NAVIGATE15: May 31 meeting to focus on district's economic outlook

Education funding and budget concerns will be the topic of discussion for the District's sixth Navigate15 community engagement session, which will be held from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, May 31, in the cafeteria at Winston Campus, 900 E. Palatine Road in Palatine.

During the meeting, participants will discuss the following questions:

* Where does the district get its money, and how does it spend it?

* What is the district's current financial condition, and how might that change in the coming years?

* Why does the district maintain cash reserves, and how would spending those surplus dollars affect the district's future?

More than 50 residents, parents, and staff members participated in the last Navigate15 community engagement session—an April 25 meeting that examined the facility concerns facing District 15. During this meeting, Superintendent Scott Thompson delivered a PowerPoint presentation titled Facilities: Our Schools, and supplemented it with a handout of an excerpt from Do School Facilities Affect Academic Outcomes, a 2002 report from the National Clearing House For Educational Facilities.

Following this presentation, meeting participants took part in a panel Q&A discussion with Michael Adamczyk, the district's assistant superintendent for business and auxiliary services; Craig Phillips, the district's environmental services manager; Jan Taniguchi, principal partner of STR Partners architectural firm; and John Siemers, a Council of Educational Facility Planners, International, certified facility planner.

Navigate15 community engagement sessions are intended to help shape the future direction of District 15 by opening the lines of communication between the District and the communities it serves. The district will use feedback it receives from those who attend these meetings to prepare recommendations that will be presented to the Board of Education in August 2011.

In fact, the district will begin creating an executive summary for the board at the final Navigate15 meeting, which will be held from 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, June 21, in the cafeteria at Winston Campus, 900 E. Palatine Road in Palatine. The district has invited all residents to participate in this meeting.

For more information on Navigate15, e-mail navigate15@ccsd15.net, call 847-963-3210, or visit www.ccsd15.net | About District 15 | Community Involvement | Navigate15.

--Story submitted by Community Consolidated School District 15