U-46 gearing up for school starting Monday: What's new

The hallways of 53 Elgin Area School District U-46 schools are abuzz with activity as 2,500 teachers returned to work this week to prepare for classes to begin Monday.

"A lot of great instructional things are happening this school year," U-46 CEO Tony Sanders said Wednesday.

Ten new preschool classrooms are being added this year to serve 200 additional early childhood students, which is funded through a federal grant.

Officials are renting the Jayne Shover Center in Elgin to house five new preschool classrooms to serve the west side of the district, and the remaining five classrooms will be at Horizon Elementary School in Hanover Park and serve the east side.

Districtwide middle school students who read above grade level will, for the first time, be able to opt for electives such as speech and debate. Seventh- and eighth-graders will be taking an actual health course debuting this year as part of nine weeks of physical education.

Officials said more than 92 percent of the nearly 40,000 students expected have registered online - the largest number of students to register in advance of the school year in recent history.

Typically, student registration occurs over several days once teachers return mid-August.

"That really puts us behind in terms of staffing schools," Sanders said. "The (online registration) process is working better for families and students. It makes it easier for first day of school. The earlier we know how many students are enrolled in a school, the easier and more accurately we can staff that school."

Among the highlights this year is the district hiring of about 134 new teachers, including some who worked as substitutes or in other positions last year.

Elementary teachers are in training through Friday on new Eureka Math curriculum, which is being rolled out this fall in kindergarten through sixth-grade classrooms. The new curriculum is aligned more to the rigorous Illinois Learning Standards in math and English Language Arts. Select teachers will begin implementing Eureka Math resources at the middle school level this year, officials said.

Teachers also will implement StudySync resources in sixth- through 10th-grade English language arts classrooms, a new reading curriculum and resources for seventh- through 12th-graders, and new technology in literacy classrooms for sixth- through 12th-graders.

"We have 5,130 new electrical devices - computers, laptops and iPads - that are being configured and distributed to schools. Along with the technology plan, we have more Wi-Fi in our schools," Sanders said.

This summer, wireless capabilities were enhanced at four of the district's five high schools.

"The only one remaining is Larkin, and it will be done this fall," Sanders said. "By the end of this school year, we will have Wi-Fi in all schools."

This past summer, the district undertook 22 capital improvements projects in multiple buildings at a cost of about $1.5 million. Among the larger projects were the complete overhaul of piping at Eastview Middle School and replacing boilers, chillers and ventilators at Horizon, Sunnydale and Willard elementary schools.

Also, the interior of three buildings - Abbott Middle School, Canton Middle School and Gifford Street High School - were painted, while there were minor renovations and infrastructure improvements at other buildings.

"It's going to be a great year," Sanders said.