the election and a staff SIP (school improvement) day.

Why it matters: the MOU and calendar change affect when families and staff schedule conferences, and the calendar adoption sets the district’s instructional and noninstructional days for the 2026–27 school year.

Details from the meeting: - Appointment: Patrick Raleigh, effective 07/01/2025; motion approved on a roll call with unanimous support. - Memorandum of Understanding: approved; language permits fall conferences to occur in late October or extend into the first week of November to accommodate election schedules and provide scheduling flexibility for families and staff. - 2026–27 school calendar: the board adopted Option B, which moves one parent‑teacher conference to a Monday evening and designates the following Tuesday as a non‑student day for elections and a SIP day; the board noted Option B received 65% support in staff surveys presented during the meeting.

Board procedure and votes were handled by roll call. The consent agenda (items labeled E through N) was also approved earlier in the meeting by roll call.

The board did not debate changes to district policy language during the meeting; staff said the calendar and MOU are consistent with prior practice and previous memoranda used in 2025–26.

Looking ahead, the newly adopted calendar and MOU will be used for planning by schools, families and staff; parents were reminded in the meeting that details and timelines for conference sign‑ups would come from individual schools.