District 203 values input from citizens
Quick read: "In our democratic society, offering a variety of input mechanisms represents the best way to inform, listen and garner citizen feedback."
"A society grows great when people plant trees in whose shade they will never sit."
This Greek proverb aptly describes what Naperville Unit District 203 is trying to do with its community engagement process, focused around our most pressing facilities needs. More importantly, it echoes the two guiding principles used by our Facilities Task Force:
• Fifteen, 20, or 30 years from now, what decisions are we making now that we are most likely to look back on positively?
• How much should we invest in repairing our existing facilities, versus renovating or building new?
If you already have attended one of the 30-plus community engagement presentations about facilities that we have conducted in August and September, or if you have had an opportunity to tour Naperville Central High School, Mill Street Elementary School or our Early Childhood program, we sincerely thank you for your time, interest and feedback in helping us answer some key facilities questions.
If you haven't yet had a chance to listen to the facilities options we have outlined, there are two choices. You may go to the District 203 Web site at www.naperville203.org and click on "Touch the Future" (look for the child's handprint) to find out about upcoming engagement meetings and tours.
Or, if you can't make a meeting or tour, use the Touch the Future section of our Web site and take some time to watch the video, review our PowerPoint presentation and, most importantly, complete a feedback form on which of the three major options presented you think is best.
Once the community engagement portion has been completed, your next opportunity for involvement comes by taking the time to respond to our telephone survey of 400 randomly selected residents in early October.
If you are called, it will take 15 to 20 minutes for the survey company to collect your responses to a set of questions that address your overall review of how well our school system is doing, as well as your feelings about how we can best address our future facilities needs.
The purpose of the survey is to track community perceptions about our district in general and it also will allow the board of education to compare phone survey responses on facilities issues to the responses of those who attended our engagement meetings or completed a tour.
As one might expect, a majority of those who have been involved so far are District 203 parents. Their input is critical, but it is equally important to reach out to our citizens and taxpayers who may not have children in school to find out their reactions as well.
In the end, the board may decide to place a referendum on facilities needs on the Feb. 5 ballot, but it must decide to do so by Thanksgiving, since the early presidential primary will move our traditional "spring" election to the middle of winter.
Do all these levels of community engagement take a great deal of everyone's time? Absolutely. But in our democratic society, offering a variety of input mechanisms represents the best way to inform, listen and garner citizen feedback.
In the end, it is how we model for students a critical part of our mission -- educating them to be both "collaborative workers" and "community contributors."