HIGHLAND PARK – North Shore School District 112’s Board of Education reviewed plans for a district leadership task force and citizens advisory committee regarding the reconfiguration of the district’s middle schools.
Jessica Thunberg and Holly Bartecki from Jascula Terman Strategic Communications (JT) described their “community engagement proposal” during the board workshop on July 20. “As a board you have identified two potential reconfiguration options. Our goal is to listen to feedback from various stakeholders to help inform your decision making,” said the consultants.
The strategic communications consultants explained the roles of the two structured committees: “The district leadership task force is asked to consider the community feedback, review all of the reports and really come to the board with a recommendation through an educator’s lens. What is the right model for our students?”
“We’re also recommending a citizens advisory committee with one fourth of it being our building-level educators and teachers; one fourth being our parents; one fourth of the committee from non-parents, citizens with young children who are not yet in our district, and empty-nesters; and one fourth of representatives from community organizations including the high school district.”
They will work with the superintendent’s communications committee to decide what will appear as a referendum on the spring ballot.
North Shore District 112 encompasses Highland Park, Highwood and Fort Sheridan.
Thunberg and Bartecki explained how nine community engagement sessions will be focussed: “There will be three listening sessions: one during the day and two in the evening, around three different topic areas. They include academic, social emotional learning and extra curricular, as well as, looking at the traffic and student bussing issues. The final session will be operations and finance.”
The consultants recommended that each session list the benefits and challenges of the two models. To offer an even greater reach, a telephone survey for public opinion research is also in the planning stages.
Superintendant Dr. Michael Bregy said: “The community wants a deeper dive. They want to know how this will impact my child. I applaud you for looking at this differently then we have in the past, and looking at it from a comprehensive standpoint by topic.”
Thunberg and Bartecki said they hope to begin the project in October but are waiting to hear from both the design and project management teams. The consultants explained the next step: “The superintendent’s communication committee will put the selection process for the task force in place. It should take three to four weeks for the nine community engagement sessions, followed by a clean-up session at the end where we would address all of the outstanding sessions.”
“I am certain that at the end of all the meetings, one thing that we’re all going to hear about is the concern for the social emotional welfare of children at a big middle-school or combining fifth grade into our middle-school structure,” said board member Jane Mordini. “If we only have 30 or 40 minutes on one meeting to address the social emotional benefits and challenges of a larger middle-school, I don’t think we’re going to reach enough people in a fashion that will eliminate that from being a primary concern of the one middle school model.”
Next on the workshop agenda, Donald J. McKay, president of Nagle Hartray Architecture, discussed the firm’s comprehensive study on elementary and middle schools.
The model for Edgewood Elementary School initially entailed incorporating an Early Childhood Center with District Administration offices. McKay explained how it wouldn’t be possible to include both the center and the offices in a Kindergarten through fourth grade elementary school without building an addition. He suggested relocating the district administration offices instead.
Currently, there are three middle schools in Highland Park with students in sixth through eighth grade. One reconfiguration plan would have two middle schools with fifth through eighth grades. A new school would be constructed at Olson Park and Edgewood would remain a middle school with renovations. The other plan would consolidate all fifth through eighth grades into one middle school campus.
At the end of the workshop, the JT consultants explained the Middle School Campus Proposal. Thunberg and Bartecki said grades five and six would have “a very distinct experience from seventh and eighth graders. In terms of the academic day, it’s still separate by function and schedule.”
More details of the preliminary plans will be addressed at the D-112 Committee of the Whole meeting on August 4.
