Navigate15 to explore 21st-century expectations March 29

Technology will be front and center for the fourth in a series of seven Navigate15 community engagement sessions.

During this meeting, which will be held Tuesday, March 29, from 7–9 p.m. in the cafeteria at Winston Campus, 900 E. Palatine Road in Palatine, participants will discuss the following questions:

• What does a 21st-century classroom look like?

• How has technology transformed the way teachers teach and students learn?

• What challenges accompany the district's ongoing effort to provide a cutting edge education?

About 80 residents, parents, and staff members participated in the last Navigate15 community engagement session — a Feb. 22 meeting that focused on the students the district serves.

During the meeting, Deputy Superintendent Jim Garwood delivered a PowerPoint presentation that outlined different enrollment and demographic trends seen within the district and explained their impact on class sizes and student achievement.

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

• What did they learn from the evening's presentation?

• What more did they want to know?

• What did they want the Board of Education to know?

They concluded the meeting by recording their consensus findings and submitting their individual questions for administrators to answer.

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.

Three more Navigate15 meetings will be held following the March 29 session, and the District has invited all residents to participate in them:

• April 25 — Facilities: What are the district's needs, and how are they affected by population growth?

• 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 to 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