Mundelein High plan calls for better performance, more involvement

Mundelein High School officials are finalizing a long-range plan that sets new goals for student achievement, athletic participation and financial performance.

The proposal even addresses parental participation and community volunteerism, saying both are keys to the school's future success.

“We want to strengthen the bond between Mundelein High School and the community,” board member Karen Havlik said. “This is the only way we can accomplish what we need to accomplish.”

Dubbed “Plan on a Page,” the easy-to-read proposal establishes goals and action plans that would begin in 2011 and extend through 2014.

“(It's) a road map to our future,” school board member Vicky Kennedy said.

If approved, the proposal will replace a plan adopted in fall 2008, shortly after Superintendent Jody Ware joined the school, Mundelein High spokesman Ron Girard said.

A committee consisting of students, employees, community members, administrators and board members have worked on the plan for three months.

The plan consists of four visions: student achievement and success; facilitation of learning; finance and facilities; and school and community culture.

It establishes specific measures and goals for each category and suggests plans of action to accomplish those goals.

For example, the plan suggests 100 percent of Mundelein High graduates should go on to college, vocational training or military service. To accomplish that goal, it says officials should create programs that promote college and career readiness and classes that focus on “21st century skills.”

In a separate category, the plan recommends increasing parental support and participation in their students' academic lives. To meet the goal, the plan says staffers should maintain contact with parents, expand opportunities for parental involvement and document parental involvement in academic functions.

The plan also calls for a 10-percent annual increase in activities that celebrate diversity at the school, which has a sizable Hispanic population.

Student participation in extracurricular and athletic programs is targeted, too. The plan recommends Mundelein High officials work with area elementary and middle schools to recruit students for such programs, and to identify and eliminate any economic barriers to student participation.

No one goal is more important than the others, Havlik said.

“We need to do everything on that list,” she said.

You can view the full proposal and share your opinions of it at the school's website, d120.org.

The school board could approve the plan in January.