The West Chicago Board of Education held its Committee of the Whole meeting at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 in the Community Room.

To kick off the meeting, the Board of Education honored senior Neela Myers as their September Student of the Month, and recognized her as a commended student in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program. Myers is the Student Council President and serves as the treasurer of the local National Honor Society chapter.

Following Myers’ accolades, the Board of Education proceeded with its usual reports of school happenings. The Board confirmed that A.L.I.C.E. and other intruder safety drills will begin during Den time beginning next week, in accordance with the school’s safety policy.

Junior Lauren Dusing was also present at the meeting as a Student Board Representative, as she shared updates on the ad-hoc Naming Committee’s progress on establishing a process for naming school areas and facilities, a procedure that the Board currently lacks.

“We have the renaming committee because of an issue that has recently come up with renaming the pool after Dan Johnson, the swim coach. The petition was brought to the Board, with a lot of signatures, saying that they really wanted to rename it after Dan Johnson, but the Board didn’t actually have a policy in place, and you can’t really do anything without that,” Dusing said.

Dr. Will Dwyer’s report confirmed that the spring SAT and PSAT will now be administered digitally, and that the tests will no longer be administered at the same time across the state of Illinois. As a result, the date for the 2024 SAT will now be Thursday, Apr. 18, 2024, and the PSAT and Illinois Science Assessment (ISA) will be administered the following day Apr. 19, 2024.

Additionally, there is pending approval for a renovation of the Geneva parking lot and other local facilities this year. Other new business includes a proposal for new courses, such as Introduction to Healthcare 1 and 2 and AP Precalculus, and other monetary-related matters, which can be found by viewing the Board’s agenda for that meeting.

Student representation in the future is likely to increase as well.

“My biggest piece of advice is to get to know people: get to know teachers, get to know students, and always make sure to be a friendly face in the hall and greet everyone,” Dusing said.