Weekly Update

March 12, 2025

Mental Health and Wellness Symposium

Thank you to all the students and adults who came out to the 3rd Annual Mental Health and Wellness Symposium at Metea Valley High School. It was a great day with over 600 attendees! Watch for information on session recordings and photos from the event in the coming weeks.

2025 Board of Education Candidate Information

Community members are invited to review the material below to learn about the candidates running in the April 1, 2025 school board election.

Four seats on the seven-member board of education will be filled at the April 1 election. The candidates will serve four-year terms. The following candidates will be on the ballot: Laurie Donahue, Allison Fosdick, Susan Taylor-Demming, Supna Jain, and Allison Albert.

Please visit the links below to locate your polling place, request a vote by mail ballot, or locate early voting locations for the upcoming April 1, 2025 election:

DuPage County Clerk

Will County Clerk

Indian Prairie Education Association and Indian Prairie Classified Association Profiles

Laurie Donahue: video | questionnaire
Allison Fosdick: video | questionnaire
Susan Taylor-Demming: video | questionnaire
Supna Jain: video | questionnaire
Allison Albert: video | questionnaire

NCTV Meet the Candidate Profiles

NCTV Live Candidate Forums

In addition to the individual interviews, NCTV17 hosted live candidate forums at the station. These discussions will are available at nctv17.org.

Watch the IPSD 204 Candidate Forums here.

Indian Prairie Parents’ Council (IPPC) and League of Women Voters Candidate Forum
The Indian Prairie Parents' Council (IPPC) and the League of Women Voters of Naperville (LWVN) hosted a Zoom-based School Board Candidate Forum on March 6, 2025. Watch a recorded version of the event on the League of Women Voters of Naperville YouTube channel. All candidate events are facilitated by League trained, non-partisan and out of district moderators. Equal time is given to all candidates.

5Essentials Parent Survey

Parents across Illinois once again have an opportunity to participate in the annual statewide Illinois 5Essentials Survey. This survey is designed to generate a detailed picture of your child’s school as it relates to the important elements of school effectiveness.

On behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois 5Essentials Survey is administered online by the University of Chicago. All survey responses will be kept confidential. The state will provide survey results for individual schools only if a school has at least 20 percent of parents take the survey. If you have children attending more than one school, we ask that you complete the survey for each school.

To take this short survey:

1. Visit 5Essentials Survey Link

2. Type and select “Dupage” as "County." (The county is the location of the school district's main office.)

3. Type your school's name into the "School" field and select your school.

The survey will be open through March 28, 2025.

2025 STEM Summer Camp

Kindergarten through Eighth-grade students are invited to participate in one OR two weeks of STEM Camp. This fun, hands-on STEM experience will provide students with activities from two different modules from either Camp Invention or Invention Project depending upon students' grade. Just as before, our STEM Camp will be taught by Indian Prairie certified teachers.

We anticipate that each camp will sell out, so register early to ensure your student has a spot to participate in STEM Camp 2025!

Questions? If you have any questions about this program or experience, please contact the STEM Camp program coordinator, Elizabeth Kaleta, at elizabeth_kaleta@ipsd.org.

For more information, visit the STEM Summer Camp webpage.

Safety and Security

Congratulations, again, to our first place winners at the high school level of the district's first annual safety contest: Michelle Cano, Jackson Denius, and William Bannon from Waubonsie Valley High School.

Watch their PSA video here.

Parent Diversity Advisory Council

PDAC Equity Award Nominations Now Open

Do you know someone who has gone above and beyond in their commitment to educational equity in our district? Recognize their efforts by nominating them for a PDAC Equity award! Winners will be honored at the May IPPC meeting. We are looking for district/school employees, parent volunteers, and community stakeholders. Nominate your person here: Award nominees.

Join PDAC!

The PDAC Leadership Team is looking to expand. If you're interested in joining us, please fill out this form: Application

Board of Education Receives Governance Recognition

Congratulations to the Indian Prairie School District 204 Board of Education on receiving School Board Governance Recognition from the Illinois Association of School Boards. The IPSD board is one of eight in DuPage County to receive this prestigious recognition.

Next Board of Education Meeting: March 24, 2025

The next regular Board of Education meeting is at 7 PM on Monday, March 24, 2025 at the Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Drive, Aurora. Meeting agendas and documents will be available online prior to the meeting. Video of the regular meeting can be streamed live or viewed the following day at the District’s YouTube channel.

View the March 10, 2025 Board Salutes here.

Team IPEF 2025 Registration is NOW OPEN!

The Indian Prairie Educational Foundation (IPEF) invites you to come run or walk with Team IPEF 2025! This is our twelfth year as a charity partner with the Endeavor Health Naperville Half Marathon, 10K & 5K race, which takes place on Sunday, October 19. Join our team of community members, parents, teachers, staff, and students to proudly represent and raise funds for your school and the programs of IPEF. Visit our Team IPEF Information and Registration Page for more information.

Resources for Parents

Wednesday, March 12, 2025 | 7 PM

Dr. Alexandra Solomon
HYBRID EVENT -- Cultivating Healthy Relationships For Joy, Peace and a Meaningful Life
Details

See all upcoming speakers here.

8 Bunks Remaining - High School Snowball Retreat

Iconic Snowball retreat registration extends this week until 8 open slots are filled for its 3-day high school retreat March 21-23! Students get on the bus to Camp Henry Horner, Ingleside, IL, where the teen-led/adult-guided experience begins. Bunking in cabins, eating in a mess hall, and mingling among students from all 5 area Naperville-Aurora high schools, it's an epic weekend!! Why not go and learn something about yourself, get to know people through small group activities, experience freedom and fun away from school and home, exploring ways to impact peers and make a difference? Scholarships are available so all can participate. Join the weekend away! Take time for self-care, connecting with others, and creating a community that you can count on. Register Here

Visit 306 Youth Services website.

Now is the time to Make Kindness Count! KidsMatter and the Collaborative Youth Team of Illinois are building belonging and community through kindness, and we’re aiming to collect 1,000 experiences of kindness before the end of March — each one emphasizing how YOU put kindness into action. We’re seeking personal stories of kindness with all the wonderful details. How did you show kindness? How did your kindness positively affect another person? What did it mean to you? How did you feel? Tell us the story by filling out the story submission form at https://bit.ly/3Wz8nWm. Join in on social media by using the following hashtags: #MakeKindnessCount, #KindnessCounts, #RandomActsOfKindness, #KidsMatter or #SpreadLove, and look for our banners throughout downtown Naperville. For details, visit kidsmatter2us.org/kindnesscounts/.

Third-Party Educational Programs

The following companies have rented space in our schools to offer an after-school educational program for students. The distribution of this material is in no way an endorsement of programs, services, activities, or products by District 204. For more information, visit programs.

Code Ninjas at White Eagle Elementary

White Eagle Chess Club
Springbrook Chess Club
Fry Chess Club

This Week's e-Folder

This week's e-Folder has been updated with information on community programs. For more information about the programs listed below, visit the 204 e-Folder.

Stillwater Starz Summer Swim Team

Waubonsie Arts and Craft Fair Benefiting WVHS Band Boosters

P3 Coalition-PILAR Parent Group

YMCA Safe n Sound Spring Break and Summer Camps

NV Ultimate Spring Season

Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana

2025 OPUS 23rd Chamber Music Camp

Youth Business Fair

2025 Taste of OPUS Music