An especially brief meeting of the Waterloo School Board saw only a few action items addressed, the most impactful part of the evening being some kind sentiments expressed by a grieving grandfather in the district.

The most striking comments of the meeting came from Virgil Moore during public participation, who noted he wished to express thanks to a number of district elementary staff and faculty members, including W.J. Zahnow Elementary Principal Justin Imm.

Moore explained that he has a history in education himself, recognizing how important a commitment to children is when it comes to serving as a teacher, principal, superintendent or any other role.

With his kids graduating from the district and many of his grandchildren still attending Waterloo schools, Moore spoke about how his grandson Callen tragically drowned last summer at 13 months old.

“This event turned our world upside down,” Moore said. “Collectively, as a family, we were beyond devastated. Fortunately, family, friends, neighbors and members of the community we really didn’t even know came to our rescue with a tremendous outpouring of support and, most importantly, love. For my grandchildren, no contribution of support was greater than that of the Waterloo faculty members.”

He went on to describe how several members of the district stepped away from their summer vacations to attend and assist with services, organize a fundraiser for stuffed animals and generally spend extra time with the younger kids in the family as they grappled with the loss.

Moore, himself a former school superintendent, particularly remarked on how staff and faculty brought “hugs of pure love wrapped in an assurance that tomorrow would be better than what they were experiencing on that day.”

“My words have not been anything close to sufficient in describing the gratitude our family has for the members of the Waterloo School District,” Moore said. “It’s unfortunate that schools are primarily judged only on the results of standardized test scores. If more importance were placed on the relationships with and love for students, no other district would top Waterloo.”

Moore’s sentiments prompting plenty of emotion among members of the board and folks in the audience, Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Brian Charron expressed his appreciation.

“Thank you for your kind words,” Charron said. “I’m very sorry for everything that your family has endured. It does make us feel good to know how good our people are and that they’re there.”

Nathan Rau, who was also signed up to speak, rescinded his time after Moore’s speech and said he plans to address the board next month.

Among the items which received board approval was the 2026-27 school year calendar. Charron said there were only a few revisions made from employee feedback, with a start date of Aug. 10, two weeks for winter break and a teacher institute scheduled for right after Christmas.

The board also approved a contract authorization with FGM Architects, taking another step in the renovation or replacement of Waterloo Junior High School.

The WJHS item this month will allow FGMA to conduct a more thorough study of the oldest part of the building to evaluate the actual needs of the structure and the cost of renovation.

As Charron explained, this study is necessary in order for the Illinois State Board of Education to evaluate how much health/life safety funding would be allocatable to replacing the oldest wing of the building with a new structure.

Charron has previously described how the district would be allowed to use this funding to replace this wing if the cost of new construction were comparable to the cost of renovation – what health/life safety funds typically go toward.

He additionally noted this particular study will be necessary for the rest of the building as well.

“For now, I felt that the board would probably appreciate just getting the 1938 portion,” Charron said. “We feel like we’re hung up on this process until we know for a fact how much the Illinois State Board of Education will approve for building a new building to replace the ’38 portion.”

The board also approved the employment of a full-time elementary teacher and full-time special education cross-categorical teacher for next school year.

It was noted the latter has been a paraprofessional in the district for 12 years and will be stepping into this new role after getting her teaching license.

Earlier in the meeting, Waterloo High School math teacher Julie Nold provided the monthly report from the Waterloo Classroom Teacher’s Association, honing in on dual credit options available to students.

Nold said the school currently has a variety of 15 dual credit courses through Southwestern Illinois College.

One of the more notable items in her speech which earned an impressed response from folks in the crowd was the fact students earning a minimum of eight dual credit hours with a 3.5 GPA in those courses earn free tuition to finish their associate’s degree at SWIC.

She further described the benefits of these dual credit programs, with colleges throughout the state allowing easy transfer of credits, colleges out of state readily accepting credits as well and students generally getting an extra level of preparation before they move on to higher education.

“Students are getting many of their core college courses out of the way while they’re still at the high school level, and for some of these courses, like my class that I teach, they get the opportunity to take it over the course of the whole year versus just a single semester at college,” Nold said.

Board member Nathan Mifflin offered a brief report of the budget task force that met twice prior to Monday’s board meeting.

He spoke positively about the progress being made among this advisory committee, noting concerns Charron expressed at the latest task force meeting about how the working cash fund could be severely diminished in the next few years, warranting substantial attention from the finance committee and the board.

“We’ve got a good group of volunteers from the community and various positions within the district,” Mifflin said. “The conversation has been productive. We did a good job early on finding common ground of what we are and what we are not looking at. Just looking for excessive spending and a way to save money to abate that levy process. Like Mr. Charron said, it does look like it’s a challenging thing.”