Update

Orland School District 135 board members unanimously voted in favor of two promotions for current staff members.

Dave Snyder, who has served as Liberty School's principal since Jan. 2011, was appointed to assistant director of curriculum. Snyder has worked within the district since 2007 and started in education in 1999.

Beth Hayden was appointed to assistant principal of Century Junior High. She previously worked as a 6th grade language arts teacher.  

During the committee portion of Thursday night's meeting, the district's technology update plan was shown. Each school will get 35 new computers during the current fiscal year, which ends in June. Then another 35 computers will be purchased next fiscal year, followed by another 50 computers purchased for each school during the following fiscal year.

The plan, which also includes Internet bandwidth updates and other technological upgrades, will cost about $2.4 million over the next three years.

A closed session meeting was held with board members Thursday night, but was still in the closed session as of midnight.

Original Post

Orland School District 135 board members are expected to vote on an administrative staff appointment Thursday night, during a board of education meeting.

The district has declined to offer any further specifics on what will be discussed at future meetings beyond the released agendas. Whether the meeting will involve any further details about murky events leading to two special education staffers to resign at the last meeting remains to be seen.

Parents confronted the school board at the previous March meeting after learning in February that the Department of Childhood and Family Services was called in to investigate an issue in an early childhood development class within Park School back in October. They expressed serious concern about how much time passed before they were notified, and how little they were told once they were finally informed of DCFS’ involvement.

The district released a statement Friday evening that only recapped what little has been confirmed about what happened, which is that DCFS was called in about an “incident” at Park School.

“During the investigation, all staff members assigned to the classroom on a full-day basis were removed or re-assigned. Every effort was made to ensure that students experienced normal routines. The Crisis Plan was immediately implemented and will continue to be modified to address the needs of the children.”  

Read the full release included in the attached documents.

Finances, facilities and technology will be up for discussion during the Committee of the Whole meeting. Capital projects and five-year projections are slated to be discussed.

Look at the attached meeting agendas for what else will be discussed.

Orland Park Patch’s live blog through Cover It Live will provide minute-by-minute updates from the meeting on this page starting at 6:30 p.m. Look in the Cover It Live window above, and you’ll see an area where you can join in and offer your comments and questions. The same rules apply as on finished articles on the site.

Leading up to the meeting, let me know if there's anything you particularly want to know about in the comments.

Looking for more school news?

• D135 Candidates Talk Nepotism Policies (Video)
• D135 Candidates Talk Money (Video)
• UPDATED: D135 Candidates Talk Finances, Staffing Issues and More (Live Blog Transcript)

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