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From the Superintendent
Exciting goals are beginning to emerge from the District 15 Facilities Plan Committee's preliminary discussions.
District 15 covers 35 square miles, and reaches into seven different communities, but for a moment let's narrow our focus to just one square mile in the northeast corner of the District. It is a triangle on the map dissected by Rand Road and bound by Lake Cook Road to the north and Wilke Road and Route 53 to the east.
There are no schools in this area.
However, roughly 22 percent of our nearly 13,000 students live here. Each day, buses running 63 of the District's 143 total routes take them to and from nine different schools, some of which are as far as five miles from their homes.
Could building a new school in that area -- a community school that provides these students and their families with a variety of conveniently located wrap-around services -- better meet their needs while significantly reducing travel times and busing costs? How would that school impact other sites? Would it free up enough classrooms to allow the District to offer full-day kindergarten or expand its early childhood program?
These are some of the many questions that the District 15 Facilities Plan Committee v2.0 has been considering since it reconvened this winter. So far, the goals that have emerged from the group's preliminary discussions focus on the following: -
Providing classrooms for full-day kindergarten for all students.
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Providing facilities for all students eligible for pre-school programs.
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Reducing transportation costs and student travel times on buses.
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Providing a location for intensive services for English Language Learners.
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Expanding the community school concept near areas with families in greatest need.
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Providing classrooms to eliminate the need for temporary, portable ones.
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Providing classrooms to accommodate potential enrollment growth caused by new developments.
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Aligning junior highs with the high schools their students will attend.
It is important that we complete the nuts and bolts projects identified in our recent life safety study. Simply put, facility maintenance is not optional, and we are working diligently to ensure that the dollars we're investing toward the upkeep of our buildings will provide the best value for taxpayers.
As an educator, though, these are the kinds of facility discussions that really excite me because they help us determine how we can best use our schools -- the brick and mortar buildings -- to serve our students and their families and facilitate 21st century learning.
The Facilities Plan Committee will continue this work over these next few months and present its recommendations to the Board of Education later this spring. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts on these issues. Share them with us via Let's Talk.
Working together, we can ensure that District 15 continues to fulfill its mission to produce world-class learners in a connected learning community for many years to come.
Sincerely,
Scott B. Thompson, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
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Google It! The District's latest student technology plans will put a Google Chromebook in the hands of every junior high student.
We live in a digital world. Technology is present in nearly every aspect of our lives. It has changed teaching and learning by providing innovative ways for staff and students to access and share information, collaborate, and create content. Many educators and parents experienced these changes.
However, our students are growing up with these innovations as part of their daily lives. They are not only familiar with technology; they are adept users who expect regular access to it at home and school.
"With that in mind, District 15 must make several significant decisions related to instructional technology over the next few years," said Matthew Barbini, Ed.D., Deputy Superintendent of Schools.
In 2016-�17, 768 computers in labs across the District are scheduled to be replaced. Approximately 3,000 iPads are also scheduled for replacement in 2017�-18. These important projects, which are estimated to cost a total of $2.2 million, represent a considerable expense at a time of great financial uncertainty at the national, state, and District levels.
As a result, the District now plans to use these funds to purchase Google Chromebooks instead of additional iPads and desktops.
Chromebooks are engaging, cost-effective devices that are now being adopted by many other school districts. District 15 can purchase two of them for the price of one iPad, and three for the price of one laptop.
This year, 300 Chromebooks are being piloted at Hunting Ridge, Pleasant Hill, and Virginia Lake Schools, as well as Winston Campus and Walter R. Sundling Junior Highs. Each of these pilot schools received 60 devices and directions to evaluate their use with students in both shared and one-to-one settings. Voluntary surveys completed by staff, students, and parents at each of the pilot schools, and informal conversations with these stakeholder groups, indicated that the Chromebooks have been very well received.
"Based on these promising findings, District 15 plans to expand this pilot over the course of the next two years," said Dr. Barbini.
In 2016-17, all funds allocated for the scheduled computer lab refresh will be used to support an extended Google Chromebook pilot. At the beginning of the year, schools that did not participate in the pilot will receive a cart of 30 Chromebooks for shared student use. (Pilot schools will continue to have access to their carts.) Also, up to 55 teachers who work directly with students in Grades 6�-8 will begin piloting Chromebooks on a one-to-one basis with their students.
"Affordable mobile computing devices and the need for additional instructional space are making fixed computer labs inefficient and unsustainable," noted Dr. Barbini. "In fact, two schools -- Pleasant Hill and Virginia Lake -- have already repurposed their computer labs into classroom space to accommodate increased student enrollment, and more schools may have to follow suit as the need arises."
In 2017-18, the majority of funds allocated for the scheduled iPad refresh will be used to achieve a one-to-one student-to-Chromebook ratio for all students in Grades 6-�8.
"These devices will go home with students," noted Dr. Barbini. "To prepare for this change, the District will host parent education opportunities that will demonstrate how Chromebooks are used in school settings, explore digital citizenship and acceptable use issues, and emphasize how important it is for parents to monitor their children's online experiences."
When the District's junior highs go one-to-one, the approximately 1,650 Chromebooks they used in the extended pilot will be placed into carts and distributed for shared student use at each elementary school. Most of their iPads will also be reallocated to elementary schools, too.
"Although aspects of this plan may change, District 15 is committed to making these changes over the next two years," said Dr. Barbini. "We believe this innovative plan to explore the use of Google Chromebooks throughout the District will allow us to not only maintain -- but also increase -- our technology offerings for students at lower costs."
If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to share your opinion on any aspect of this plan, let us know your thoughts via Let's Talk. |
| Building Bonds
The District will be able to tackle the top priorities identified in its life safety study with minimal impact on residents' property tax bills.
This winter, the Illinois State Board of Education approved roughly $27.25 million of the $29.6 million of life safety projects the District submitted for its approval. The list of work included all of the items that the District's life safety study identified that must be corrected within one year, as well as some items that must be corrected within five years.
This work is slated to occur during the 2016 and 2017 summer breaks. In fact, the District is already set to get started this summer, as the Board of Education awarded nearly $13.2 million in construction bids for these projects during its February and March meetings.
During its March meeting, the Board also chose to finance these projects through life safety bonds, and voted to issue the first series of these bonds for $18.25 million at the end of the month. (A second series of bonds totaling $9 million would be issued in February 2017.)
The District 15 Administration recommended that the Board reserve the District's fund balance and instead issue life safety bonds to pay for these projects because numerous unresolved financial concerns at the state level could significantly impact the District's budget in a negative way over the next several years. Those potential negative events include:
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The passage of Senate Bill 1, which would change the state's education funding formula and result in an estimated annual revenue loss of approximately $9.6 million.
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The proposed two-year property tax freeze, which could result in an estimated annual revenue loss of up to $2 million.
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The State Superintendent's recommended 2016-17 budget, which would result in an estimated annual revenue loss of up to $1.2 million.
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A pension cost shift, which would cost the District an additional $800,000 in the first year.
The District is currently scheduled to retire all of its bonded debt in 2023. These bonds will extend the debt levy by an additional four years. The bonds are structured so that they can be paid off as soon as possible, which reduces the total amount of interest the District will have to pay on the bonds, and, therefore, minimizes the cost to the taxpayer.
On average, the bonds will increase the District's current debt service tax rate in the short term by 2.55 cents per $100 of EAV. That means the owner of a $250,000 house will pay approximately $15 more per year than they are currently paying toward retirement of District debt. This is less than a one percent increase in the District 15 portion of their property tax bill. |
 'Short and Sharp'
Reader's Workshop provides a common framework for instruction that benefits students and teachers.
This winter, the Department of Instruction has been meeting with grade-level teams across the District to prepare elementary teachers to begin consistently implementing a Reader's Workshop framework for reading instruction in their classrooms in the fall.
Reader's Workshop is a research-based organizational structure for reading instruction that provides teachers with common -- but not cookie cutter -- methods for organizing and differentiating their reading instruction while maximizing their instructional time. It primarily consists of the following major components:
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Whole-Group Mini Lessons: These laser-focused lessons for the entire class are short and sharp, allowing more time for students to practice their reading skills, and teachers to work with them individually and in small groups.
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Small-Group Instruction: Teachers bring together groups of similarly skilled students for such things as guided reading activities, oral language development exercises, and specific skill lessons.
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Independent Work: Practice, practice, practice! In the Reader's Workshop model, teachers are encouraged to do much less talking so that students can do a lot more reading.
Teachers were also shown "hands-off" classroom management systems while reviewing the Reader's Workshop framework this winter. These systems address one of the most common complaints among teachers -- "There's just not enough time in the day!" -- by helping them organize their instruction in ways that make the most of their time.
Task boards are a prominent component of this "hands-off" system. Task boards teach students routine and responsibility by clearly outlining where they are supposed to be and what they are supposed to be doing during different portions of the day's reading block. They prevent loss of instructional time by providing smooth transitions between activities, and they help students become more independent and take greater ownership of their education.
Helping students develop the stamina needed to work independently is an important component of the Reader's Workshop philosophy. Teachers can use stamina gauges to visually display how well the class is doing at developing their stamina. Stamina gauges are typically posters that help students and teachers measure how long they've been able to attend to their tasks without distraction or interruption. It is important for students to develop stamina as they read text and complete school work that becomes more complex as the school years progress.
The Reader's Workshop model is hardly new, and certainly not uniform. Many teachers across the District have been using it for years. In fact, so many teachers use so many different components of it in so many different ways that a thorough review of this model was necessary to establish a common framework for discussions about reading instruction. These discussions will occur during the District's upcoming English and language arts curriculum review and materials adoption cycle.
"We want to be able to provide materials that meet the needs of all the different kids in our schools, not a large, one-size-fits-all program, because that doesn't really meet our needs anymore," said Maria McClurkin, Ed.D., Director of Literacy Programs. "But we need to have a consistent framework so that we have common language to talk about reading instruction. Reviewing the Reader's Workshop model and helping our teachers largely just refine their practices as they relate to reading instruction is how we can provide that continuity and ensure that every student is receiving the instruction he or she needs in more or less the same way." |
 STEM Happens Here
Walter R. Sundling Junior High's ongoing partnership with the Museum of Science and Industry is exploring the value of incorporating STEM learning across the curriculum.
It wasn't your typical Friday afternoon professional development activity.
Following a presentation from Walter R. Sundling Junior High's Science Leadership Initiative Team on student accomplishments in math and science, the school's teachers became engineers. With an explanation of the design process in hand, teachers broke into small groups for about five minutes, designed catapults out of rubber bands, popsicle sticks, and plastic spoons, and then tested their creations by seeing which one could fling a mini marshmallow the farthest.
The activity served as an example of how STEM learning could be incorporated into a history class as part of a study of medieval warfare. When a group of language arts teachers won the contest by firing their little confection a few feet past the mark set by the physical education teachers, a joke from earlier in the meeting had unfolded before them. Like many educators across the country, Sundling has chosen to add art to the STEM equation by using the acronym STEAM. But couldn't history (SHTEAM?) and P.E. (SHTEAMPE!) also be included?
Laughs aside, that realization was generally the purpose of the activity, and it largely remains the point of this ongoing partnership between Walter R. Sundling Junior High and the Museum of Science and Industry.
"That's really what today was about," said Laura Turek, a seventh-grade science teacher and the leader of the WRS Science Leadership Initiative Team. "You can make connections to STEM in any classroom because, if you move away from the content, it is all about collaborating and problem solving and critical thinking. That's really what's at the heart of STEM learning, and that's really what we want our kids to walk away with."
Through the WRS Science Leadership Initiative, Sundling's staff is helping the Museum develop and test a rubric that teachers and administrators can use to assess the state of STEM education in their schools, create action plans to improve their programs, and provide a database of resources that can help them meet their goals. Sundling was one of only six Chicago area schools that the Museum asked to pilot this program last year. This year, 20 schools are participating in the effort, but Sundling is one of only two suburban schools that are involved.
At the school level, these assessments and action plans are typically conducted and developed by just one teacher and the building's principal. At Sundling, though, an entire team of 11 educators from every content area is participating. The point from the team's action plan that they are emphasizing this year is the value of STEM education.
"We figured that when everyone values the idea of STEM, then things will just happen naturally," said Ms. Turek.
To emphasize the value of STEM instruction, the team is encouraging Sundling's entire staff to explore ways they can incorporate it into their instruction.
"It is like how we are all reading teachers, and at some point we are all math teachers. How we're all connecting our instruction with history and art," said Ms. Turek. "So it is really an interdisciplinary approach to this topic. It is about making connections to STEM no matter what we teach."
To help their colleagues in this endeavor, and to show students STEM's far reaching impact, the team has created colorful posters with the phrase "S.T.E.A.M. is happening here!" winding in and out of a set of gears. Teachers receive the posters when they report that they have engaged in a STEM activity with their classes. For each additional activity they do, they'll receive additional gears to add to their posters.  As more and more gears begin to mesh on more and more posters, the WRS Science Leadership Initiative Team will be cataloging the details of all these endeavors, and sharing them with the rest of the school's staff. That catalog will also be shared with the Museum of Science and Industry, and -- once the Museum's resource database is up and running -- with educators throughout the Chicago area that are looking for ways to improve STEM instruction at their schools.
So, kind of like those catapults, the posters are a fun, simple, crafty idea that connects to a much, much bigger goal.
"We want to show students and staff how STEM education is about more than what's going on in the science department -- that it is actually a culture we are developing throughout the entire school," said Jason Dietz, Sundling's principal. "We want to show everyone that this is happening in all of our classes."
Members of the WRS Science Leadership Initiative Team are:- Laura Turek, seventh-grade science teacher;
- Jennifer Krysciak, seventh-grade science teacher;
- Erika Smith, eighth-grade science/STEM teacher;
- Chris Lucht, eighth-grade science teacher;
- Paul Klimas, STEM teacher;
- Kit Mason, art teacher;
- Lori Majewski, seventh- and eighth-grade math teacher;
- Chris Dewey, eighth-grade history teacher;
- Emily Draffkorn, eighth-grade English/language arts and science teacher;
- Tamara Byrne, assistant principal; and
- Jason Dietz, principal.
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Los Hijos del Mariachi
Students in the Winston Campus Junior High Mariachi are developing a greater appreciation for Hispanic culture while expressing the beauty of music through performance.
When the program launched in the fall of 2014, 18 students enrolled. A year later, though, 72 wanted to be part of the Winston Campus Junior High Mariachi.
Simply put, interest quickly exceeded capacity.
"That surge in interest also extended beyond the school's Hispanic community," noted Mario Mongello, band director at Winston and one of the Mariachi's directors. "Every demographic at Winston is represented within the 27 students selected to be part of the class this year."
Now, interest in the group is spreading beyond the school, as it has been invited to play at several other events besides the winter and spring performances typically scheduled for instrumental groups in the District. For instance, the Mariachi performed at the Board of Education's December meeting, and it most recently took center stage at the District 15 Music Department's annual fundraising dance earlier this month.
"If the group is available, it will perform," said Mr. Mongello.
It has, however, taken a lot of hard work for the ensemble to get to this point, as the group meets every day at 7:50 a.m. to rehearse for about 50 minutes during the first period of the school day.
"The class was designed as a beginning instrumental and vocal program," said Bob Moffett, general music teacher at Winston who also directs the Mariachi. "So, during its first year, none of the 18 students had ever sang or played an instrument before. This year, we added four students who had some prior experience."
Nonetheless, they all came together and learned a year's worth of music within the past several months, he said.
None of this would have happened, though, without the District's support, and additional funding from two grants -- one from the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation for eight guitars, and one for $2,500 from the District Fifteen Educational Foundation. (A similar Foundation grant also helped Carl Sandburg Junior High launch a Mariachi club this fall.) The District 15 Department of Instruction provided the remainder of the funding, which was used to purchase the rest of the guitars, vihuelas, guittarons, trumpets, and violins needed for students to learn and perform traditional Mariachi music.
But the program's goals are about more than becoming a Mariachi. From the onset, the project aimed to increase participation in music education, especially among Hispanic students and their families. Its aim is to provide students selected for the group with greater insight into Hispanic culture, and it seeks to strengthen the cultural identity of its many Hispanic members through performance and the acquisition of new language and musical skills.
"Making that connection to the Hispanic culture is huge," said Elizabeth Jordan, orchestra director at Winston and the Mariachi's third director. "The student body and faculty seem to enthusiastically embrace the group during its in-school performances, and we have seen greater attendance at concerts by parents, who always comment on the pride they feel about their son or daughter's performance."
To watch the Winston Campus Junior High Mariachi perform, click the image below.
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Made in District 15
D15 grad Alex Tatara recalls how his grade school experience helped prepare him to pursue a career in tissue engineering and infectious diseases.
 Name: Alexander M. Tatara
District 15 History: Alex attended Thomas Jefferson School from kindergarten through third grade. As a fourth grader, he spent a year at Frank C. Whiteley School as part of the gifted program, and then returned to Thomas Jefferson as a fifth and sixth grader. He attended Carl Sandburg Junior High for seventh and eighth grade.
Further Education: Alex attended Fremd High School from 2003 to 2007. After graduating from Fremd, he attended Washington University in St. Louis from 2007 to 2010 and was awarded a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering.
Current Occupation: Alex's current title is Physician Scientist Trainee in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University. The MSTP is a National Institutes of Health-supported program for training dual-degree MD/PhD students. The program is structured so that students participate in two years of medical school, enter graduate school, and pursue a PhD for four to six years. They then finish their remaining two years of medical school. Alex is in his sixth year of this program, and has completed two years of medical school and four years of graduate school. His graduate program is in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University. His current research is in the field of tissue engineering and infectious diseases.
In His Own Words: When I was helping build the face for a life-size papier-m�ch� model of a Neanderthal man in Mrs. (Sheila) Frankel's sixth-grade class, I never could have imagined that my future work would involve re-building the face in a more real way. Fifteen years later, as part of my training as a physician scientist, my dissertation work involves designing new bioreactors to grow bone to repair facial injuries in wounded soldiers and veterans. From treating patients as a medical student at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center to presenting our research group's most recent findings at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, working with our nation's veterans has been very rewarding.
In addition to wounded warriors, patients with facial cancers also frequently lose large amounts of bone as their tumors are removed. In collaboration with surgeons at Memorial Hermann Hospital, we are also investigating how to use this strategy for patients with tumors of the head and neck. Patients with cancer also often have suppressed immune systems, which causes them to be more susceptible to infectious diseases. Working closely with physicians at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, I have been designing new biodegradable wound dressings and therapies to treat severe fungal infections in cancer patients as another aspect of my dissertation. While currently these technologies are being tested in the laboratory to ensure their safety, I look forward to the translation of this research into the operating room.
My education in District 15 prepared me for this career by cultivating a love for learning at a young age. The friends and teachers I had in the gifted classes of Mrs. (Jane) Riley (fourth grade) and Mrs. Frankel (fifth and sixth grade) helped me develop into a lifelong learner. In addition, I am particularly thankful for my English courses in seventh and eighth grade with Mr. (Matt) Hanson and Mr. (Scott) Woldman. In science and medicine, being able to discuss ideas and communicate effectively is extremely important. No matter how incredible one's discoveries are in the laboratory, if one cannot convey them in a meaningful way, progress cannot be made.
These courses, among others, also pushed me to think creatively. Creativity is key to designing new paradigms to best treat patients. The education I received in District 15 was broad-based and fundamental. The skills required of a physician scientist are multidisciplinary and collaborative in nature. The lessons I learned through grade school and beyond have prepared me well for my position today, developing new cures for ill patients.
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| From Student to Teacher
ISU PDS interns past and present reflect on how the yearlong experience prepares college graduates to begin their careers in college education.
This year, the Illinois State University College of Education's Professional Development School (PDS) in District 15 welcomed its fifth -- and so far its largest -- class of college students who are serving as interns in the District.
This partnership between District 15 and ISU is offering 23 senior education students yearlong internships in District 15 schools rather than just a typical 16-week student teaching experience. The program's aim is to assist in the professional development of teachers and the training of educators while simultaneously improving schools and teacher education.
The program has grown steadily since it launched in the fall of 2011. District 15 provided seven ISU students with internships in the program's first year, 15 in its second year, 18 in its third year, and 20 last year. The District has hired close to 30 of the interns that have completed the program in the District.
The First ClassKatie Bryan was one of the seven students in the District's first class of ISU PDS interns. Now she is completing her fourth year as a sixth-grade teacher at Stuart R. Paddock School. Looking back on this life changing experience, she realizes how positively the ISU PDS has impacted her teaching career.
"Being able to student-teach for a full year was a blessing because I got to see the beginning to end in its entirety. Not only did the PDS program give me an opportunity to get into the classroom, teach, assess, and collaborate with a team, it gave me the appropriate amount of time to build relationships with my students. I was able to see their diverse backgrounds, understand their family dynamics, and identify their specific learning needs from the beginning stages. Being immersed into the classroom's everyday routine allowed students to trust that I was someone who was there to teach them to be successful. Getting to know my students from the start made planning to their specific needs and interests a fluid process."
"When it came time for 'full take-over mode' as a student-teacher, the transition was smooth not only for my cooperating teacher, but, most importantly, for the students. They were used to having me around. I was truly seen as one of their teachers that year."
"At the end of the program, I felt like I was walking into interviews prepared and confident because I had been in a classroom for a full year. I was immersed in staff meetings and professional development time. I felt knowledgeable of student needs in and out of the classroom. I utilized the PBIS system with fidelity, and collaborated with a team to build success. I felt as though the school would be hiring a 'second-year' teacher."
The First Year
Gaby O'Connor completed the ISU PDS program in District 15 last year, and is completing her first-year as a sixth-grade teacher at Winston Campus Elementary. The yearlong experience gave her more confidence when she began her career this fall.
"There are many benefits to being in a classroom for the entire year. I was able to see the process of starting and ending a school year, and in between I was able to see the transformations that my students made. Building a strong rapport with students is very important to me, and working with my students for a full year allowed me to form strong relationships with them that were built on trust and mutual respect."
"Additionally, the yearlong experience allowed me to collaborate across grade levels and teams and work in both primary and secondary placements. This gave me a wider base of knowledge and experience and made me feel more confident in my abilities to differentiate and scaffold learning for a wide range of learners. My approach to classroom management was also impacted, as I was able to see and understand procedures that were put in place, and not only maintain them, myself, but also transfer those techniques into my current position."
"I wouldn't be the teacher I am today if it hadn't been for this experience shaping me. On the first day of school, as a first year teacher, I was extremely nervous, but if it had not been for the yearlong internship, I wouldn't have had as much confidence since it wasn't my first day at the rodeo."
 The Internship
Jessica Clinton is a current ISU PDS intern who is student-teaching in Kristie Charles' third-grade classroom at Hunting Ridge School. The experience has been irreplaceable, she said.
"Being in a third-grade classroom for the past eight months has been an experience I would not change for the world. The people you meet, the classrooms you observe, the experience you gain, the teaching you do; these are all part of the incredible experience this program offers."
"When ISU students begin their studies toward degrees in elementary education, most of our learning takes place in a classroom where we are the students. Although the knowledge we learn there is immense, it is not comparable to the knowledge we gain through real teaching experience. Through this program, we are able to see how an entire year works in a classroom, which teaches us exactly what to do when we are placed in our own classrooms. Having a cooperating teacher as a mentor and role model through the entire process is an aspect of the program I value greatly. Having someone to guide me in my learning and help me understand has led me to feel prepared for my own classroom."
"This program has taught me countless lessons about teaching and about helping students strive toward success. I feel that through this program I have learned how to be the best teacher I can be. I have learned how I can help my students reach their greatest potential, and how I can best guide them toward success. Through everyday authentic teaching experience, I have learned how to be the role model I strive to be." |
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Community Consolidated School District 15 
David W. Seiffert
