Berkeley SD 87 board approves personnel actions, adopts ARC Fusion middle-school ELA; reviews facilities and budget contingencies

The Berkeley SD 87 Board of Education on May 2025 approved routine meeting minutes and a slate of personnel actions, heard a curriculum recommendation to adopt American Reading Company’s ARC Fusion for middle‑school English language arts, and received updates on an internet outage, facilities compliance tasks and grant-funded purchases.

Board business began with unanimous approval of the minutes from the April 28 regular meeting, the March 24 closed session minutes and the April 28 reorganization minutes. Trustees then approved accounts and claims payable as presented.

The board approved several personnel items: licensed‑staff leaves of absence for the employees presented, and the hiring of two licensed teachers pending paperwork — an eighth‑grade math teacher at Northlake Middle School and a third‑grade teacher at Sunnyside School, both listed with an effective date of Aug. 18, 2025. The board also approved leaves for educational support staff Tabitha Raper and Perry Strong, and appointed Natalie Navarra Zacosta as a cross‑categorical teacher assistant at Riley Intermediate School effective Aug. 18, 2025. The board accepted a support‑staff resignation at Whittier effective at the end of the 2024–25 school year (the transcript presented the departing staff name unclearly; the resignation was accepted as presented). All personnel motions were adopted by roll call.

Jordan, a district curriculum staff member, told trustees the district will move forward with the ARC Fusion middle‑school ELA curriculum paired with ARC Accelerator for differentiated small‑group instruction, and said current grant funds will help support the rollout. "We are going to move forward with the new ARC Fusion," Jordan said, describing the program as a redesigned 45‑minute period to engage middle‑school students and accelerate reading growth for students below grade level.

Administrators also described an internet outage that affected four schools over a Sunday–Monday period. District staff said the problem followed a cut to a fiber‑optic cable; a district employee identified the outage and worked with the village and carrier to diagnose it. District staff said they are coordinating with AT&T to rerun about 2,000 feet of fiber to prevent recurrence.

Facilities and safety items were highlighted. District staff reported the 10‑year life‑safety plan is due by Dec. 31, 2025, and architects are drafting proposals and conducting building walkthroughs. The architects recommended adding manual fire‑pull stations at Northlake and Riley, with Sunnyside and MacArthur to be updated for consistency; the board said the work was previously deferred to a summer project and will be scheduled to reach compliance.

On budget and grants, administrators reiterated uncertainty in funding timing (including delayed Cook County tax distributions) and said the district will monitor cash flow and fund balances. Staff noted an estimated annual electricity bill in the range of $600,000–$650,000 and an anticipated roughly 10% increase in energy costs; the district said it is exploring community solar options with a vendor to obtain energy credits at no upfront cost but emphasized no contracts have been signed.

The district reported a National School Lunch Program award of $10,026 to purchase a refrigerated salad bar; staff said updates to the amended budget and a public hearing are planned next month. Administrators also said the district ordered new student Chromebooks early to avoid potential price increases and will publish an interim bills list next week because of the board packet cutoff.

Special education staff reported completion of an external special‑education review and said they will present findings to the administrative team and later to the board. The district also said it expects an REO compliance visit for McKinney‑Vento procedures reviewing registration and enrollment steps for students experiencing homelessness or unstable housing.

The board ratified settlements of tax rate objections for tax years 2011–2014 as presented and agreed to bring a resolution next month to disclose district‑owned property valued over $2,500 (two vans and one pickup) and to consider an online auction platform with reserve pricing.

The board is scheduled to meet next on June 23. No votes on major policy changes were taken beyond the personnel and routine financial actions reported.

Ending: Trustees closed the meeting after brief procedural remarks and a reminder about summer schedules.