McHenry Times

The Community Unit School District 300 board of education held a meeting for updates on projects.

“I'd like to personally thank our staff, both the school staff, as well as an administrative team for just a successful morning with the state superintendent,” Steve Fiorentino, a board member, said during the meeting.

The board provides a Livestream of its meeting on YouTube.

Carmen Ayala, state superintendent of education, visited various parts of district 300. She toured the D300 food pantry, the deLacey Family education center, Oak Ridge school, Parkview Elementary, and Carpenter Middle School. Ayala is a D300 employee. She said she felt welcomed at each of the locations and enjoyed her trip down memory lane.

The board noted it has an approximately $200 million budget for the 2022 fiscal year and an approximately $300 million budget for the next year.

“This budget is designed to support our students to discover, innovate and succeed,” Jennifer Porter, administrator chief of staff for the district’s finance department, said during the meeting.

Dundee Crown High school had its fifth annual event in the Fight The Stigma campaign, an effort to increase mental health awareness in students and staff. The theme for this year’s Get Out of Your Head event was Get Into Your Life. Several parts of the event included dozens of interactive activities like digital art, circuit boards, learning calligraphy, and time with therapy dogs.

The board will meet again at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 25 at District 300’s central office on 2550 Harnish Drive in Algonquin.

Liberty Elementary school was able to celebrate its 20th anniversary since the building opened. The event, celebrated at the beginning of school, included a DJ, firetruck, police school, photo ops, and more. There will be more events throughout the rest of the school year including the opening of a time capsule buried back in 2002.