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Berkeley SD 87 board approves e-learning plan, personnel hires and short-term loan
Summary
At its regular meeting the Berkeley SD 87 Board approved the district's e-learning plan for 2025'2028, multiple personnel actions, memos of understanding with the Berkeley Education Association, a $2.4 million short-term internal loan to cover delayed property-tax revenue, and submission of an ISBE maintenance grant application.
The Berkeley School District 87 Board of Education voted to approve the districtwide e-learning plan for the 2025 through 2028 school years and carried a slate of personnel and financial motions at its regular board meeting.
The e-learning plan, introduced during a public hearing, allows instruction to be delivered electronically on days when students cannot safely attend in person. District staff said the plan is designed to ensure access for multilingual learners and students with special needs and to provide alternative paper materials and community access points for families without home internet.
The board also approved personnel actions including leaves of absence and the employment of educational support staff pending required paperwork; the hires listed in the agenda were Vanessa Angulo (cross-categorical teacher at Northlake, effective 10/27/2025), Brianna Westmoreland (prekindergarten special education teacher, effective 10/16/2025), and Jovan Holmes (PM custodian, Sunnyside, effective 10/22/2025). The board accepted resignations and approved leave requests for specified support staff as presented.
Several memoranda of understanding with the Berkeley Education Association were approved by roll call, including agreements related to a library media specialist position, a 2025'2026 teacher vacancy arrangement discussed in closed session, and an instructional coach position.
On district finance, staff asked the board to authorize a short-term transfer from the working cash fund to the debt service fund to cover delayed property-tax receipts. The amount was corrected in the meeting to $2,400,000; staff said the transfer would be repaid when taxes are collected in January. The board approved the resolution.
The board also approved a tentative 2025 property-tax levy request of $26,002,000, with staff noting figures are preliminary and may be adjusted before the final levy is presented in December. The board approved submission of an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) school maintenance grant application for an electrical lighting energy-efficiency project, requesting $46,005.52 in matching funds for the lighting work.
A tax settlement covering assessed-tax years 2020 through 2022 that had been discussed in closed session was approved by the board. Multiple other routine agenda items ' including approval of minutes, accounts payable, and fundraisers ' were carried by roll call.
The meeting included a formal roll-call vote to enter closed session earlier in the agenda; the board later reconvened and completed remaining business before adjourning.
What happens next: staff said the tentative levy will be revisited in December if updated extension data require adjustments and that the working-cash transfer will be repaid once property-tax revenues are collected.
