Antioch group tabs education goals

Retaining experienced staff, more classroom space and eliminating mobile classrooms top the list of community concerns in Antioch Elementary District 34.

About 25 district residents came up with the list Tuesday, completing the six-month Navigate34 initiative. Recommendations will be reported to the board of education at its July 15 meeting.

"I think it has gone very well," said Denise Thain, a 13-year-resident of the district who has two children in school. "We've got a lot of parents in our district, so of course, I would like to have seen a bigger turn out. But looking around, I can tell the people who have come are very interested."

Community members, district employees and school board members make up the Navigate34 team.

The group has been meeting since January and studying many of the issues facing the school district including staffing, enrollment and strengthening academic achievement.

"We've probably had over 150 people come up with recommendations and a lot have been created," said Superintendent Scott Thompson. "Not all are created equal. We need to work with which ones have the highest priority and that we should tackle immediately."

While opinions varied, many of the priorities chosen by Navigate34 members had to do with overcrowding and the district's current facilities.

Last year, Antioch voters rejected the district's second referendum attempt, a $46.9 million tax rate increase measure to fund a new elementary and middle school.

Thain said the findings show it is inevitable that a third referendum will be called.

"I think we are at a point where something is going to have to happen," Thain said. "We are not going to have a choice but to add classrooms. When we do that and how we do that is still unknown."

Finding new funding, community partnerships and curriculum was also discussed.

"If we work on our curriculum more and people see that we are getting better scores then we will get better attendance at this school," said Dawn Benaitis, principal at Hillcrest Elementary School.