Minooka CHSD 111 board hears bullying update, staff warns of special-education speech-pathologist shortages

During routine administrative reports at the Minooka CHSD 111 board meeting, a district administrator summarized the annual bullying report and follow-up actions.

The administrator said no-contact agreements — informal agreements to keep students apart — fell to 20 from 34 the previous year, and the district received three bullying reports via an anonymous tip line and three reported directly to deans. “We had 3 bullying reports from our anonymous tip line,” the administrator said.

The report noted zero reported incidents categorized as verbal harassment but recorded 25 incidents described as fights or aggressive behavior, with most occurring outside Central Campus. The administrator described common locations as classrooms, hallways, cafeterias and locker rooms, and identified social (peer) bullying and bystander behavior among the frequent types noted. The district cited peer mediation, no-contact agreements, parent involvement and dean-level investigations as responses.

Separately, board members heard from a representative who had attended a Grundy County Special Education meeting and reported staffing shortages across the cooperative. The speaker said the coop is short two teachers and four speech pathologists for the next school year and that the coop plans to use telespeech-pathology services for some students. “I just don't think that's the best way to teach kids,” the speaker said, expressing concern about virtual speech services substituting for in-person therapy for students served through the cooperative.

The board asked staff to inventory current itinerant services and local FTEs and to consider whether some services could be provided directly by the district rather than through the cooperative. No formal board action on staffing or teletherapy was recorded in the transcript; the item was described as an outstanding concern staff will return to in future reports.