Community Consolidated District 181
Among other business Monday, board members:
• unanimously approved an assessment calendar for the 2023-24 school year. A few tests have been moved earlier in the year, three have been added and two have been eliminated.
“This version of the assessment calendar is truly just refined,” said Tracey Miller, director of assessment, instruction and evaluation. “There aren’t major changes we are asking (for) or recommending.”
• approved new resources for middle school Spanish (Somos) at a cost of $26,225 and for French (Nous Sommes for sixth and seventh grades and Entre Culture for eighth grade) at a cost of $21,378.
• agreed to hire John Kasarda to complete a demographic study, including districtwide and individual school enrollment projections, as the district plans to move to full-day kindergarten
• voted 7-0 to declare June 2 as the last day of attendance for students and June 6 as the last day for teachers. No emergency or snow days were used this year.
• learned about the new science resources that will be piloted between September and February next year. Mystery Science and Amplify will be piloted at the elementary schools and Elevate and Open SciEd at the middle schools. Administrators will recommend in spring 2024 which to purchase for use starting in the 2024-25 school year. The district last adopted new science resources for the 2017-18 school year
• accepted gifts including a guitar and accessories worth $350 from Marybeth Kopriva for Hinsdale Middle School, $55,283 for additional playground equipment from the Madison School PTO and $455 from the D181 Foundation for Got STEM! program supplies.
• agreed to hold a public hearing to pursue a waiver so the district will not have to spend $2,500 to publish its annual statement of affairs in a local newspaper, as required by Illinois School Code. Instead, the district would publish it online and have bound copies available at the district office and at each of its nine schools.
