School holds town hall for parent input

As the staff gets ready to implement changes at Hadley Junior High, the school will play host to a town hall meeting tonight to take questions from parents.

In the summer of 2007, Glen Ellyn District 41 started looking at an initiative to assess the state of the junior high and make recommendations to improve the school under the moniker of Hadley New Horizons.

Some of the biggest recommendations include: a block of 60 minutes of math every day, up from 43 minutes in the regular schedule; an interrupted 90 minutes of literacy with the same teacher; and the chance for students to pick electives that range from guitar classes to CSI-type instruction in forensics.

"Those are the kind of exploratory options we already had, but we have revamped some of those," Principal Chris Dransoff said. "The kids will have some additional choice, and we think that should increase their interest and excitement about coming to school."

He said the evaluation really began with the elective classes, since those hadn't been examined in many years.

District spokeswoman Julie Worthen said the school also is allowing for more academic support for kids who need more attention.

The school has had several town hall meetings as more changes were being talked about and implemented. The latest will be at 7 p.m. today for parents and those interested in what's going on at the junior high.

The town hall will be at Hadley, 240 Hawthorne Blvd., Glen Ellyn.

"We've been trying to keep the communication open as this project develops," Worthen said.

The students just went through a registration process for the elective courses for next year, and Worthen said the school officials will give a rundown of how that went.

For more information, contact the school at (630) 790-6450.