Naperville News Digest: Applications due May 21 for Naperville Police Youth Academy; Naper Settlement opening new ‘Farm Forward' exhibit

Chicago Tribune

18-04-2025

D203 board voting on new sked, but actual hours decision delayed
The Naperville District 203 School Board is to vote Monday on a plan to move its Innovative School Experience forward, but a decision on school day hours and block scheduling won't be made till June.
In a video message this week, Superintendent Dan Bridges said the board and administrators have been listening to the feedback from the staff, families and community. There has been a lot of negativity publicly about the proposal, he said, but others have expressed their support privately.
The Innovative School Experience is the formal name for a proposal to switch to a block schedule format for middle and high schools and adjust the start and end times for all students in elementary, middle and high school.
Since the plan was unveiled in January, the board has heard from parents, teachers and students who have opposed the proposal.
The administration will ask the board Monday to consider approving the plan's implementation goal of the 2026-27 school year while continuing to seek feedback from the community. This would include hosting staff meetings to increase understanding and address concerns, Bridges said.
Design teams would look at topics within the proposal such as advisory design, band, chorus and orchestra, a developmental play focus group for kindergarten, middle school zero hour and others, Bridges said.
Board members also will be asked to create a start-and-end time committee to review the proposed recommendations and consider additional options that will be brought forward to the board for approval in June, he said.
The start and end times that are currently on the table shift elementary hours which now run from 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to 7:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Middle school hours, which are now 8 a.m. to 2:50 p.m., are proposed to be 8:50 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. High school would start at 8:20 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m., and still end at 3:10 p.m., under the current proposal.
Naper Settlement opening new 'Farm Forward' exhibit
Naper Settlement's newest exhibit, 'Farm Forward,' explores the Illinois agriculture industry through the lens of local photographer Jeffrey Ross.
Ross serves on the board of the Chicago chapter of the National Agri-Marketing Association and travels all over the country for various farm and agriculture marketing assignments.
The exhibit is located inside the Mary and Richard Benck Family Agriculture Center on the settlement's campus, 523 S. Webster St., and is included in the museum's general admission.
Illinois had 72,000 farms that span 27 million acres or about three-quarters of the state as of 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics Service. About 89% of the state's cropland is considered prime farmland, according to exhibit information on the settlement's website.
The exhibit captures some of the industry's innovative practices and includes rarely seen images to the everyday consumer, the website said.
For more information, go to www.napersettlement.org.
Naperville Woman's Club sets dates for fine art fair in June
This year's 65th annual Fine Art and Artisan Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 28-29 by the Naperville Woman's Club at Naper Settlement, 523 S. Webster St., Naperville.
Featuring the work of more than 100 artists from around the country, the free event will feature a variety of mediums, including ceramics, glass, metal, photography, painting, sculpture and more, an event news release said.
Local musicians will perform, and food and adult beverages available for purchase.
The event also includes several art-oriented interactive experiences geared for families, the release said. As in past years, the club will select an exhibitor's painting to be reproduced into an 8-by-12-foot mural. Visitors who duplicate a small portion of the mural will have their work stapled to a wood frame to create the larger work of art, the release said.
A children's area will include face painting, yard games and sculpting clay