'Navigate 15' continues April 25 with focus on facilities

The fifth in a series of seven Navigate15 community engagement sessions will examine the facilities concerns facing District 15.

During this meeting, which will be held Monday, April 25, from 7–9 p.m. in the cafeteria at Winston Campus, 900 E. Palatine Road in Palatine, participants will discuss the following questions:

• What are some of the long- and short-term operations and maintenance concerns presented by the district's facilities, and what are the district's plans for addressing them?

• How are the district's facilities impacting learning, and what changes can or need to be made to those facilities for the purpose of improving education?

• How will the district's facilities be affected by changes in the district's population?

More than 70 residents, parents, and staff members participated in the last Navigate15 community engagement session — a March 29 meeting that highlighted the role technology plays in education today. During the meeting, Deputy Superintendent Jim Garwood delivered a PowerPoint presentation that looked at how technology is used for teaching and learning in the 21st Century.

Afterward, participants in the Navigate15 process broke into small groups to discuss what they had just heard and answer the following questions:

• What are the perceived strengths in the district's current use of technology to support student learning?

• Where are opportunities for improvement in the district's use of technology to support student learning?

• How would you like to see technology used to facilitate the acquisition of higher order skills (21st-century skills)?

They concluded the meeting by recording their consensus findings and submitting their individual questions for administrators to answer. Answers to these questions will be available soon on the District 15 website.

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.

Two more Navigate15 meetings will be held following the April 25 session, and the District has invited all residents to participate in them:

• May 31 — Finances: School Finances 101 and Planning for the Future

• June 21 — Final Recommendations: Creating an Executive Summary for the Board of Education

All Navigate15 community engagement sessions will be held from 7–9 p.m. in the cafeteria at Winston Campus, 900 E. Palatine Road in Palatine.

For more information on Navigate15, e-mail navigate15@ccsd15.net, call (847) 963-3210, or visit www.ccsd15.net.

-- Story submitted by Community Consolidated School District 15