Working together, being aware of all his team is doing were key points of his report
Mike Lach has taken advantage of the superintendent report agenda item at Hinsdale High School District 86 Board meetings to focus on the goals he wants to accomplish and the progress being made. The Nov. 21 board meeting was no exception.
One of this themes was working together.
“We are a better community when we work together,” he said before announcing the formation of a small parent-student curriculum committee.
“We’ll keep growing this committee as we need to,” he said. “We want to be able to hear from parents and community members in a variety of ways.”
He also plans to recruit more individuals to serve on the Parent-Teacher Advisory Committee, which reviews things like the student handbook, student discipline and attendance.
“We need voices. We need parents. We need people to come help us review that information, think through the policies we have in place, figure out ways to get better,” Lach said. “Please think about being a part of it.”
He also encouraged stakeholders to put aside conflicting interests to work for the collective good.
“I came to Hinsdale because I believe this place has the foundation to be the best school district in the state, and I can’t do it by myself,” he said. “This board is working really hard to do it. They can’t do it by themselves. This is something we all have to do together.”
Finally, he and administrators presented a list of 30 projects under way in an effort to be accountable to all constituents.
“Remember, things always look different in the rear-view mirror,” he said. “This is a lot right now, but when we look back, we’ll see that change.”
The list of 30 projects was presented by topic.
Superintendent
1. Focus on working as a team
2. Understand the strategic plan
3. Find the district’s North Star
Academics
4. Create a districtwide PaCE (Post-secondary and Career Exploration) framework; create and implement a plan for college and career education for all ninth-grade students in 2025-26
5. Produce a plan that describes the future of world language programs
6. Produce an update assessment strategy
Business/operations
7. Create a plan for summer 2025 facility renovation projects; use operational funds annually to maintain building infrastructure and address life-safety needs
8. Complete an external security audit and use results to identify most appropriate ways to enhance security of students, staff and facilities
Communications
9. Create a video series highlighting key aspects of D86 work
10. Create mechanisms to collect and distribute good news to stakeholders
Governance
11. Transition from BoardDocs to D86 Community
12. Develop a plan to update administrative and operational procedures implementing board policy
13. Develop and execute a plan to continually improve FOIA operations and make practices more transparent
Hinsdale Central
14. Conduct an examination of grading and assessment practices
15. Increase the update and ownership for licensed staff members in instructional coaching system
16. Address chronic absenteeism
Hinsdale South
17. Implement off-campus lunch
18. Build relationships and promote a positive, collaborative culture throughout Hinsdale South
19. Make AP courses more accessible without diminishing rigor
Human resources
20. Implement a new principal evaluation system, create a plan to bring a new evaluation system to all administrators in 2025-26
21. Clarify several processes around the hiring, staffing and budgeting of athletics and activities roles
22. Conduct a review of non-cabinet administrators and non-union employee salaries and benefits
23. Clarify processes and procedures around reporting and flagging complaints, conducting investigations, creating and maintaining documents and issuing consistent discipline
Student services
24. Engage in a review of the HAVEN program
25. Engage in a system of ongoing professional learning for continuous improvement focused on the comprehensive nature of individualize education plans
Technology services
26. Install a Network Access Control system on all networks
27. Develop a five-year technology replacement plan
28. Review and update registration process
29. Develop and deploy an internal system to quickly and flexibly visualize key student performance data in real time
30. Review and evaluate the effectiveness of the comprehensive registration fee
