"Back to the Future"

Just like Marty in the movie “Back to the Future”, you have to go back to the past to understand the present and to change the future. In some ways, this is a time of reflection on the future education and well being of our students. We have to look back to chart the future. I find myself doing just that, looking to the past, every time I go to a D303 board meeting. The January D303 Board Meeting was once again very interesting because it was a classic example of how the Board and Administration have refused to be proactive with community engagement.

I have met with countless people in the last two years to talk about their experience, concerns, and ideas for improvement. The three questions people always ask me are “How did we get here? Why is this happening? and Who is responsible?”.

I think we have the answer to the “Who” question. The board and district leaders are responsible for not engaging and communicating enough with the public. The “How did we get here?” question is tricky to answer because it is not just one thing. It is the result of a series of decisions board and administrative leadership voted and implemented from construction, individual school resource allocation, class size, hiring of new teachers and staff, curriculum implementation, monitoring student academic growth and student well being and the list goes on. It really comes down to the vote and focus. As a community member, the answer also differs according to student and/or personal experience.

The follow up question is “What has D303 Board and Administration leadership really focused on since 2005?" High student academic achievement benefits everyone in this community from homeowner to business owner to retiree to parent/guardian to student. For homeowners academic growth and home values are tied to each other. If one changes, it affects the other in the same way. New families are drawn to our community because of our schools' academic performance. Same goes for business owners, if the district is focusing on academic growth and engaging with families in the district, this will affect the business owner too in the same way. As members of the community start to discuss and learn more facts about D303, the answers to the question will come to light.

The answer to “Why this is happening?” is more elusive. When I think of the “Why”, I start to contemplate drivers of leadership. “What are the drivers for successful/unsuccessful leaders in our D303 community?” This question should be on our minds as we go through the ethics process, meet with candidates, and go to the polls April 2nd. Again, looking to the future: advancement and improvement for our students.

In order to understand our current state of affairs, we need to look at past/current leadership, administrators and board members, to understand the decisions they made that got us to this point. Community members always have the same questions and issues on the table when they speak at the meetings: lack of communication, board and administration manipulating policy language to rationalize their decisions, lack of transparency, and no accountability.

In my opinion, the board continues to look like a very dysfunctional group. This dysfunction has allowed administration to educate students without being held accountable to an overall plan. Some community members spoke at the regular board meeting. The topics were diverse but all had three underlying themes: lack of communication, no transparency, and no accountability. All the meetings are recorded for the public to stay informed and understand the issues and decisions. Public Comments 1.14.19.

As mentioned in the Kane County Chronicle article from January 18, "Residents ask District 303 school superintendent to appoint ethics advisor ", the Superintendent announced he put in motion the steps to appoint an Ethics Advisor for the Board to look at the Ethics and Gift Ban Policy 2:105 Ethics and Gift Ban. Hopefully, in the days to come, a more clear picture of the Ethics Advisor process will be communicated to the public. The public also needs to understand the role of the five (5) board members and their process along with the Ethics Advisor.

Another example of the lack of accountability is when the administration presented the 19/20 school calendar without presenting it first to a Board Committee meeting for the board and public to have the opportunity to discuss and digest the information. There are grey areas that exist in the interpretation of the language used in State law as far as the definition of student academic days. In the end, the calendar was approved, regardless of the failed attempt to table and delay the calendar for further discussion. The planning, creating, communicating, and adoption of the new 19/20 School Calendar is another example of board dysfunction and administration lack of parental communication/input.

We all have years of facts, sound bites, presentations, meetings, votes, decisions, and personal stories that can help us answer the questions. All these discussions and issues bring us back to the April 2nd election and its importance for the future education and well-being of our students. For more engaging discussions join us on Facebook at Citizens for D303 Accountability. Citizens for D303 Accountability