D203 Updates Policy
The Naperville School District 203 Board of Education approved an update to their police and agency interviews policy. Updates were made due to a state law that was passed in August 2019. Bill 2627 was first inspired by 16-year-old Corey Walgren, who died by suicide not long after being questioned by school officials and a school resource officer at Naperville North in 2017 without a parent present. The district said the updated procedures have been implemented since their inception in October 2019 but the official adoption by the board was delayed due to the pandemic.
A significant change is in the process in which parents are contacted before a law enforcement officer, school resource officer, or other school security detains and questions a student under 18 on school grounds. The updated policy states that the officer needs to notify or attempt to notify the student’s parents via their home, work, and cell phone numbers and document the time they reached out in writing. The officer needs to make reasonable efforts to make sure the parent or guardian is present during questioning. If they are not, the officer needs to ensure a school employee such as a social worker is present during questioning.
Board Approves Summer and 2021-2022 School Year
Also at the meeting, the board approved district administration plans to help students because of the pandemic and disruption to in-person learning. These include providing one free summer school course; bridge and AP prep courses in the summer, and providing at least one math specialist at each building to support teachers with co-teaching and targeted instruction.
Record Vaccine Doses
The DuPage County Health Department received its largest COVID-19 vaccine allocation to date, with 44,090 first vaccine doses. The previous high was 23,875 which was in January. DCHD said the increase will allow them to allocate the vaccines to their partnership network and further expand access for county residents. Nearly 29% of DuPage County residents are now fully vaccinated. About 23% of Will County residents are vaccinated, and Region 7’s positivity rate is at 6% and Region 8’s is at 6.5%.
Naperville Salute
The Naperville Salute, a brand new Fourth of July celebration, is coming to town July 2 to July 4. According to a press release, The Salute will be a hometown-focused, family-fun event designed for the Naperville community. The event was supposed to happen last year but was cancelled due to COVID-19. Fireworks will light up the sky on July 4 at Frontier Park in south Naperville.
