Council should reject recommendation on IMEA contract
On April 8, the Naperville Public Utilities Advisory Board approved a recommendation that the Naperville City Council should extend its current electricity supply contract with the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency until 2055.
The vote was a 4-3 split decision. The board chairman was supportive of the contract renewal and made his position clear that he feels the only factors the board should consider in its decision are the cost and reliability of the electricity. The irony of this statement is that if Naperville moves forward with this $2 billion no-bid contract with IMEA, the city will be locking itself into an expensive, obsolete supply structure that will put local reliability at greater risk moving forward.
Naperville’s current supply largely relies on coal-fired power plants in southern Illinois and Kentucky. These plants are not even on the same electric grid (MISO) as Naperville (PJM). What this means is Naperville doesn’t even receive the actual energy generated by these plants. Naperville receives its electricity from our local grid and only through a series of opaque financial transactions that no one really seems to understand through which Naperville is credited for the electricity generated on its behalf by the MISO grid.
The board voted to support extending this structure with almost no scrutiny into how/if this current structure benefits Naperville either from a cost or a reliability perspective. Had they bothered to follow their mission, they would have learned that this complex structure is expensive, having cost Naperville more than $300 million in excess supply costs since 2014 vs. what Naperville could have paid directly to the local market.
This structure also does nothing to address future reliability concerns due to expected generation retirements and expected electricity demand growth due to things like data-centers in the grid supplying Naperville.
The dissenting board members wanted Naperville to take its time and go through a proper procurement and stakeholder process that addresses the energy supply needs of the city and the changing landscape of electricity in northern Illinois to come up with solutions that not only address cost and reliability but also how Naperville can sustainably futureproof its grid for the next 30-plus years.
I hope the incoming council recognizes the gravity of the decisions they have in front of them, and that they put Naperville on a measured path that turns our electricity supply structure from a competitive disadvantage into an advantage moving forward.
Monday vote on D203 schedule change ‘premature’
Naperville Sun reporter Michelle Mullins wrote in a story published April 9 that Naperville District 203 School Board would vote Monday on the proposed change to student schedules for the 2026-27 school year.
Via an April 16 video, Superintendent Dan Bridges indicated Monday’s planned vote wouldn’t specify timing but would stipulate that the board must agree to new start and end times by June 30. As noted, the administration believes that changes to the school day are needed to improve adolescent well-being and to address busing logistics challenges in a multilevel, limited-resource district.
Community, staff and students have noted as many problems that the schedule changes create as administrators propose they resolve. First, elementary students will attend school from 7:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., which is 30 to 80 minutes earlier than schools in neighboring Indian Prairie, Wheaton, Warrenville, Plainfield, Woodridge, Downers Grove, Bolingbrook and Glen Ellyn districts. After-school activities, parents’ work schedules, and other family commitments won’t end with this change and won’t give way to 4 p.m. dinners. So, the youngest, most vulnerable D203 children will lose sleep, with limited benefit from the change.
Adolescent middle-schoolers, meanwhile, would have their school day delayed 50 minutes, with hours of 8:50 a.m. to 3:40 p.m., 10 to 55 minutes later than the aforementioned neighboring districts. For less than an hour of extra sleep, students will lose access to after-school activities — cultural studies, religious instruction, academic enrichment, and sports such as karate, figure skating or tennis — as it will be impossible to make it to sessions on-time. Students will miss school for orthodontist appointments as there are no other options to attend. Students who might babysit for neighbors won’t be able to help. Many staff will cease leading after-school clubs due to family obligations immediately following the school day.
Busing logistics can be resolved in many ways — more buses, rerouting, other bell schedules. Given the many community, parent, student, staff and school board concerns raised, a vote Monday to change — or to require to change — the schedule is premature.
Two new board members will be seated on May 5, and any votes should be deferred until then. If schedule changes will cause as much chaos as stakeholders have communicated and the effectiveness of the new schedule to resolve busing problems remains uncertain, the new board should take responsibility.
S. Forster, Naperville
Protect our kids by supporting proposed vaping legislation
As a middle school counselor for Indian Prairie School District 204, I see firsthand the emotional and developmental challenges facing today’s youth. Among them is the explosion of illicit vaping, which is one of the most troubling and heartbreaking. That’s why I strongly support House Bill 2634.
What many people don’t see is how young our students are when they first encounter vaping. We’re not talking about rebellious teenagers making bad choices. We’re talking about 11- and 12-year-olds being targeted by sophisticated online marketing campaigns — many originating from overseas — that use cartoon characters, TikTok trends and candy flavors to make vaping seem harmless, even cool. But the reality is anything but.
The students who fall victim to the predatory marketing of vape manufacturers are vulnerable targets. They are seduced by clever marketing or peer pressure into trying dangerous products manufactured in factories using unknown materials and ingredients. If they get caught using or possessing the product, it disrupts their educational careers. Some are suspended for possession or try to hide their use out of fear or shame. And behind these behaviors is a massive, illicit supply chain pumping harmful, unregulated products into our schools and homes.
We’re doing everything we can — parent meetings, school assemblies, peer support groups — but we need help. HB2634 will finally empower our state to hold manufacturers and distributors accountable, rather than leaving schools and families to clean up the mess. It ensures that only certified, regulated products can be sold and that retailers duped by fraudulent manufacturers aren’t unfairly punished.
This isn’t about cracking down on kids. It’s about cutting off the criminal operations that are deliberately preying on them. As someone on the front lines of student well-being, I urge the legislature to support HB2634. Our children deserve better than this.
