STRATEGIC GOAL 2

• Provide quarterly updates regarding the Strategic Plan to the Board, staff and community.

September 2022 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on Sept. 19 and to the Board of Education on Oct. 10. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the Oct. 10 Board meeting.

June 2022 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on May 16 and to the Board of Education on June 13. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the June 13  Board meeting.

March 2022 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on Feb. 28 and to the Board of Education on March 14. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the March 14  Board meeting.

December 2021 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on Nov. 15 and to the Board of Education on Dec. 6. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the Dec. 6  Board meeting.

September 2021 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on Aug. 30 and to the Board of Education on Sept.. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the Sept. 13  Board meeting.

June 2021 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on May 17 and to the Board of Education on June 14. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the March 8 Board meeting.

March 2021 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on Feb. 22 and to the Board of Education on March 8. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the March 8 Board meeting.

September 2020 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on August 31 and to the Board of Education on Sept. 14. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the Sept. 14 Board meeting.

June 2020 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on May 18 and to the Board of Education on June 8. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the June 8 Board meeting.

March 2020 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on Feb. 24 and to the Board of Education on March 9. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the March 9 Board meeting.

December 2019 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on Nov. 18 and to the Board of Education on Dec. 9. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the Dec. 9 Board meeting.

September 2019 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on Aug. 27 and to the Board of Education on Sept. 9. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the Sept. 9 Board meeting.

June 2019 Progress Update: District 58 will present a Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on May 21 and to the Board of Education on June 5. The Strategic Plan dashboard will be updated after the June 5 Board meeting.

March 2019 Progress Update: District 58 leaders will present the second quarterly Strategic Plan update to the District Leadership Team on Feb. 25, and to the Board of Education and community at the March 11 Board of Education meeting. The District created an online Strategic Plan dashboard in November 2018 to track the District’s progress toward achieving its goals.

December 2018 Progress Update: The first quarterly update is being presented to the District Leadership Team on Nov. 27, and will be shared with the Board of Education and Community at the Dec. 10, 2018 Regular Meeting of the Board of Education.  A Strategic Plan District Dashboard is being refined and progress updates will available online on the district website for public review following the November District Leadership Team Meeting and the December Board of Education Meeting.

• Define a small group to review strong examples of internal communication structures in comparable organizations. (Sept 2018)
• Review and define current internal communication structures and identify gaps in internal communication opportunities. (Oct 2018)
• Develop additional internal communication structures for gaps. (Dec 2018)
• Implement plans to enhance current structures. (Jan 2019)
• Biannually review gaps and improvement opportunities. (Biannually by September and March)

June 2022 Progress Update: District 58 surveyed staff in spring 2022 regarding the usefulness of its biweekly 58 Connects newsletter. Over 98% staff said that the newsletter meets this strategic objective (2.1c). The District plans to continue using 58 Connects as its primary internal communication tool, while evaluating the survey results for improvements to the newsletter’s structure and content.  In addition, 58 Connects’ readership continues to increase. Here are the percentages of District 58 staff who read each issue of 58 Connects: 

• January-April 2022: 84-87% open rate
• August-December 2021: 79-83% open rate
• 2020-21 school year: 74-84% open rate

Going forward, the District will annually survey staff on this newsletter to ensure it meets this objective, while continually seeking other opportunities to improve internal communication.  

March 2022 Progress Update: District 58 continues its internal communication work, as described in the December 2021 update. The District will survey staff on newsletter effectiveness by March 2022.

December 2021 Progress Update: District 58 assessed its internal communications for gaps through informal staff conversations, which recommended the newsletter be slightly restructured to emphasize which information requires action for staff. The community relations coordinator has collected exemplars from other school districts that use a similar tool in their newsletters to determine the best way to update the newsletter’s design to achieve this recommendation.. Additionally, as guided by the District’s positive psychology work, the internal newsletter includes a new “Getting to Know You” section, along with an enhanced “People are Talking” section to build employee morale and workplace positivity. Finally, an updated archive of all recent 58 Connects newsletters has been added to the Staff Communication Reference site and communicated to staff. The District plans to survey staff by March 2022 to determine if the newsletter continues to be a useful resource and whether any gaps remain. Every 58 Connects issue so far this school year was opened by between 79-83% of staff.

September 2021 Progress Update: District 58 assess its internal communications for gaps and improvement opportunities this September. 

June 2021 Progress Update: District 58 continues to publish 58 Connects every two weeks; the most recent issues have a 72-79% open rate. As called for in this goal, District 58 will assess its internal communications for gaps and improvement opportunities by September.

March 2021 Progress Update: District 58 resumed publication of 58 Connects staff newsletter on a biweekly basis in September. It maintains an 80% open rate by staff.

September 2020 Progress Update: District 58 temporarily suspended its 58 Connects staff newsletter due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the District sends regular staff communication updates specific to COVID-19, remote learning and related topics. The District intends to start the newsletter back up in mid-September.

June 2020 Progress Update: District 58 temporarily suspended its 58 Connects staff newsletter due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the District sends regular staff communication updates specific to COVID-19, remote learning and related topics. We have included questions related to these efforts in staff surveys to ensure we are effectively communicating with staff.

March 2020 Progress Update: District 58 consistently publishes 58 Connects staff newsletter, including updates from all central departments. The District will survey staff in spring 2020 to see if this newsletter continues to be a helpful communication mechanism and to possibly identify other areas of improvement.

December 2019 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council met in September 2019 to review their progress and agreed that the group could disband this year; however, they offered to regroup should any internal communication issue come up. The central office launched a new, biweekly internal newsletter, called “58 Connects.” This new newsletter was formed using feedback that the Staff Communications Council and the spring 2019 Inside Scoop survey provided. “58 Connects” features succinct, timely and helpful information from each District department that helps connect and inform all District 58 staff.

September 2019 Progress Update: The District’s internal communication enhancements made during the 2018-19 school year were shared with the new District 58 Superintendent. The Superintendent will work with the Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council to determine next steps for the 2019-20 school year. The Superintendent formed a new hashtag, #dg58pride, intended to better communicate internal achievements and build employee morale.

June 2019 Progress Update: “The Inside Scoop” survey was shared with all staff in early April to gather internal communication feedback. During the April 16 Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council meeting, the Council reviewed the survey responses, made a list of common themes,  and used this feedback to recommend combining the biweekly staff curriculum update with “The Inside Scoop.” The survey feedback was also shared with the incoming District 58 superintendent. In May 2019, the District published its District 58 Communication Guide. This resource describes how to access the District’s different communication tools, as well as their frequency and purpose. This guide was created with input from the Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council and the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council.

March 2019 Progress Update: The Superintendent and central administration launched “The Inside Scoop,” a new e-newsletter that succinctly communicates information to all District 58 staff, in December 2018. The Community Relations Coordinator created a draft communication toolkit that will provide staff and community members with easy access to information. During the Feb. 12 Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council meeting, Council members reviewed “The Inside Scoop” and designed a staff survey to gather additional feedback. This survey will be shared with staff in March 2019. The Council also reviewed the communications toolkit and provided suggestions. Finally, the Council discussed opportunities to communicate, promote and encourage staff participation in the superintendent search.

December 2018 Progress Update: In October, the Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council reviewed the three Strategic Plan Objective areas assigned to the group, discussed and prioritized the work, and agreed to focus first on connecting the community through communications: specifically, enhancing internal communications to build employee trust and morale by informing employees of District planning, decisions, improvement efforts and celebrations. A Council subgroup convened to review strong examples of internal communication structures in comparable organizations, and the full Council met again in November to review these examples and identify gaps and opportunities in our own internal communication structures. Additional internal communication structures for these gaps were developed based on the exemplars, including 1) an easy-to-reference communications tool for reference and easy access to information, and 2) regular, coordinated and succinct communications from the superintendent and central office team members directly to faculty and staff at the schools (similar to the internal newsletters found in many exemplars, the weekly communications sent from the superintendent to the Board and to the principals, and the internal newsletter previously used within District 58). The team recommends implementing both of these internal communication structures in December, with effectiveness and feedback evaluated by the Council in February and the possibility of a future survey being considered at that time.

• Define a small group to review strong examples of external communication structures in comparable organizations. (Sept 2018)
• Review and define current external communication structures and identify gaps in external communication opportunities. (Oct 2018)
• Develop additional external communication structures for gaps. (Dec 2018)
• Implement plans to enhance current structures. (Jan 2019)
• Biannually review gaps and improvement opportunities. (Biannually by September and March)

September 2022 Progress Update: District 58 will re-engage the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Counci this school use to biannually review communication gaps and improvement opportunities.

June 2022 Progress Update: District 58 recently closed its annual communication survey and will begin reviewing survey results to identify actionable communication improvements. The District also continues to make communication improvements recommended by the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council, as time allows.

March 2022 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council reviewed sample district, school and board communications and provided feedback on communication gaps and areas for improvement. The District recorded these suggestions and implemented some of them. For example, the group suggested that Communicate 58 newsletter be more succinct with more bullet point lists and links to webpages for more information. They also suggested that each newsletter open with the calendar. The District implemented these changes. Communicate 58 readership has increased this school year to its highest-ever levels. The Jan. 26 and Feb. 9 issues were opened by 6,097 (70%) subscribers and 5,868 (67%) subscribers. In past school years, far fewer than 5,000 readers would typically open the newsletter.

December 2021 Progress Update: District 58 reviewed spring 2021 communication survey data to determine that its current communication structures appear to meet the community’s current needs, although improvements could always be made. The District respectfully asked Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council members who have served two or more years to consider taking a break to allow new members to participate. As a result, District 58 recruited a new council that has 28 confirmed members representing all 13 schools, plus the preschool program. The council will meet for the first time on Nov. 22. This group provides an excellent opportunity for the District to directly communicate and discuss timely and consistent District information with parent representatives from all schools. The District will discuss communication gaps and improvement opportunities with the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council by March 2022.

September 2021 Progress Update: No update since June 2021.

June 2021 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council met in March and discussed website improvements, the District’s facility needs with an emphasis on the Longfellow Center, and the District’s finances. This council continues to be representative of parents from all District 58 schools, and serves as a positive way to communicate key issues to external stakeholders and receive immediate feedback. The District’s Communicate 58 newsletter continues to be published every two weeks, with typical open-rates of 40-45%. The District will use Communication Survey feedback to review gaps and improvement opportunities.

March 2021 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council formed and held their first meeting in January 2021. The council reviewed the new District 58 website and identified areas for improvement. The District is prioritizing these ideas and plans to make improvements using their feedback. The Council also participated in an open Q&A session with Dr. Russell.

September 2020 Progress Update: The District successfully launched the new website prior to the start of the 2020-2021 school year.

June 2020 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council met remotely in May 2020 to review and seek additional feedback on the upcoming new District 58 website, future parent education opportunities, the draft communication plan, a parent “questions for the community” resource, additional remote learning FAQs and more. The meeting also gave members the opportunity to openly ask the Superintendent questions. District 58 will incorporate feedback from this meeting into these projects.

March 2020 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council met in January 2020 and continued its work on the following topics: new District 58 website host review;  spring 2019 communications survey results/feedback and next steps; communication plan development; parent education opportunities; and a parent “questions from the community” resource development. The District will re-administer its annual communication survey in spring 2020 and review results to identify any additional gaps and improvement opportunities.

December 2019 Progress Update: District 58 reconvened the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council and held two meetings this fall. During these meetings, the Council reviewed the District 58 website, began planning future parent education opportunities, reviewed the summer 2019 Communication Satisfaction & Preferences Survey results, began discussing communication gaps identified through the survey, and discussed creating a “Questions from the Community” page to improve transparency and help parents become more informed. The Council meetings also included an open Q&A session with Superintendent Dr. Russell, during which time parents could ask any questions. The District will use feedback from these recent meetings to improve its website, communications, parent education and parent-decision making opportunities.

September 2019 Progress Update: The District published its Annual Report in August, which highlighted the Communications Guide and encouraged community members to take the Communication Satisfaction and Preference Survey. The District used early communication survey feedback to make improvements to its Communicate 58 newsletter; for example, the newsletter will be published biweekly on a mid-week day. The District will reconvene the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council in the fall and continue its work.

June 2019 Progress Update: District 58 updated its community communication toolkit, using feedback from the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council and Staff Communications Council. The final toolkit, called the District 58 Communications Guide, was published in May 2019. The District is developing an external communication satisfaction and preference survey, which will be published and promoted in late May. This summer, the District will continue making improvements to external communications, using the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council feedback and the external survey feedback as a guide.

March 2019 Progress Update: A subgroup of the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council met in November to analyze communication exemplars from neighboring districts. On Dec. 3, the entire Council convened, and the subgroup reported their discoveries related to parent communication, Board communication, communication staffing and parent onboarding. The Council discussed actionable ways District 58 can enhance its external communications, along with the resources and supports needed. Through this meeting, the District initiated improvements, including developing a kindergarten parent onboarding webpage and creating a community communication toolkit. The Council also began creating an FAQ reference tool for parents and the community. Finally, the School Board began video recording its Board meetings and posting the video on the District’s YouTube page. During the Council’s Feb. 20 meeting, members provided feedback on the communications toolkit, the kindergarten onboarding webpage, and Board video recordings/Board communication. The Council also discussed creating a parent FAQ page, middle school onboarding page and other recommendations to improve parent communication.

December 2018 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council met in October and reviewed the three Strategic Plan Objective areas assigned to the group as focus areas for this year. They discussed and prioritized the work, and identified potential gap areas within the district’s current external communications.  The team agreed to focus first on four primary areas for improvement: Communication to parents; Board transparency, communication, decision-making, and how do we better inform our community about what is happening at the board level; Communication staffing; and Parent on-boarding/orientation. Smaller working groups of the Council volunteered to collect and review strong examples of external communication structures in comparable organizations with a focus on these identified areas, and gathered again in November to review these examples and begin to identify gaps and opportunities in our own external communication structures in each of these areas.  Using feedback from the first meeting combined with the external communication exemplar review, the Council will discuss actionable ways to enhance external communication structures for gaps, and will evaluate and prioritize those ideas with the greatest potential impact at its December 3rd meeting.

• Define a small group (Communications Feedback Council) to initiate a review of feedback structures in comparable organizations, starting with invitations to the Connections Development Team. (Sept 2018)
• Review and define current feedback structures and identify gaps in feedback opportunities. (Oct 2018)
• Develop additional feedback structures for gaps and enhancement. (Dec 2018)
• Identify a representative Joint Communication Team (2 DGEEA, 2 Admin, 1-2 Board) to regularly monitor these data. (Dec 2018)
• The Joint Communication Team quarterly reviews feedback and reports progress within Strategic Plan updates. (May 2019)

March 2022 Progress Update: District 58 has committed to following the process explained in the December 2021 regarding capturing, reviewing and acting upon community communication feedback. As instructed in the December 2021 update, the District will administer its next communication survey in April 2022 and present results to the DLT, acting as the Joint Communication Team, in May 2022.

December 2021 Progress Update: The spring 2021 communication survey results and next steps were presented to the DLT in August, and the presentation and results were posted to the website. The DLT is acting as the Joint Communication Team, as called for in this goal. As this survey is an annual survey, the DLT will review this specific feedback on an annual basis, rather than the quarterly basis called for in this goal. The District is recommending that future District 58 communication surveys take place in April (rather than in late May and June), which will provide results in time for the DLT to review them at their annual May meeting. The main work associated with this goal has been completed; going forward, this goal will shift to maintenance and keep District 58 accountable for administering the survey, reviewing  the results, and sharing the results with the DLT each May for review and discussion.

September 2021 Progress Update: District 58 administered a communication feedback survey in May-June 2021, and will present the results to the DLT, which serves as the representative Joint Communication Team, on Aug. 30. After the meeting, the survey presentation and results will be posted to www.dg58.org/surveys. 

June 2021 Progress Update: District 58 analyzed the 2020 Communication Survey results and is formally presenting them to the District Leadership Team during the May 2021 meeting. After the DLT meeting, the survey presentation and results will be posted to www.dg58.org/surveys. Please view the presentation here, and see key quantitative findings below. The numbers below indicate the percentage of survey-takers who answered “Strongly Agree” or “Agree” to the corresponding statements.

March 2021 Progress Update: District 58 administered its annual Communication Satisfaction and Preferences Survey in spring 2021. The survey asked survey-takers if they wanted a District staff member to follow up with them to discuss their comments. The community relations coordinator personally contacted every individual who requested a follow up conversation. However, the community relations coordinator went on maternity leave in June 2020, and there was not an opportunity to review the results during her leave. While District 58 intends to still review these results, some of the data might not be as impactful or timely anymore due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

September 2020 Progress Update: The District administered the Communication Satisfaction and Preferences Survey in late May/early June. The results will be used to measure the District’s communication and feedback efforts, along with continually understanding the community’s communication preferences. The results will also be shared with the Board of Education this fall.

June 2020 Progress Update: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, District 58 intends to administer the Communication Satisfaction and Preferences Survey in late May/early June. These results will continue to be used to measure the District’s communication and feedback efforts, along with continually understanding the community’s communication preferences.

March 2020 Progress Update: At the November 2019 District Leadership Team, the team concurred with the Communications Feedback Council’s recommendation that the District Leadership Team take on Joint Communication Team responsibilities. The District Leadership Team will review the upcoming spring 2020 communication survey results.

December 2019 Progress Update: The Communications Feedback Council met in September and reviewed the 2019 Communication Satisfaction & Preference Survey results. The Council noted that the District had seen improved satisfaction between 2012 (last communication survey) and 2019, and recommended the District administer a communication survey on an annual basis to better track progress. Last year, the Communications Feedback Council developed criteria for a future “Joint Communication Team,” which would be tasked with monitoring District feedback. The Council recommended that rather than create a new committee, instead the District could ask the District Leadership Team to take on “Joint Communication Team” responsibilities. If the District Leadership Team agrees, they would review District feedback, such as data from external and internal communication surveys, and make recommendations using this data. The Communications Feedback Council concluded their Sept. 30 meeting by disbanding; however, they would be willing to regroup if a feedback issue comes up. Meanwhile, the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council reviewed the Communication Feedback Council’s feedback improvement recommendations from 2018-19 and began creating “Where to Go for Help” and “Questions from the Community” web pages, which would help stakeholders better understand who to contact with feedback and offer a new structure to provide feedback. Finally, the District’s new Employee Stakeholder Expectations for staff were widely circulated. This document shares the District’s beliefs regarding feedback and sets staff expectations regarding how to appropriately respond to community feedback.

September 2019 Progress Update: More than 630 stakeholders took the Communication Satisfaction and Preferences Survey in late May and June. To reach more residents without students enrolled in District 58 schools, the District reopened the survey in August and promoted it in the Annual Report, which is mailed to all residences. The new Joint Communication Team will be forming and reviewing the communication survey data.

June 2019 Progress Update: The Communications Feedback Council met March 12 and April 4. The Council finalized its District 58 Feedback: Beliefs and Expectations (previously called Customer Service Expectations) for fall 2019 implementation and continued developing the purpose and charge of the new Joint Communication Team. This new group will comprise two administrators, two union representatives and one or two Board members who will meet quarterly to monitor feedback related to Strategic Plan goals. The group’s first meeting will focus on reviewing the spring 2019 internal “Inside Scoop Survey” results, as well as the 2019 external “Communication Satisfaction and Preferences Survey,” which is a new survey created by Communications Feedback Council members. Stakeholders will be invited to take this external survey in late May. The Communications Feedback Council also reviewed Let’s Talk, an online feedback platform. The group found this platform valuable, but opted to wait until communications survey feedback data is compiled and initially reviewed by the Joint Communication Team, as well as after the new Board and superintendent are seated, before deciding whether to pursue implementing this tool.

March 2019 Progress Update: The Communications Feedback Council met on Dec.  4, Jan. 8 and Feb. 5. The group developed draft Customer Service Expectations that were shared with the District Leadership Team on Feb.  25 for review and feedback. The final version of the Customer Service Expectations will be communicated more broadly, with the goal of implementing them in Fall 2019. The Council reviewed the composition of the Joint Communication Team and developed the purpose and charge of the group. During future meetings, the group will explore online applications that can support the development of districtwide systems for gaining feedback from all stakeholders.  Additional meetings have been scheduled for March 12 and April 4, 2019.

December 2018 Progress Update: The Communications Feedback Council formed and met on Oct. 18 and Nov. 6, with a third meeting scheduled for Dec. 4. The group discussed its charge, reviewed District 58’s current feedback opportunities and began to identify gaps. Next, the group will continue to identify feedback gaps, develop solutions and recommendations, and appoint a representative Joint Communication Team to regularly monitor District 58 stakeholder feedback.

• Identify systems already in place that provide opportunities for participation in decision-making processes.
• Develop an easily-accessible portal or other communication system that helps the community better understand District information, goals and performance metrics.
• Identify an effective structure to foster meaningful collaboration between the Board and staff, as well as between the Board and parents.
• Identify an effective structure to provide parents, staff and other stakeholders opportunities to provide input in and feedback regarding District decision-making.
• Biannually review gaps and improvement opportunities.

September 2022 Progress Update: The District continues to seek community feedback on important decisions. The District will continue to seek feedback from several groups. The main group that provides feedback in this area is the Superintendent's Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC will continue to meet approximately three to four times per year. The next meeting for this group will take place later this fall. Feedback from this group has been considered and incorporated into the decision-making process every year. Please note that the District continues to review survey data, messages from families and staff, and public comments at Board of Education meetings. Additionally, the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent for Personnel meet regularly with the three employee unions. 

June 2022 Progress Update: The District continues to seek community feedback on important decisions. The District will continue to seek feedback from several groups. The main group that provides feedback is the Superintendent's Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC will continue to meet approximately four times per year. The next meeting for this group will take place later this month. Feedback from this group has been considered and incorporated into the decision making process. A recent example of this was the communications that have been developed/sent out regarding the potential referendum. Please note that the District continues to review survey data, messages from families and staff, and public comments at Board of Education meetings. Additionally, the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent for Personnel meet regularly with the three employee unions.

March 2022 Progress Update: The District continues to seek community feedback on important decisions. The District will continue to seek feedback from several groups. The main group that provides feedback is the Superintendent's Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC will continue to meet approximately four times per year. The next meeting for this group will take place later this month. Feedback from this group has been considered and incorporated into the decision making process. A recent example of this was the communications that have been developed/sent out regarding the potential referendum. Please note that the District continues to review survey data, messages from families and staff, and public comments at Board of Education meetings. Additionally, the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent for Personnel meet regularly with the three employee unions. 

December 2021 Progress Update: The District continues to seek community feedback on important decisions. The District will continue to seek feedback from several groups. Two groups in particular that help with this work are the Superintendent’s Advisory Council (SCAC) and the District 58 Citizen Task Force. While the District 58 Citizen Task Force’s work is substantially completed, the SCAC will continue to meet approximately four times per year. The next meeting for this group will take place on Monday, Nov. 22. Feedback from both groups has been considered and incorporated into the decision making process. A recent example of this was the Board voting to pursue a public information program to target a potential referendum in November of 2022. This was the recommendation from the District 58 Citizen Task Force.

September 2021 Progress Update: The District continues to seek community feedback on important decisions. The District will continue to seek feedback from several groups. Two groups in particular that help with this work are the Superintendent’s Advisory Council (SCAC) and the District 58 Citizen Task Force. The SCAC met at the conclusion of the school year and the Task Force met this summer. Feedback from both groups has been considered and incorporated into the decision making process.

June 2021 Progress Update: Throughout the school year, the District has actively sought community feedback. Recently the District sent out two surveys to continue to gather data on the District (the Environmental Survey and the Student Services Survey). Additionally, the administration also sought the feedback of students, families and staff during the search for the new principal of Lester and Herrick. Most survey data can be found on the District’s website. The District will continue to assemble committees that incorporate all stakeholders during SY 20-21, including the Superintendent's Community Advisory Council (SCAC).

March 2021 Progress Update: Throughout the spring, summer, and fall of 2020, the District has actively sought community feedback. The District assembled a Remote Learning Task Force in the summer of 2020 to help refine its current plan for the fall. The District also surveyed families and staff numerous times throughout the pandemic.. The data is always shared with the Board and community and the feedback provided was incorporated into the decision making process. All survey data can be found on the District’s website. Additionally, the District formed several working groups for staff to plan for the fall, winter, and spring. The District will continue to assemble committees that incorporate all stakeholders during SY 20-21, including the Superintendent's Community Advisory Council (SCAC).

September 2021 Progress Update: Throughout the spring and summer of 2020, the District has actively sought community feedback. The District assembled a Remote Learning Task Force in the summer of 2020 to help refine its current plan for the fall. The District also surveyed families and staff when the first plan for fall learning was approved by the Board on July 13, 2020. The data was shared with the Board and community and the feedback provided was incorporated into the decision making process. Additionally, the District formed several working groups for staff to plan for the fall and assembled the District Leadership Team to provide feedback. The District will continue to assemble committees that incorporate all stakeholders during SY 20-21, including the Superintendent's Community Advisory Council (SCAC).

June 2020 Progress Update: The District continues to make progress in this area and continually seeks feedback from stakeholder groups, including the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC has recently provided additional feedback regarding the District’s website, parent education opportunities and remote learning. The District has adopted a new website based on input from the SCAC. The SCAC helped design the parent education sessions for the Curriculum Workshop at Hillcrest on 2/24/20. Additionally, the District has surveyed teachers and families multiple times during e-learning and remote learning. The District has incorporated the feedback into its decision-making process and has made modifications to the plan. Finally, based on feedback received, the District will convene a Remote Learning Task Force in the summer of 2020 to help refine its current plan in the event this type of learning must take place in the fall.

March 2020 Progress Update: The District continues to make progress in this area and continually seeks feedback from stakeholder groups, including the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC has recently provided additional feedback regarding the District’s website and parent education opportunities. The District has incorporated the feedback into its decision making process. The District will adopt a new website later this spring based on input from the SCAC. Additionally, the SCAC has helped design the the parent education sessions for the Curriculum Workshop at Hillcrest on 2/24/20.

December 2019 Progress Update: The District continues to make progress in this area and continually seeks feedback from stakeholder groups in this area, including the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC has recently provided feedback on making the District’s website more accessible and easier to navigate. Additionally, the SCAC has also advised that the District create a “Questions from the Community” section on the website so community members are informed about key questions asked to the Board of Education and other administrators. Additionally, the group has advised that a “Where to Go for Help” page also gets created so stakeholders know exactly who to contact to get questions answered. The administration will bring options for the new pages to the next SCAC meeting in January of 2020.

September 2019 Progress Update: The District intends to continue the progress it made toward this objective during the 2018-19 school year into the 2019-20 school year.

June 2019 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council and the Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council have worked in tandem to evaluate communication structures that help to inform and involve various stakeholders in District decision-making processes. Internal and external communication systems and exemplar reviews were completed, with gaps and actionable ways to enhance communication identified. The District 58 Communications Guide along with a parent onboarding webpage have been launched, and the School Board began posting video recordings of its Board meetings in January 2019. The Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council helped to guide the launch of  “The Inside Scoop,” and the Council has conducted an evaluation of this strategy with suggestions for ongoing work in this area.  Each Council and district committee continues to gather feedback on committee work and decision-making through exit slips at the conclusion of each meeting; the results of which are reviewed by Chairs for evaluation and improvement opportunities. The Board continues its community engagement efforts through various events, including Staff and Community Meet & Greet Events with the Board, tri-annual Board representative meetings with the DGEEA Executive Board and the ASC Team, PTA Visits and School Tours, and Extended Reception of Visitors at Workshop Meetings. A review of the usability of the district website has been initiated with work to continue in earnest throughout the summer 2019. Next steps include implementation of the strategies developed by the Communications Feedback Council, including launch of the Joint Communication Team and other feedback platforms to help evaluate and inform the District’s decision-making processes.

March 2019 Progress Update: Early feedback from the Council, combined with the external communication exemplar reviews completed in November, informed Council discussions of actionable ways to enhance external communication structures for gaps. The District initiated improvements, including creation of a community communication toolkit, developing parent onboarding webpages, and reviewing usability of the district website. The Council also began creating an FAQ reference tool for parents and the community. Finally, the School Board began video recording its Board meetings and posting the video on the District’s YouTube page. During the Council’s Feb. 20 meeting, members provided feedback on these strategies for ongoing improvement. Meanwhile, the Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council helped to guide the launch of  “The Inside Scoop” in December 2018, a new e-newsletter that succinctly communicates information to all District 58 staff, and to inform development of the draft communication toolkit that will provide staff and community members with easy access to information. During the Feb. 12 Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council meeting, Council members reviewed “The Inside Scoop” and designed a staff survey to gather additional feedback.

December 2018 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council discussed and prioritized their work, and agreed to focus first on four primary areas for improvement: Communication to parents; Board transparency, communication, decision-making, and how do we better inform our community about what is happening at the board level; Communication staffing; and Parent on-boarding/orientation. Using feedback from the first meeting combined with the external communication exemplar review completed in November, the Council will discuss actionable ways to enhance external communication structures for gaps, and will evaluate and prioritize those ideas with the greatest potential impact at its December 3rd meeting. Meanwhile, The Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council met twice since the beginning of the school year, and an additional small working group of the Council also convened in late October.  As a team, the Council reviewed the three Strategic Plan Objective areas assigned to the group, discussed and prioritized the work, and agreed to focus first on connecting the community through communications.  Specifically, the team will focus on “enhancing internal communications to build employee trust and morale by informing employees of District planning, decisions, improvement efforts and celebrations” (Objective 2.1C). The objective of improving engagement and outreach connecting the community, staff, administration and Board of Education to achieve their shared mission will be considered by both Councils in February.

• Survey parents regarding the best medium for parent learning.
• Provide regular parent workshops or educational opportunities regarding educational issues and District initiatives.
• Create a link to attach to District communications to take a survey and give feedback to the Board of Education.
• Create a portal to share feedback and survey responses.

September 2022 Progress Update: The District continues to seek community feedback on important decisions. The District plans on continuing to offer families several opportunities to provide feedback. This will take place  this school year via surveys, curriculum workshops, and working groups (i.e. Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council). 

June 2022 Progress Update: The District continues to seek community feedback on important decisions. The District plans on continuing to offer families several opportunities to provide feedback. This has taken place this school year via surveys, curriculum workshops, and working groups (i.e. Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council). Further, the District has embarked on a public information program regarding a potential referendum. This work includes surveys as well as many Q and A sessions with the public that were held in early March. The District is also actively seeking feedback regarding its equity work through a committee, focus groups and surveys from students, staff and families.

March 2022 Progress Update: The District continues to seek community feedback on important decisions. The District plans on continuing to offer families several opportunities to provide feedback. This will take place via surveys, curriculum workshops, and working groups (i.e. SCAC). Further, the District has embarked on a public information program regarding a potential referendum. This work will include surveys as well as many Q and A sessions with the public in early March. The District is also actively seeking feedback regarding its equity work through a committee, focus groups and surveys from students, staff and families.

December 2021 Progress Update: The District continues to seek community feedback on important decisions. The District plans on continuing to offer families several opportunities to provide feedback. This will take place via surveys, curriculum workshops, and working groups (i.e. SCAC). Further, the District will embark on a public information program regarding a potential referendum. This work will include surveys as well as many Q and A sessions with the public. The District is also actively seeking feedback regarding its equity work through a committee, focus groups and surveys from students, staff and families.

September 2021 Progress Update: The District continues to seek community feedback on important decisions. The District plans on continuing to offer families several opportunities to provide feedback. This will take place via surveys, curriculum workshops, and working groups (i.e. SCAC). The District will also continue to seek feedback on relevant topics as things come up during the school year. Examples of this include the middle school lunch survey, the COVID-19 testing  interest form, and the e-Learning survey.

June 2021 Progress Update: The District continues to make progress in this area and continually seeks feedback from stakeholder groups, including the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC recently reconvened in March and will meet one more time this school year. The District incorporates feedback from the SCAC, surveys, committees and councils into its decision-making process. The Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) and Policy Committee have been completely revamped so both groups can provide feedback that can be implemented. The sale of the Longfellow Center is an example of feedback that was taken into consideration by the FAC. The District will continue to incorporate feedback into its decision-making process.

March 2021 Progress Update: The District continues to make progress in this area and continually seeks feedback from stakeholder groups, including the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC recently reconvened in January and will meet two more times this school year. The District incorporates feedback from the SCAC, surveys, committees and councils into its decision-making process. The Financial Advisory Committee and Policy Committee have been completely revamped so both groups can provide feedback that can be implemented. The District will continue to incorporate feedback into its decision-making process.

September 2021 Progress Update: The District continues to make progress in this area and continually seeks feedback from stakeholder groups, including the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC has recently provided feedback regarding the District’s website and parent education opportunities. The District incorporated the feedback into its decision-making process. This feedback culminated in the launch of a new website prior to the start of the school year. The District plans on surveying stakeholders multiple times during the fall to gauge the effectiveness of the learning scenarios that will be deployed. The District will continue to incorporate feedback into its decision-making process.

June 2020 Progress Update: The District continues to make progress in this area and continually seeks feedback from stakeholder groups, including the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC has recently provided additional feedback regarding the District’s website and parent education opportunities. The District has incorporated the feedback into its decision-making process. Recently, the District hosted a parent education event in conjunction with the Herrick PTA on parenting during the pandemic. Additionally, the District has surveyed teachers and families multiple times during e-learning and remote learning. The District has incorporated the feedback into its decision-making process and has made modifications to the plan. Finally, based on feedback received, the District will convene a Remote Learning Task Force in the summer of 2020 to help refine its current plan in the event this type of learning must take place in the fall.

March 2020 Progress Update: The District continues to make progress in this area and continually seeks feedback from stakeholder groups, including the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council (SCAC). The SCAC has recently provided additional feedback regarding the District’s website and parent education opportunities. The District has incorporated the feedback into its decision making process. The District will adopt a new website later this spring based on input from the SCAC. Additionally, the SCAC has helped design the the parent education sessions for the Curriculum Workshop at Hillcrest on 2/24/20.

December 2019 Progress Update: The District intends to continue the progress it made toward this objective during the 2018-19 school year into the 2019-20 school year. Mr. Sisul and Dr. Eichmiller have joined the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council (SCAC) to help with this effort. The SCAC and assistant superintendents are in the planning phase of more parent education opportunities for parents around District initiatives and will finalize plans at the January 2020 SCAC meeting.

September 2019 Progress Update: The District intends to continue the progress it made toward this objective during the 2018-19 school year into the 2019-20 school year.

June 2019 Progress Update: The objective of providing parents opportunities for education and collaboration was considered by the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council and the Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council, and discussions of early ideas for parent education were initiated at the spring Council meetings.  Early in the 2019-20 school year, the Councils will need to begin to identify specific topics for parent education and collaboration that will be relevant and meaningful for parents in light of the District initiatives. Some of these topics may include parent education series related to student technology use in the classroom, the new STEM curricula, and parent-teacher communication.  Next steps with regard to a feedback portal may include implementation of a feedback platform considered by the Communications Feedback Council.

March 2019 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council prioritized their work to focus first on enhancing external communications by providing the community with timely and consistent information regarding District planning, decisions, improvement efforts and celebrations (Objective 2.1d), and on providing parents, staff and other stakeholders opportunities to participate in District decision-making processes (Objective 2.2a).  The Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council prioritized their work to focus first on enhancing internal communications to build employee trust and morale by informing employees of District planning, decisions, improvement efforts and celebrations (Objective 2.1c), and on providing staff opportunities to participate in District decision-making processes (Objective 2.2a). The objective of providing parents opportunities for education and collaboration was considered by both Councils in February, with plans to discuss early ideas for parent education at the upcoming spring Council Meetings.

December 2018 Progress Update: The Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council and the Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council each met, and prioritized their work. The Community Advisory Council will focus first on enhancing external communications by providing the community with timely and consistent information regarding District planning, decisions, improvement efforts and celebrations (Objective 2.1d), and on providing parents, staff and other stakeholders opportunities to participate in District decision-making processes (Objective 2.2a).  The Superintendent’s Staff Communications Council will focus first on enhancing internal communications to build employee trust and morale by informing employees of District planning, decisions, improvement efforts and celebrations (Objective 2.1c), and on providing staff opportunities to participate in District decision-making processes (Objective 2.2a). The objective of providing parents opportunities for education and collaboration will be considered by both Councils in February.

• Audit current relationships with local organizations that directly support/enhance student learning and curriculum objectives (with a focus on equitable access across the district).
• Identify gaps and opportunities for enriching partnerships in connection with curricular objectives.
• Annually review partnerships and opportunities for improvement.

September 2022 Progress Update: Connections with the Downers Grove Public Library, Downers Grove Township, Police and Fire departments and Park districts are in place and allow for student educational experiences that have resumed in person at this point.  Notably, at New Teacher Week, all of these organizations present to our new staff members to ensure that they are aware of the connections and supports available from our community partners. 

June 2022 Progress Update: Connections with the Downers Grove Public Library, Downers Grove Township, Police and Fire departments and Park districts are in place and allow for student educational experiences that have resumed in person at this point. We still intend to host a meeting of all of these groups, possibly in the summer.

March 2022 Progress Update: No significant update since 12/2021 - plans are in place to bring these groups together but were delayed in the first part of this year. 

December 2021 Progress Update: In Fall of 2021 we have re-engaged post-COVID partnerships with the DG Library, Township, Police and Fire Departments, Park district and more. A meeting is planned for January or February 2022 to bring these groups together with District 58 administration to further discuss the relationships between these organizations and District 58.

September 2021 Progress Update: No update since June 2021.

June 2021 Progress Update: With the impact of the pandemic on teaching and learning, additional energies have been focused on internal structures. We look forward to beginning this important community connection work in the 2021-22 school year.

March 2021 Progress Update: With the impact of the pandemic on teaching and learning, additional energies have been focused on internal structures. We look forward to beginning this important community connection work in the 2021-22 school year.

September 2020 Progress Update: Not yet initiated.

June 2020 Progress Update: Work toward this objective is planned to begin in fall 2020.

March 2020 Progress Update: Work toward this objective is planned to begin in fall 2020.

December 2019 Progress Update: Work toward this objective is planned to begin in fall 2020.

September 2019 Progress Update: Work toward this objective is planned to begin in fall 2020.

June 2019 Progress Update: Though individual partnerships, most notably through the Downers Grove Park District, have been reviewed and discussed as they relate to certain science initiatives and field trips, the formal task of auditing all current relationships with local organizations remains slated to begin in the Fall of 2020.

March 2019 Progress Update: Not Yet Initiated; work in this area to begin Fall 2020

December 2018 Progress Update: Not yet initiated.

• Gather current building procedures and practices.
• Review current building procedures and practices in conjunction with Board policies and procedures, and communication thereof.
• Identify areas where there could be more consistency in building procedures and practices.
• Develop baseline procedures and practices that will become consistent districtwide.
• Review common identified practices with PTA representatives and gather feedback.
• Communicate and implement identified procedures and practices.

June 2022 Progress Update: The District has adopted PRESS Plus, which is a policy subscription service for school districts. Through this service, policies are reviewed and updated on a consistent basis. Additionally, the district has worked to review building procedures and practices to identify common practices and increase consistency districtwide.  The district will continue the ongoing efforts to communicate the established policies and procedures more broadly across the administrative team and with various stakeholder groups as appropriate. 

March 2022 Progress Update: As the district returns to more typical activities related to the school environment, instruction, extracurricular activities and PTA events, we will continue to take the next steps in communicating the established policies and procedures more broadly across the administrative team and with various stakeholder groups as appropriate. The work in this area will be ongoing throughout the remainder of this year, as well as, during the upcoming year.

December 2021 Progress Update: The administrative team is working through the policy implementation process to better define procedures and practices as needed. A number of policies and practices were less relevant during the past year, due to the limitations in school structure caused by the pandemic. As the district returns to more typical activities related to the school environment, instruction, extracurricular activities, and PTA events, we expect to be able to take the next steps in communicating the established policies and procedures more broadly across the administrative team and with various stakeholder groups as appropriate.

September 2021 Progress Update: No update since June 2021.

June 2021 Progress Update: With the adoption of the updated Board Policy Manual in July 2020, the administrative team has been reviewing the corresponding administrative procedures to ensure the practices and procedures are implemented. The work in this area will continue throughout the upcoming school year, with a focus on implementation and/or revision of the identified procedures and practices. The next steps include communicating the established policies and procedures more broadly across the administrative team and with various stakeholder groups as appropriate.

March 2021 Progress Update: With the adoption of the updated Board Policy Manual, the administrative team has begun the review of the corresponding administrative procedures. The work in this area will be ongoing throughout the remainder of this school year, with a focus on implementation and/or revision of the identified procedures and practices.

September 2020 Progress Update: The District 58 Board of Education adopted the updated Board Policy Manual on July 13, 2020.

June 2020 Progress Update: Work toward this objective is planned to begin in fall 2020.

March 2020 Progress Update: Work toward this objective is planned to begin in fall 2020.

December 2019 Progress Update: Not Yet Initiated; work in this area to begin Fall 2020

September 2019 Progress Update: Not Yet Initiated; work in this area to begin Fall 2020

June 2019 Progress Update: Not Yet Initiated; work in this area to begin Fall 2020

March 2019 Progress Update: Not Yet Initiated; work in this area to begin Fall 2020

December 2018 Progress Update: Not yet initiated. 

• Review and communicate current staffing allocations and rationale behind current staffing levels.  (Sept-Nov 2018)
• Review and communicate available metrics to support staffing decisions and consider whether additional metrics would better support decision making.  (Sept-Nov 2018)
• Review and communicate current programs/learning experiences and identify potential inequities and/or perceptions related to inequities. (Sept-Nov 2018)
• Define/develop vision and metrics of “equitable,” related to the learning experience. (Nov 2018-March 2019)
• Define/develop vision and metrics of “equitable,” related to curricular resources and staffing. (Nov 2018-March 2019)
• Define baseline learning experiences and supports. (April 2019 – March 2020)
• Define baseline requirements for minimum staffing levels. (April 2019 – March 2020)
• Explore current ways to make threshold decisions. (April 2019 – March 2020)
• Explore alternative ways to make threshold decisions. (April 2019 – March 2020)
• Develop communication systems to share open and transparent communications related to staffing decisions. (April 2019 – March 2020)

June 2022 Progress Update: The Resources Review Council will hold the final meeting of the group on May 17, 2022. The group will sunset this school year, upon completing the intended outcomes. The primary focus of the Council is on the communication of the decisions and the development of a broader understanding throughout the school community.  The District will continue working to communicate proactively regarding staffing allocations and decision-making across the District.

March 2022 Progress Update: The Resources Review Council met on November 16, 2021, and February 15, 2022, to review staffing decisions and challenges for the current school year. The Council began initial conversations regarding the decision-making process for staffing allocations for the 2022-2023 school year.  It is important to recognize that this group is not the decision-making authority for the various decisions related to staffing. The primary focus of the Council is on the communication of the decisions and the development of a broader understanding throughout the school community.  The Council will meet again on May 10, 2022 to review preliminary staffing plans for the upcoming year.  

December 2021 Progress Update: The Resources Review Council will meet on Nov.  16, 2021, to review the prior work of the group, consider the current work of various other committees, identify possible areas for future discussion, and confirm future meeting dates and locations as appropriate. 

September 2021 Progress Update: The administration has continued to use the guidance established through the Resources Review Council to develop staffing plans for the 2021-22 school year. The areas of focus include meeting the established class size targets, reviewing and balancing support by related service staff (nurses, social workers, psychologists), intervention services and math instruction. The administrative team will continue to develop more consistency and equitable opportunities in the instructional programs across the District. 

June 2021 Progress Update: Though the Resources Review Council has not met this year, the District administration has applied the work of the group when making decisions regarding staffing allocations for the 2021-22 school year. The areas of focus include meeting the established class size targets, reviewing and balancing support by related service staff (nurses, social workers, psychologists), intervention services and math instruction. The administrative team has worked to develop more consistency and equitable opportunities in the instructional programs across the District.

March 2021 Progress Update: Given the constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the work in this area has been somewhat limited. The District administration continues to focus on staffing allocations and “equitable” services while developing and revising plans for Remote Learning and Hybrid Instruction.

September 2020 Progress Update: The District administration continues to focus on staffing allocations and “equitable” services while developing plans for Remote Learning and Modified Onsite Instruction. No other update is available at this time.

June 2020 Progress Update: The Resources Review Council was not scheduled to meet since the last progress update. Staffing plans for the 2020-21 school year were developed by the district administration based on the work of the Resources Review Council, Math Committee, Differentiation and Assessment Committee, and larger administrative team. The plan for 2020-21 includes restructuring instructional models to support lower class sizes, social work services, intervention services and math instruction. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a meeting was not scheduled with the Council for the end of the 2019-20 school year. A meeting will be scheduled with the Council in early September 2020 to review enrollment related to the established targets, initial plans for expanding intervention services, and plans for supporting math instruction.  At that time, the Council will develop next steps and areas of focus for the 2020-2021 school year.

March 2020 Progress Update: The Resources Review Council met on Jan. 14, 2020; the Council is “on hold” and will not meet again until additional work is completed by various working groups. The Resources Review Council has had initial conversations related to equity across the schools related to math instruction and intervention.  The Math Committee and Differentiation and Assessment Committee will examine the structures more closely and will develop a more consistent framework for use across all schools within the District. The systems developed will be shared with the Resources Review Council for feedback.  Other subgroups are working on better defining roles for social workers and resource teachers. The Resources Review Council will reconvene when there are draft plans in place for review and discussion by the Council.  

December 2019 Progress Update: The Resources Review Council met on Sept. 17, Oct. 1 and Nov. 5 to continue their work in establishing systems and structures for staffing decisions related to all positions across the District. The Council reviewed progress toward staffing targets that were established in May 2019. They also discussed class organization at each building, combination classes and proposed maximum class sizes.  Though combination classes in grades 1 through 6 were effective delivery models for many years, the model is less effective and presents significant challenges with the delivery of instruction in the current system of education. The Council also discussed the significant challenges for both students and staff when class sizes increase beyond 29 students.  The Council recommends a guideline of 29 for maximum class size. At 29 students, the Board, administration, and staff shall consider all possible options and develop an action plan in the event that an individual class size reaches 30 or more students. At 30 students, it is recommended that the class be split into two classes given space, budget, and timing of the situation. 

The Resources Review Council also reviewed preliminary information related to current math blocks and acceleration, as well as reviewing models of intervention used at each elementary and middle school.  The Council began initial conversations related to equity across the schools related to math instruction and intervention. The Math Committee and Differentiation and Assessment Committee will examine the structures more closely and will develop a more consistent framework for use across all schools within the District. The systems developed will be shared with the Resources Review Council for feedback.  Other subgroups have begun are working on better defining roles for social workers and resource teachers. The Resources Review Council will reconvene when there are draft plans in place for review and discussion by the Council.

September 2019 Progress Update: The Resources Review Council will meet on Sept. 17, 2019 to review the 2019-20 student enrollment information that was shared with the Board at the August Board meeting.  The Council will continue their work in establishing systems and structures for staffing decisions related to all positions across the District.

June 2019 Progress Update: The Resources Review Council has developed a plan for increasing communication related to staffing allocations and staffing decisions across the district.  As a first step, a presentation was shared with the Board and community at the May meeting of the Board of Education. The presentation provided information about the staffing process, as well as providing initial staffing projections and class sizes for the upcoming school year.  An update on staffing decisions and enrollment information will be shared at the September 2019 Board meeting.

March 2019 Progress Update: The Resources Review Council developed a draftdefinition of “equitable” to be shared with the District Leadership Team, Differentiation and Assessment Committee, Special Education Committee, Curriculum Council, Facility Planning Council, and the District and Building Administrative Team for comment and feedback.  Upon consideration of the feedback, the Resources Review Council will finalize the definition of “equitable,” with the goal of sharing the definition more broadly during the Strategic Plan update to the Board in June.

The Resources Review Council has also developed “targets” for staffing decisions in an effort to support and promote equity and consistency of the student learning experience across the District 58 schools. Along with recommending class size “targets,” the group is developing procedures that will be followed when targets are not achieved, with specific focus on clear communication regarding the decision-making.  The Council is scheduled to continue their work during meetings in March and April 2019.

December 2018 Progress Update: The Resources Review Council has met three times, beginning on October 1, 2018, with the 4th meeting scheduled for December 10, 2018.  The group has reviewed the current staffing allocations and rationale. We have discussed available metrics and are at the beginning stages of brainstorming additional metrics to better support decision-making.  The upcoming meeting will include continued conversations about possible metrics, as well as, a discussion focusing on the identification of inequities and/or perceptions related to inequities.

• Establish and communicate minimum expectations for the frequency of building communications from principals to parents.
• Establish criteria for the content on building websites and designate a person to keep it up to date.
• Establish practices to ensure that the District is effectively communicating with non-English speaking parents as well as with parents without access to technology.

September 2022 Progress Update: The work in this area will be ongoing.

June 2022 Progress Update: No update since March 2022.

March 2022 Progress Update: We have continued working with principals to on their skills in editing school websites. We continue that work, while also training building secretaries. 

December 2021 Progress Update: We have begun the process of improving principal skill in editing and maintaining our new website, which had not been a focus for our building administrators since deploying a new website in August of 2020. We will continue to work with principals to expand their capabilities and ensure our websites have current and relevant information. 

September 2021 Progress Update: No update since June 2021.

June 2021 Progress Update: District 58’s community relations coordinator, EL coordinator and assistant superintendent for curriculum met twice to discuss tangible ways to improve the way District 58 communicates with non-English speaking families. They produced 18 ideas that would improve communication with non-English-speaking families. For example, some District 58 staff use the app “Talking Points” to communicate with non-English speaking families. District 58 is reviewing this app as a possible communication tool for all staff.

March 2021 Progress Update: District 58 continues to enhance our new website. We sought feedback on the new website at a January meeting of the superintendent’s advisory council. This feedback is being evaluated and will be used to update and improve our website. We have continued to utilize both internal staff and external translation services to ensure that our communications are available in Spanish. The District also developed a plan to improve its translation processes.

September 2020 Progress Update: District 58 launched a new website in summer 2020. The new website provides greater consistency from school-to-school. Principals and secretaries received training on how to effectively update the school sites. They will receive consistent website content and update expectations. The criteria was be created using feedback from the 2.3c group of principals who met several times over the past two years to work on the items listed in this goal.

June 2020 Progress Update: District 58 will launch a new website in summer 2020. The new website will provide greater consistency from school-to-school, and principals and secretaries will receive training on how to effectively update the school sites, along with consistent website content and update expectations. These criteria will be created using feedback from the 2.3c group of principals who met several times over the past two years to work on the items listed in this goal.

March 2020 Progress Update: The small group of administrators that has been working on this goal has begun to discuss expectations for school websites. As a part of this conversation, the District has begun the process of selecting a new solution for the District website. The group of administrators provided input on selecting a vendor for the new website platform. This input was guided by our conversations around our goals for the functionality of school websites. As the Technology and Community Relations departments move forward with this transition and we build the websites on the new platform, we will work to build and finalize a consistent set of guidelines and processes for what information will be available on school websites. 

December 2019 Progress Update: All building administrators initiated a weekly parent newsletter at the start of the school year and have been working this fall to refine and improve the content of the communication. The Community Relations Coordinator created a “Principal Communication Toolkit” to provide consistent topics and content suggestions for principals’ weekly school newsletters. A small group of administrators reviewed a sample of each weekly school newsletter to ensure quality of content was consistent districtwide. To support the successful implementation, district administrators will continue to offer feedback and support to assist with the consistency of the communication from each school. Building administrators will seek feedback from parents about the newsletters during the 2019-20 school year to guide improvement efforts. A small group of principals and administrators met in October 2019 to begin developing school website content expectations, as well as to begin brainstorming how schools can better communicate with non-English speaking parents and parents without access to technology. This work is ongoing and will continue throughout the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. The Community Relations Coordinator will explore ideas for adding resources to the website that support new parent onboarding.

September 2019 Progress Update: All building administrators initiated a weekly parent newsletter and will seek feedback from parents regarding improvements throughout the 2019-20 school year. A small group of building and district administrators will develop building website content expectations this fall.

June 2019 Progress Update: A small group of building administrators, along with the Director of Innovative Technology and Learning, English Learner Coordinator, Community Relations Coordinator, and Assistant Superintendent for Personnel, has continued to meet to develop minimum expectations for the frequency of communication from principals to parents, as well as, developing a framework for the contents of the communications.  The group will implement the consistent communication from all building administrators in the 2019-20 school year and will seek feedback from parents to guide improvement efforts. The group has begun conversations regarding the content on building websites and will continue establishing criteria throughout June and July 2019.

March 2019 Progress Update: A small group of building administrators, along with the Director of Innovative Technology and Learning, English Learner Coordinator, Community Relations Coordinator, and Assistant Superintendent for Personnel, met Jan. 25 and Feb. 8 to review the current communications sent to parents from building principals and to begin developing a districtwide principal communication framework that focuses on meaningful,  timely and consistent parent information. The Council met with principals Feb. 22 to discuss the framework and request feedback. Following this meeting, the Council met to discuss the principal feedback and to begin reviewing building and teacher website expectations.

December 2018 Progress Update: Not yet initiated.