Dear District 58 Community,
Today marked the conclusion of another productive school year in District 58! I am very proud of the hard work that our students and staff have achieved, and I appreciate our parents’ and community’s support. Together, we have accomplished a lot! Our new District 58 Points of Pride flyer highlights some of our recent successes. In addition, the District set several challenging goals for the 2017-18 school year. While we plan to give the Board of Education a complete update at the June meeting, I am pleased to share that we have made tremendous progress achieving this year’s goals!
One of our primary goals this year involved developing a new Strategic Plan. This process kicked off last winter with 575 community members joining in-person focus groups and nearly 2,500 completing an online strategic planning survey. These community members shared their vision for District 58’s future, which will help guide our pursuit of excellence over the next four years. Our Board approved the District’s new Strategic Plan last month, and teams of teachers, parents and administrators will be working this summer to develop the Strategic Plan’s annual action objectives and accountability measures to ensure we stay on track.
We are looking forward to a really fantastic 2018-19 school year! I am excited to share that in the upcoming school year, District 58 will fully implement its new English Language Arts (ELA) curricular resources, and our STEM Committee plans to pilot new science resources over the course of the next school year. Our Math Committee engaged in an ongoing review of the math blueprint this year, reflecting on both available resources and student performance data so that we might continuously improve student learning experiences and growth in this area as well. Additionally, in the next school year District 58 will increase its art and physical education instruction for various elementary grade levels. These adjustments will give students greater access to these important specials classes, while also providing our grade K-6 teachers more time to collaborate and plan meaningful instruction with their grade level teaching partners. We are also looking forward to the completion of the Lester School addition in August, and are eager to develop plans for future facility enhancements district-wide. These are just some examples of what will hopefully be many enhancements to District 58 in the coming years as part of our newly-adopted Strategic Plan.
Thank you again for your partnership in support of excellence in education. Remember that summer learning helps to solidify the tremendous academic accomplishments realized throughout this past school year, and supports a strong start to the upcoming school year. Reading and practicing math a little each day all summer long is a great way to accomplish both.
I hope this note helps to kick off a wonderful summer break for you and your family. I wish you all a summer filled with joy, laughter and many happy memories!
Sincerely,
Kari Cremascoli, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools