Staffing, school schedules, facilities: Community engagement is important to Dist. 113
We are so glad to welcome the Daily Herald to the District 113 community and for the opportunity it offers readers to learn more about the news, events, and great things happening at Deerfield and Highland Park High Schools. We look forward to engaging with you in this format.
Spring has sprung. In high schools that means a nonstop flurry of all kinds of student events and celebrations until June. It's an incredibly busy time, and I am so glad that we have reached the point that we are able to focus on these traditional rites of passage that we so look forward to and enjoy. I am happy to report that we will again enjoy graduation ceremonies at Ravinia this year. I will share more on these celebrations in a future column.
Moving on to other topics of interest to the community...
Following a $1.2 million cut in operations to address the district's structural budget deficit, the District 113 Board of Education has approved staffing for next year. Comparing non-pandemic staffing for the 2021-22 school year to the staffing request for 2022-23 shows an overall reduction of 20.88 FTE (full time equivalent), a 1.88 FTE reduction in licensed staff and a 19.0 reduction in non-licensed staff. This reduction allows the District to constrain costs while preserving diverse student programing, comprised of a robust array of electives, including the fine arts.
The board reviewed a draft of the Master Facilities Plan, the 10-year comprehensive look at facilities needs districtwide. While the draft plan identifies project priorities and the rationale behind those priorities, the Board will soon begin planning a timeline that outlines the ways it can engage the community on this topic, the projects, priorities of the projects, and the funding options, as it continues to refine the MFP in its discussions. As more information becomes available, it will be shared with the community.
District 113 will also seek community input about aligning the schedules of the two schools to best serve all students. The board has directed administration to apply the lens of "one district, two schools" as part of the evaluation of any operational or instructional changes.
Work has already been conducted by a committee of teachers and administrators to collect data on the research, best practices and the schedules of other North Shore high schools as a foundation for these discussions.
An external advisory committee made up of administrators, parents, students and board liaisons will oversee the gathering of community input that will be part of this analysis that will ultimately become a recommendation to the board later this year for the 2023-24 school year.
The common theme across all of these topics is community engagement. When you give us your input, you help District 113 continuously improve the educational experiences the community values. It is so important to us that you are involved. I hope you will take the time when opportunities arise to weigh in. We want to be sure we hear from you.
Enjoy the wonders of spring.
Bruce Law, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Township High School District 113