Superintendent's Office

  

Dear District 227 Family, 

Welcome Back.

I hope you had a wonderful winter break. As we begin the second semester, we are looking forward to working with you in order to Raise the Bar Toward a Standard of Excellence. To that end, congratulations to Rich East High, selected as a Bronze Medal winner by U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of America’s Best High Schools. Selected schools must demonstrate measurable academic outcomes to indicate that the school is successfully educating its student body, with test performance higher than statistically expected for state averages, beginning with reading and math.

 Another exciting development is the formation of our District Strategic Implementation Team. The team consists of representatives from our community as well as parents, administrators, staff members and Board of education members. Over the course of a series of monthly meetings, the team will create the processes that will allow our strategic plan to become operational throughout our district.

Going forward, I will be hosting a series of Community Forums. The purpose of the forums is to share information, elicit feedback and create a measure of collaboration between our district and the communities we serve. The schedule is as follows:

• Feb. 2^nd - Rich South – 6:00 pm
• Feb. 3^rd -  Rich East – 6:00 pm
• Feb. 10^th – Rich Central – 6:00 pm

Please note that preparation for the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) is currently underway for our junior students. Students have been preparing all year for the exams and your involvement helps to ensure that they do their best. The exam will be administered to juniors only on April 28^th and April 29^th at each campus. We encourage you to continue to support your students as they study for these exams.  Please make sure that they are well-rested and prepared on test day! 

Lastly, as you may now, I will be retiring at the end of this school year. While it has been my pleasure to serve you, I am excited about the prospect of continuing our record of progress with our next Superintendent. Currently, a thorough search of prospective candidates is underway by The Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB), the search firm hired to conduct this process.  Accordingly, a list of finalists for the position will be presented to the Board of Education on February 2.

The second semester offers a great opportunity for us to continue our track-record of performance and to strengthen our collective commitment to the students we serve. I look forward to seeing you, and meeting others, during one of the three community forums listed above. Thanks for your support of District 227