Dist. 44 celebrates American Education Week

This year, American Education Week will be celebrated from November 14 – 18. The annual tagline, "Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility" represents the National Education Association's (NEA) vision of calling upon America to provide students with quality public schools so that they can grow, prosper, and achieve in the 21st century. The week focuses a spotlight on the importance of providing every child in America with a quality public education from kindergarten through college, and the need for everyone to do his or her part in making public schools great..

To that end, District 44 will host a meeting on November 16 to assess the possibility of reinstating the Citizens Advisory Council (CAC). The principal and PTA president at each school has been asked to select two representatives from their attendance area to be invited to this meeting. Under the guidance of the Superintendent of Schools and the School Board President, the group will discuss a mission, establish goals for the CAC, ground rules for conducting the meeting, appropriate topics for discussion, meeting frequency, and future meeting dates.

According to District 44 Suoerintendent of Schools Dr. James Blanche, “The district is interested in obtaining input from its shareholders on how it can improve what it does as it looks at the 21st century realities in education.”

Also that week, invitations will be sent to other members of the community (adults and students) to attend the District 44 Community Forum on November 29th. The Forum attendees will meet with members of the District 44 Board of Education and administrative staff to review District 44 goals, achievements, and share their perceptions of how the district is doing in fulfilling the NEA's goal of providing quality public schools so students can grow, prosper and achieve.

During World War I, it was revealed that 25 percent of the country's draftees were illiterate. Nine percent of them were physically unfit. So, in 1919, the American Legion and the NEA met to come up with a solution. They knew then, what we still know to be the truth today–public support for education is powerful. In 1921, during the NEA Representative Assembly, a resolution was created that called for "An educational week…observed in all communities annually for the purpose of informing the public of the accomplishments and needs of the public schools and to secure the cooperation and support of the public in meeting those needs."