HIGHLANDS SEEKS OUT COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Highlands Elementary School is known for its family and community involvement. It has activities for everyone involved in the school -- parent coffees with the principal, dad’s breakfast, surveys, family career nights and family math, science and literacy nights. The school has also created a Building Leadership Team and business partnerships. All the activities are tied into the school improvement plan, which is also tied into the curriculum.

Because of this, it is a perennial winner of the Partnership School Award from the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University. In 2003, Highlands was one of four schools nationwide honored for developing and sustaining comprehensive programs of school, family and community partnerships. It was the fourth year of winning the award. The driving force behind Highlands’ success in this area was Principal Susan Stuckey. “Susan’s welcoming personality, deep understanding of school leadership and exceptional organizational skills made the strong ties she forged with her parents and the extended business community seem effortless,” said Kitty Ryan, former assistant superintendent.

2004

Naperville Central High School’s enrollment was growing. Its freshmen class was bigger this year and its special education needs were greater. In 2003 enrollment grew by 40 and this school year it was expected to grow by another 40 students. School officials said last year was problematic, with every space taken up with classes, and some areas were inappropriate spaces for classrooms. For example, a tech class was held in a math classroom. So, with no more room, and certainly no more flexible space, the plan was to place two more mobile classrooms on the grounds this year. That brought the total number of mobiles at the high school to eight. The official enrollment count in 2004 was 3,111, and 797 of those were freshmen. Naperville North’s projected enrollment was slightly less at 3,026, and 800 of those were incoming freshmen.

With the U.S. facing the Great Recession, Naperville 203 continued to have financial challenges, despite the recent referendum. Projections showed that the District was falling short of its goal to cut the deficit by 2006. Officials said that investment returns were dropping because interest rates were low and continuing to decline while at the same time costs, such as employee benefits, continued to rise dramatically. Adding to that, officials cited substantial facilities and equipment needs. As a partial solution to the unforeseen financial difficulties, the Board of Education looked to sell two pieces of property to help bolster their revenues - the Hobson School property now operated by Hobson Cooperative Nursery School and the Walnut Ridge property. The Walnut Ridge property faced heavy opposition from neighbors, however, who formed a community group called Save a Valuable Environment (SAVE).

Other issues were on the horizon. The District anticipated a significant number of teacher retirements and an increased need to address students’ social-emotional development.

Superintendent Alan Leis proved to be a popular superintendent, in part because of his intellect and his formidable communication skills. He formed a Superintendent’s Parents Advisory Council to get feedback from parents and to bounce off ideas to help find solutions to these pressing issues. He asked each school support organization, HURRAH (retiree volunteers) and the Naperville Education Foundation to select a representative to sit on the committee.

“We’ve got several issues and I’d like to have an ongoing group both to share information (with) and to listen to, to make sure that at least I’m hearing where the community is,” he said at the time.

Other Highlights

• With more printing needs than ever, the District moved its document services center from underneath Naperville Central’s football stadium into the 21st century and into rented space at 710 W. Fifth Ave., just south of Naperville North. The 3,500 square foot space allows teachers to scan documents and send them to the print shop for high-speed printing and send them back to the schools within 24 hours.

• The new fad of dancing, called grinding, sounded some alarm bells for parents, administrators and dance chaperones at both high schools. The suggestive dancing was the talk of whether to create new policies or new school rules about what is considered lewd on the dance floor.

• School boards don’t often get into the minutiae of what brands are in a school’s pop machine but Naperville 203’s Board of Education brought up the topic when the superintendent raised the concern of selling soda to high school students with high fructose corn syrup. The Board of Education debated the issue for months and finally settled on a vote 5-2 to stop selling carbonated soft drinks with the sweet substance, and instead sell milk, 100% fruit juice and water in the vending machines and at lunch lines. It was yet another signal 25 that the Board of Education wanted to provide a healthier environment for students.

• After years of the District’s efforts to recruit and retain minority employees, there had been little to no change to the District’s demographic profile over the past five years. The Diversity Committee’s report cited barriers to that progress and outlined potential solutions.

Naperville 203 employed 41 minority teachers in 2002-03 or 3.2% of the District’s teacher population. That contrasts with the District’s minority student population which has grown slightly each year, from 16% to 19%, in 2004.

A November 2005 report showed that the District exceeded its 2002 referendum revenue projections by an estimated $20.8 million. The goal of the referendum was to maintain the District’s programs while cutting its $16.5 million deficit that would have grown to $65 million in the next 3-4 years without a referendum. The tax rate – set by the County Clerk – is determined by the total amount of property taxes collected by a district in the prior year and multiplying it by the current year’s inflation rate, and then dividing that number by the difference between the value of its tax base and the value of new construction within it that year.

But critics challenged the way the referendum tax levy was structured, arguing that a phased-in tax rate increase is illegal and argued that the $200 million of property taxes collected in DuPage County that year should be overturned. Administrators and the Board of Education countered that assertion and said under current law, a school district has two choices in its referendum design: a single-year, sizable increase in the tax rate, or a multiyear, more gradual increase with most districts choosing the latter. The Board of Education noted it was critical that the District not receive more than either voters or the law authorized.

Later in the spring of 2006, the Board of Education debated whether to issue a refund check to homeowners or abate the levy. If issued, homes valued between $300,000 and $450,000 would receive refund checks roughly between $212 and $324. Another option proposed by a School Board member was to abate $4.4 million from the upcoming levy.

The issue was addressed after a successful building referendum when the Board of Education abated the bond levy that was authorized by the referendum.

Another difficult issue was the aging and outdated schools. Some parents reported that when they first walked into Naperville Central, they thought there was a brownout, that’s how dark the school was. Then they saw a bucket on the ground catching rain. But there were many more deficiencies. Naperville Central was also short on space. As a result of the facilities concerns, consultants were brought in to assess all the District’s facilities. They said Central in particular needed 13 additional classrooms and more space for small-group instruction, special education instruction, offices and storage.

Parking and traffic were a large problem at both high schools, but overall, Naperville Central, an older school, was far more deficient than Naperville North. Multiple additions at NCHS meant that passing periods were crowded, circulation was haphazard, and departments were splintered. Many areas such as science labs were woefully outdated. The school was in such dire need of updating that consultants said all options should be on the table – rebuilding portions of the school or tearing down the entire school and rebuilding a new facility.

Junior highs had similar needs for small-group instructional space, and three of them needed a large space for group instruction. Elementaries faced similar challenges for large-group multi-purpose space. It was always a problem to juggle P.E. classes with lunch, music, and concerts in the same gymnasium.

Lincoln Junior High rivaled Naperville Central as one of the most deficient facilities in the District. It was built as a K-8 school and was retrofitted as a junior high.

Mill Street Elementary was singled out as problematic and needed to be expanded. Consultants also pointed out that decisions needed to be made about the location of potential new and growing programs such as hot lunch, early childhood, and all-day kindergarten as part of the facility study.

While enrollment was flattening out, space was needed for specialized programs such as special education, English Language Learners, bilingual services and gifted programs. Two mobile classrooms would be added at Mill, and four mobile classrooms would be added to Kennedy to keep class sizes within the required range.

“The reality is that our overall enrollment is going down, but the diversity of the needs of the kids we are serving is increasing,” Superintendent Alan Leis said at the time.

A 30-member citizens committee was tasked with prioritizing a plan to repair and upgrade the 21 existing buildings. It reported to the Board of Education in June 2005. It was the beginning of a long process to map out the needs of the aging infrastructure and educate the public on the limitations of the facilities.

In the summer of 2005, tensions were again ramping up between the teachers union and the Board of Education over contract talks. Contract negotiations between the Naperville 203 Board of Education and the Naperville Unit Education Association began in November of 2004, but they didn’t end until mere hours before the first day of classes in August 2005.

My grandma and grandpa met at Naperville High School [before it was Naperville Central High School], and my grandpa was head over heels for my grandma. He would get up from his desk to sharpen his pencil over and over, just to get a better look at her in class. Finally, after convincing one of my grandma’s friends that he was a good guy, my grandma agreed to go out with him. They were married happily until my grandma passed last year. My mom and dad both went through District 203 schools too. The district is an important part of my family history.

The timing – late August –meant that Friday night’s first football games for the Redhawks and Huskies were in limbo. That meant tempers and emotions were high.

Members of the media and NCHS football team members were standing outside the District office at 2:15 a.m. Aug. 23, 2005, when Debbie Shipley, school board vice president, and Dave Griffith, NUEA president, stepped outside and announced the two sides had reached an agreement.

Terms of the three-year contract provided teachers with average annual salary increases of 5.2%. The union had sought increases averaging 5.5% and the Board of Education had offered as high as 4.99%. Just a few days earlier, in a vote of 937-77, teachers rejected the board’s 4.99% offer and voted in favor of a strike if a better deal couldn’t be reached by the first day of school. Teachers eventually approved the later deal by 1,088-27.

After these contentious negotiations, two years later, with more than a year left in the teachers’ contract, the Naperville 203 Board of Education and the teachers union reached an agreement on a two-year extension.

It covered the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years and allowed for either side to reopen negotiations for the second year of the agreement. It also made for smooth openings of schools in the coming two years.

The Walnut Ridge property continued to be an issue for the next year. In February 2005, the Board of Education voted to place the 11 acres of wooded property adjacent to Walnut Ridge subdivision on the market and in April agreed to sell the parcel for $5.65 million to JTJ Consulting and Real Estate, the highest bidder for the property.

Save A Valuable Environment (SAVE) and its partners, The Conservation Foundation, the Naperville Park District and the Will County Forest Preserve District, submitted a $3.8 million bid for the property, which was the District’s minimum asking price. But the District felt that it was incumbent to obtain more for the property. The bidder allowed the Board of Education to place a restrictive covenant that would help preserve trees for the property owners in the Walnut Ridge subdivision. That covenant states that some or all of the trees within 15 feet of the west and south borders of the property would be conserved. JTJ said it planned to build about 20 to 25 8,000-square-foot homes on the property, which, when completed, would mean six of the 11 acres would be developed.

Other Highlights

• ACT scores have nearly climbed back to where they were before the state mandated that all high school juniors take the test as part of the Prairie State Achievement Exam. The District’s total score was up from 24.5 in 2003 to 24.7 in 2004. North’s overall score was up that same increment -- from 24.5 to 24.7 -- while Central’s held steady at 24.6, the same composite score it received last year. For Naperville 203, there’s good news in those scores, because they were approaching the level when only college-bound students took the exam.

• New teachers and staff could be found at the Naperville Police station these days after new legislation was passed in August, requiring all new employees of a school district to submit to a fingerprint-based background check. Districts 203 and 204 together purchased an electronic fingerprinting machine, to be housed at the police station, to be used for the new requirement. The check searched Illinois records and the FBI database for felony convictions.

• In October, U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama visited Naperville Central and Naperville North high schools while campaigning, leaning heavily on portions of the keynote address he delivered during the Democratic National Convention. Alan Keyes, Obama’s Republican counterpart in the U.S. Senate campaign, was scheduled to visit both high schools, but canceled the week of his planned appearance.

• The Naperville Education Foundation provided seed money for the establishment of after-school Study Skills Academies at all 14 district elementary schools for fourth- and fifth-graders. The academies are designed to develop constructive study habits in students identified as needing academic help outside the classroom.

• High school students have long complained about the timing of finals after winter break, meaning that the break isn’t restful or restorative but a stressful time of studying. The District began studying whether to change its calendar and start school earlier in August so that high school students can finish the first semester before winter vacation. An online survey showed that four out of seven people surveyed approved of the plan. So beginning with the 2006-07 school year, the Board of Education decided to start school earlier than it had traditionally. It would necessitate ending school in May, and in some years starting school in mid-August. It was a decision that has stuck for future generations.

• The website was again overhauled and the address changed to the more user-friendly naperville203.org instead of the forgetful www.ncusd203.org. No longer will updates funnel down to one website manager to post. Now departments will be responsible for providing timely updates to their pages.

Much of 2006 was focused on the state of the school facilities. A community task force, formed in the spring, agreed with the consultants’ assessment and in November 2006 recommended that the Board of Education spend $100 million to renovate and repair the facilities. The biggest challenge they noted was Naperville Central, which they agreed needed a complete overhaul to the tune of $72 million. Another option, which the task force earlier had favored, was to tear down the school and rebuild it from the ground up for about $150 million. They also presented a pared-down plan to remodel the school for $40 million.

Also on the list was expanding Mill Street Elementary, whose enrollment had swelled recently to 800 students but could only hold 600 students. Another need was to build an early childhood education center to accommodate all district-enrolled preschool students. Repairs on the pool were needed at North due to new state competition guidelines for diving blocks. Other projects were on the docket as well. The community was heavily involved in the process, attending question-and-answer sessions and touring Naperville Central.

A later 2007 survey showed that respondents ranked the facilities as a “hot button” issue. While Naperville School District 203 received high marks overall on an online school perception survey compared with nine other high-performing schools in the country, when it came to facilities, it fell way short.

The facilities plan could not be funded through the regular budget and would require a voter-approved referendum to issue bonds (debt) and raise the tax rate.

Though the District ranked first or second in academic and other categories, respondents at the elementary level gave scores that resulted in a sixthplace ranking for facilities. Those at the junior high level tallied a seventhplace ranking, and those at the high school level gave facilities a ninth-place ranking out of nine districts. “The people that live and work and use those buildings realize that they need to be improved, and I think that that’s really important,” Board of Education Vice President Susan Crotty said at the time.

Other Highlights

• The District’s P.E. program was again in the news, this time for a landmark study partnering with PE4LIFE in reworking schedules for freshmen literacy students so they would start the day with exercise. The 80 freshmen, identified as needing more support in reading, were enrolled in Zero Hour P.E., before the first period. Subsequent testing in vocabulary and comprehension showed remarkable results. In vocabulary, the literacy students taking PE during the middle of the day improved 6.7% or 0.6 of a grade level. Students taking Zero Hour P.E. improved 11.6% or one grade level. The study helped launch a national movement and was highlighted in a 2008 book by psychiatrist Dr. John J. Ratey. In the book he notes that “What Naperville provides is a powerful case study on how aerobic activity can transform not only the body but also the mind,” he wrote in his book on page 19. “It also happens to be a wonderful template for reshaping our society.”

• Naperville was named the Second Best Place to Live by Money Magazine in 2006. It moved up a slot from No. 3 in 2005. Mayor George Pradel noted that congratulations poured in again, noting that Naperville was truly a gem in the suburbs of Chicago and the State of Illinois.

• With security continuing to be a top priority, the District made plans in October to purchase buzzer and camera entry systems for every elementary and junior high school. Until they’re installed, front-door security personnel will be hired to secure the front doors. The cost will be $120,000-$140,000.

• First-grade teacher at Ranch View Elementary Lynn Rule was one of 10 finalists for the 2006-07 Illinois Teacher of the Year Award. The next year, Patricia Adamatis, an adaptive physical education teacher at Naperville Central High School, was named one of eight finalists for 2007-08 Illinois Teacher of the Year.

Allie Ciha, a 2014 NCHS graduate, studied Mandarin at Central and continued her studies in college and now works for Sony Music Global Finance covering Asian territories. She is pictured here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, while studying abroad in college in May 2017.

Mandarin Sets Student With Career

Beginning with the 2006-07 school year, for the first time in Naperville 203, Mandarin Chinese was offered as a foreign language at the two high schools. The language was the first non-Western language offered in the District, the rationale being that it is significant in the global marketplace and also 15% of the world speaks Mandarin. In addition, more than 1,000 students take Chinese through private instruction. Enrollment was strong and allowed three sections to be held between the two high schools. Anecdotally, students who took the language were not only those whose parents were Chinese or were of Chinese descent, but those without Chinese ancestry who were interested in the language.

“Learning Mandarin was a highlight for me,” said Naperville Central grad Allie Ciha, who graduated in 2014. She took private lessons in junior high, two years in high school and two more years in college, graduating in Finance from Indiana University with a co-major in International Studies.

“Learning the Chinese language and the culture was a big factor in getting hired at Sony Music,” Ciha said. She now works in Manhattan for Sony Music’s Global Finance Team covering the Asian territories. “Cultural understanding and awareness are imperative if you want to work in a global setting,” she said.

• Elementary students were treated to hot lunches at school this school year. The rationale was that good nutrition and achievement were linked, plus with solid participation rates, the program would pay for itself. An earlier pilot program involving a handful of elementary schools proved successful so the Board of Education voted to extend the midday meal program to all elementary schools. Funding came from state and federal subsidies and user fees. However, start-up costs to outfit a centralized kitchen – most schools don’t have full kitchen facilities – were $370,000, plus $50,000 for a yearly lease.

• When the 2006-07 school year ended, so did class rank calculations on high school transcripts. The Board of Education’s decision came after months of debate by students, parents, teachers, surveys and focus groups. Proponents of ending class rank say that students are often penalized for class rank because there are so many high-achieving students in Naperville 203 and that students may not take a “regular” non-weighted class like music or technology that would make them more “well-rounded.”

Here, parent volunteers and Young Hearts for Life workers conduct cardiac screenings on D203 freshmen.

• In a unique pilot program, 2,000 incoming freshmen were screened for a rare but deadly heart condition that can affect young athletes. The cardiac screening program, called Young Hearts for Life (YHFL), was conducted by the Midwest Heart Foundation. YHFL trained dozens of Home & School volunteers to perform the screenings in the locker rooms of Central and North, identifying a handful of teens and recommending them for further testing with their doctors. The program has since been spread to other schools throughout the Chicago region.

• In May 2006, the Board of Education approved a new contract with bus drivers, which meant that the District’s 155 bus drivers wouldn’t be outsourced. The agreement followed a protest at an earlier Board of Education meeting. The School Board had been considering six bids for transportation services. Yet, while bus drivers approved the new contract, they weren’t happy with a provision that called for a reduction in the hourly rate of pay.

Staff Member Honored As Hometown Hero

Longtime parent volunteer turned staff member, Maureen Dvorak, was honored on WGN Radio host Spike O’Dell’s “Hometown Hero” segment during his Naperville broadcast on June 23, 2006. The nomination, limited to 100 words, noted that Dvorak “had a smile and a kind word for everyone.” A single mom of two boys, Dvorak was a force both as a volunteer and a staff member. O’Dell noted that Dvorak was a big supporter of Naperville Operation Support

Maureen Dvorak is often the first person families meet when they enroll their child in Naperville School District 203. Here she is with her team, pictured at far right.

Our Troops, organized 2,000 volunteers during the successful 2002 referendum, and was chairing the mammoth NCHS All-Night Senior Party. Dvorak also completed the Naperville Citizen’s Academy course and served on the Sister Cities Commission - all without missing a single one of her sons’ ballgames. In the District office, Dvorak organized large events for the Community Relations Office and served as Assistant to the Naperville Education Foundation before being promoted to Manager of Enrollment. “I was so touched by the WGN Hometown Hero award,” Dvorak said. “Especially because it came on the same day that my dad passed away. To be considered a Hometown Hero in Naperville where ‘heroes’ abound was truly an honor.”

Now, she serves as School Services Manager at Naperville District 203 overseeing the process of enrolling thousands of new families who enroll in Naperville 203 schools each year. She’s the first face many families meet when they move into Naperville School District 203.

In its first ranking of many, U.S. News and World Report ranked both Naperville 203 high schools among the top 3% of high schools in the country. In its “America’s Best High Schools” annual series, the news magazine awarded the top 100 high schools in the nation with gold medals, the next 405 with silver medals, and the next 1,086 with bronze medals. Naperville Central and Naperville North high schools both earned silver medals, largely as a result of an administrative and parent effort to increase student enrollment in AP (Advanced Placement) classes that could earn students college credit.

It was a heady ranking for the District. So too was news of top college entrance scores. In 2007, Naperville 203 students combined to post the highest composite ACT scores on record. The score was even higher than in 2002, when only the college-bound typically took the test. The state law changed then, requiring all students to take the ACT. Naperville North tallied a score of 25.1, tying with its highest score. Naperville Central students set a composite score of 25.

This year, Naperville 203 school children started the day with a moment of silence. Thanks to a new state law, a moment of silence was required at the start of every school day. Opponents said the new legislation is a thinly-veiled ploy for school prayer. Proponents said it might avert school shootings if the offender had a moment to reflect. Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoed the bill, but his veto was overridden 74-37 by both chambers of the General Assembly.

Special Delivery From Madison

Six thousand Beanie Babies were sent overseas by Madison Junior High students as part of a drive for U.S. troops to give out to children in the Middle East. “The kids thought about what they have here and they saw what the kids in Iraq and Afghanistan have to deal with, and recognized that they can make a huge impact with a very simple sacrifice,” said seventh-grade teacher Brian Bakke, who with seventh-graders Misha Ejaz and Maggie Lobue, led the stuffed critter collection. The group received a Homefront Hero Award from Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn for their efforts.

The District held the daily moment of silence in conjunction with the Pledge of Allegiance and morning announcements. While the act was first approved in 2007, it was challenged by the courts in 2009 and subsequently ruled unconstitutional but that ruling was overturned on appeal.

Other Highlights

• News about Naperville 203 was broadcasted regularly on the show

“School Scene 203” on Naperville Community Television (NCTV) Channel 17. A sampling of the programming featured Superintendent Dr. Alan Leis highlighting the facilities, the teacher winners of the Office Max/Naperville Education Foundation Innovator Awards, and student projects.

2008

Voters went to the polls on Feb. 5, 2008, and approved repairing and updating Naperville 203 facilities. In a slim winning vote, homeowners approved the renovation and expansion plan for Naperville Central High School, the repair of the Naperville North pool, additions to Mill Street Elementary School, a new centralized early childhood center, and addressed security and safety concerns at a handful of schools across the District.

Naperville 203 asked voters to approve the issuance of $43 million in building bonds – the amount needed to cover construction costs above the $72 million the District anticipated would be available from other funding sources. In all, the projects were tagged at $115 million. The previous year, residents could tour the buildings, ask questions and offer feedback on various options as part of a community engagement process called “Touch the Future.” The extensive initiative involved community meetings in all 21 schools throughout August and September of 2007.

Ground breaks on Mill Street Elementary School. The addition would relieve overcrowding of the school.

Once the referendum was approved, concerns about the phasing and planning began to ramp up. No one wanted the Central project to drag on beyond 2-3 years because they didn’t want a student living the majority of their high school years with construction.

Engineers and architects urged prudent planning and set major construction to begin in the summer of 2009 and to wrap up three years later. New spaces would be built first so that classes could be relocated to those spaces while renovation began on existing areas. Projects would be started and completed in phases so that work could be vacated at a certain point in time. Work would also be eased by the construction of a new three-story academic wing on the east end of the school.

Officials urged patience. “Not many people decide to spend three years renovating a building at the same time they’re running a school in the same building that they’re renovating as they move kids around,” said Superintendent Dr. Alan Leis at the time.

North’s new pool plan was for eight competition lanes, three shallow instructional lanes, three 1-meter diving boards and a handicappedaccessible pool lift. In addition, the pool locker rooms were to be renovated, parking was to be expanded, traffic areas reconfigured, and turf added to the stadium.

Other Highlights

• School remained open on Election Day November 2008 despite many of the buildings serving as polling places. Naperville 203 administrators said they would work with the Naperville Police Department on security and traffic concerns; uniformed officers would have an increased presence and school staff would monitor people entering and exiting the building. No incidents were reported.

• Superintendent Dr. Alan Leis announced that he was retiring at the end of the 2008-09 school year. He was in his sixth year with the District and his 40th in education. He took over the position on July 1, 2003, from retiring superintendent Donald Weber. At the time, the Board of Education said it chose him because he was “an outstanding education professional” who also was a “great communicator.”

• The Board began its search to select Leis’ successor by holding 16 focus groups with stakeholder groups.

• Thanks to a collaborative partnership between the District and Anderson’s Bookshop, First Lady Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna Bush visited Naperville in April to read and discuss their latest book, “Read All About It!” The book is about a class clown who rules an elementary school and goes by the mantra “books are so last year.” In addition to Anderson’s Bookshop’s public event at the Naperville North auditorium, the first lady and her daughter met separately with some second-graders. Thanks to Anderson’s, students also got to interact with other famous authors, such as Presidential daughter Caroline Kennedy, actress Julie Andrews, singer Gloria Estefan, and baseball legend Cal Ripken, Jr.

• The Board of Education decided to save money and go paperless by adopting an online meeting manager, called BoardDocs. The online system allowed the District to update, distribute and archive board meeting agendas and minutes online, thus eliminating the large task of copying and distributing those items. The documents would be more readily available to the public. The District anticipated it would save significant labor and copying costs.

• Kennedy Junior High School was one of only five public middle schools in Illinois to earn the National Blue Ribbon Award of Excellence.

On July 1, Mark Mitrovich officially became Naperville 203’s new superintendent. The 30-year educator had founded EdGate, a K-12 data solutions company, before returning to the public sector. In selecting Mitrovich, Board Member Michael Jaensch said at the time, “He’s a true visionary thinker and a great educator, but, most importantly, he’s going to be a great fit for our community.”

Central And North Construction Begins

At long last construction began on Naperville Central. The phased-in approach kept work confined to the new wing at first, then moved to the flat wing, which was essentially rebuilt, and academic areas. The project created roughly 170,000 square feet of new space and 370,000 square feet of renovations. As always, there were snags and trade-offs during the project. While there would be a new playing surface at Naperville Central’s Memorial Stadium, the Redhawks had to play eight football games on the road in 2009. And a three-week strike by some workers’ unions not only delayed the Central project, but worried officials about pushing the start of school back.

Central students were excited about the transformation. “Naperville Central could not have been more different between my freshman and senior years,” said Madeleine Behr, who graduated in 2011. “My first year, my locker with my best friend, Hannah, was on the third floor. And too often during rainy days, there would be small garbage cans, usually used in classrooms, in the center of the hallways, gathering water drips from the ceiling. By my senior year, those classrooms got to keep their garbage cans, and we gained nice views of the football field we could look out to during class.

“But it was dicey. The summer of my senior year the new building was close to opening, there were rumors that we’d have to go to Naperville North for the start of school because of the construction worker strike. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.”

There were trade-offs for Naperville North, too. The $5.2 million of upgrades at North included expanded and reconfigured parking, which meant that the prairie gardens on the northeast corner would be bulldozed. But thanks to guidance counselor Marty Conner, the plants were rehomed to other wildflower sites and groups such as the DuPage Chapter of the Wild Ones and the Naperville post office.

Doors, speakers, a phone booth and other items were salvaged from Central and auctioned off to raise money for the Honor Garden. The garden, which is a way to honor graduates who have passed, would include seating, plantings and performance space. It was the idea of the Class of 2003, which lost five members. The garden is located in the front of the school.

Student Turns Her Advocacy Into Career

Shannon Maher was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was 2 years old. Her family moved to Naperville when she was a child for the schools. The River Woods, Madison and Naperville Central graduate always wanted to be treated like any other student. But it was her teachers that helped her realize that she didn’t have to hide her disability to fit in.

In 8th grade she was terrified of public speaking and her English teacher, Dianne McGuire, gently prodded her to work through her fear and also to tell her story. She wrote a personal narrative about her disability and read it to her class. It was the first time she realized “why am I trying to hide who I am? There are people who are willing to accept me and befriend me for who I am.” That speech helped Shannon conquer her fear and realize how sharing her story could help both her and others.

She credits another teacher for helping her advocate for herself. Pat Adamatis coordinated the Adaptive PE program at NCHS, pairing students with disabilities with student mentors. “Mrs. Adamatis always had this positive can-do attitude and believed in my own abilities and helped me embrace my disability identity,” Shannon said. Adamatis didn’t say no when Shannon wanted to try the high ropes course and she helped Shannon obtain a Segway so that she could use it to maneuver the hallways at Central during passing periods. It was a game-changer in how others saw her. She was no longer the “wheelchair kid,” and now could look others in the eye. Shannon graduated from Naperville Central in 2009, was the school’s Homecoming Queen that year, and a year later was the 2010 queen of the Naperville St. Patrick’s Days parade. In 2016 she was named Ms. Illinois Wheelchair Queen and competed in 2017 for Ms. Wheelchair

America, which gave her a voice to advocate for others who were disabled. Shannon is now married and lives in Arkansas and works at Disability:In, managing their Next Gen program, connecting companies to young executives with disabilities.

Other Highlights

• When the Naperville Cemetery took back its land that had been leased to Naperville 203 for practice fields, Naperville Central needed more room for sports practices and P.E. After a year of collaboration, the park district, city, and school district created an option that they felt was a win-win for everyone. The plan called for creating multi-purpose athletic fields, parking, landscaping and trail areas in the southern portion of the West Street Garden Plots; relocating approximately 216 garden plots from the southern portion to the northern garden plots area and expanding garden plots to DuPage River Park.

• Napervile 203 picked up the tab for crossing guards after the City of Naperville said it could no longer fund the service. The District absorbed the cost of 11 crossing guards to help shepherd students to and from school at major intersections throughout the city.

• Santa’s elves -- Naperville 203 staff and parent volunteers -- helped sort and pack gifts for 660 students in need in the District’s annual Holiday Gift Program. The yearly program, coordinated by the Naperville Education Foundation, has a slew of major contributors including local Rotary Clubs, the Park District, Edward Hospital and Secret Santas. As the needs of families have grown over the years, so too has the program. “We have had an incredible amount of support from all corners of the community,” said Maureen Dvorak, a D203 staff member who had coordinated the program.

My District 203 colleagues have been my parents, brothers and sisters, and now 34 years later, they are my sons and daughters. I have gone through marriages, divorces, having children, sending them to school, then college, plus the everyday struggles. They have been my support to become a better teacher, colleague and person. I owe so many people my appreciation and love!

District officials announced in December that during wintery weather, schools would start later rather than canceling school for a snow day. On mornings when a late start day is declared, school, in most cases, will start two hours later than normal. The late starts would be announced on the webpage, via email, phone, and text. A late start would preclude closing school for a full day.

• Naperville 203 reassured parents about H1N1 flu and the extra precautions they were taking following the death of a Naperville North freshman. They said they were experiencing more influenza-like illnesses at schools and urged parents to keep children at home if they were symptomatic. Absenteeism hovered around 3-5% in the schools, which they said was not “out of line” with the cold and flu season. The District encouraged hand-washing and custodians ramped up cleaning of hightouch areas in the schools. Just a few months earlier, in April 2009, the nation and our communities were closely monitoring swine flu. While Kane County schools were closed because of a larger uptick in swine flu cases, there was little effect in Naperville 203. A year later, several students were infected with MRSA and the schools notified parents to be extra vigilant of symptoms.

2010

The new Ann Reid Early Childhood Center opened, the first green building in the District, and the first to be named after a District 203 teacher and a woman. The naming was significant as other elementaries were named after mayors, the streets they were on and Joe Naper, the founder of Naperville. Ann Reid was a long-time speech pathologist and an administrator in the District, and her name was chosen overwhelmingly by a committee of staff and parents. The opening of Ann Reid marked the first time that the entire preschool program was housed in one facility. Its funding, through the 2008 referendum, was a testament to the community which supported investing in the youngest and most vulnerable population of special education students. The 48,000-square-foot school sits on an 11-acre site at 1011 S. Naper Blvd., which used to be Huntington Estates Park. The cost to build the facility was $11 million. The school opened with 260 students but soon outgrew its capacity of

310 students, and preschool students were later housed in some other elementary schools.

As part of the work to relieve overcrowding at Mill Street and reduce class sizes, the Board of Education approved boundary changes for both Mill Street and Elmwood elementary schools beginning with the 2011-12 school year. Students in fourth and fifth grades and their younger siblings would have the option of remaining at the school. As a result, some Mill Street students would be reassigned to Elmwood, and up to 28 students could move from Elmwood. In many cases, students would go to school closer to their homes.

Other Highlights

• Naperville Central and Naperville North were ranked by Newsweek as among “America’s Best High Schools” in its 2010 edition. A total of 1,600 schools were identified as the best by the magazine. The national ranking is based on a formula that divides the number of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests taken by students into the number of graduating seniors from approximately 27,000 of the nation’s public high schools. This measurement placed the schools in the top 6% of high schools in the country.

2011

In a harbinger of what’s to come in the next decade, Naperville 203 launched a series of presentations on cyberbullying.

The Naperville Police Department and Naperville 203’s Technology Department teamed up to present information on internet predators and told parents “cyberbullying is not just something that happens outside of Naperville.” Naperville Detective Rich Wistocki, who is well known for his work on cyber crimes big and small, said no one online is anonymous and that parents are responsible for their child’s online life. Schools were under a new mandate to incorporate internet safety into the curriculum at least once a year for students in Grades 3 and above. School officials said they were developing an anonymous victim form for bullying, would provide ongoing seminars for parents and would develop an anti-cyberbullying campaign in addition to adding policies to address the new curriculum.

Other Highlights

• As temperatures hovered around the 100-degree mark in early September 2011, Naperville 203’s neighbor, Indian Prairie 204, canceled classes at many of its schools. But, all Naperville 203 schools had air conditioning and thankfully all systems were functioning. Years later, Indian Prairie District 204 retrofitted its schools with air conditioning. Realtors often said AC was a selling point for Naperville 203.

• Naperville 203 launched a Centralized Enrollment Office, making it a lot easier for parents to enroll their children in school.

Before, if a new family had three children all in different schools, they would have to visit all three schools to enroll each child. Now, they would visit the District office at 203 W. Hillside Rd. The office also employed a Spanish speaker.

• With gas prices surpassing the $4 mark, there’s pain at the pump for Naperville 203 that’s affected the bottom line. The fleet of 188 buses used daily will mean transportation costs will be way over budget. 2012

Assistant Superintendent Dan Bridges was named as Interim Superintendent following the resignation of Mark Mitrovich. After two months in the role, the Board of Education felt it had found its leader, took out the interim in his title, and offered him a three-year contract.

Bridges was hired in June 2011 as Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education in Naperville 203. Board members said Bridges was committed to community engagement, transparent communications, and working with diverse populations; in addition to being a collaborative manager and ethical leader.

We knew we were looking for someone who is both an outstanding manager as well as a collaborative, yet inspirational leader.

After nearly a year of study, the Board of Education approved a scaleddown plan for boundary changes for the coming school year that balanced enrollment among the elementary schools and relieved crowding at Mill Street and Beebe.

Administrators said that leveling out enrollment now will pave the way for all-day kindergarten in the future. Educators said that Common Core Curriculum standards soon-to-be implemented demand more instruction time beginning in kindergarten. Naperville 203 offered a half-day kindergarten program, while at the time 85% of Illinois school districts offered a full-day program.

NAPERVILLE’S TEACHER OF THE YEAR STILL SHINES

Lincoln Junior High sixth-grade teacher Josh Stumpenhorst was named Illinois Teacher of the Year in 2012. Only a nine-year teacher, he was selected for the honor among 200 nominations and nine finalists. When asked what the key to his teaching success was, he said: “Being a good listener. I approach the children as being a kid first, a student second. It’s all about the relationships you form.” Since then he has been enlisted to speak at numerous local, state, national and international conferences. In addition, he has given a TED talk, written two books and was honored with the Illinois Education Association’s Excellence in Teaching Award and named as a Pearson Foundation Global Learning Fellow. Stumpenhorst currently serves as the Learning Commons Director at Lincoln, where he taught for 13 years prior. He oversees the Library, Makerspace, video production lab and school arcade.

Recently, Stumpenhorst said the honor allowed him “to travel across the country and work with great educators while also being able to share the amazing work that happens in Naperville 203.”

Over the last 20 years, there were demographic changes in Naperville that saw an increase in students in the north end of the school district and a decrease in the south end. An Enrollment Capacity Study Group was formed to study how those changes affected the schools and to determine a variety of boundary scenarios.

Other Highlights

• ”We extend our sympathy to the families and community in Newtown, Conn., for the tragic loss they are feeling and the fear that comes from such a senseless act,” the statement read on the Naperville 203 website. It was posted and sent to parents following the shooting of 28 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the teachers, staff and administrators of the school who place the safety of their students above their own needs. We know all too well the pain a school and a community feels when violence takes the lives of those we care about, especially children.” The District offered tips for speaking to children about traumatic events and noted that its schools practice lockdown drills and response plans in case of an emergency. It was the beginning of a series of letters that would go out to parents about shootings at schools. And, it would spark conversations across the country about increasing school security.

• Naperville 203 officials celebrated the results of the Illinois State Report Card, which showed that schools made Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) on 90% of indicators. The District achieved the distinction on 334 out of 363 indicators compared to last year, when they made 332 out of 363. A total of 11 of 14 elementary schools achieved AYP in reading and math, and most junior highs made AYP except for one subgroup. Naperville Central and North High Schools also achieved AYP except for some subgroups in reading and math.

• Naperville 203 educators were among 10 honored for their exemplary work in education. Kathy Burns, a second-grade teacher from Highlands Elementary School, and Pam Kelly, a first-grade teacher from Naper Elementary School, were honored by the Golden Apple Foundation and were chosen among 600 nominees.

The Board of Education looks to the future with an ambitious community engagement process. Called Future Focus, the District held a series of forums throughout the year attended by some 450 community members. Out of those meetings came 27 recommendations. A sampling of those were: Measuring student success beyond test scores or report cards; Assessing post-secondary success; Developing a social/emotional learning plan; Exploring online and blended learning options; and Reviewing the school day to optimize student learning and professional collaboration. In short, the feedback honed in on four areas: student success, programs of study, finances and facilities.

When presented to the Board of Education, Board of Education President Jackie Romberg praised the work. “This is a living, breathing document. It will not be put in a drawer or computer and be filed away,” she said.

Future Focus Committee: Chairs Mark Trembacki and Kathy Ruiz; members Bill Anderson, Tom Carroll, Mike Crossett, Loren Francis, Peggy Franks and Alissa Johnson-Tripas; staff representatives Dan Iverson and Gretchen Zelinski; district leaders Dan Bridges, Julie Carlsen, Jennifer Hester and Susan Rice; Board of Education members Mike Jaensch and Suzyn Price; administrative support personnel Ann Bell, Maureen Dvorak, Betty Stevenson and Deanne Fulner; and Unicom Arc consultants Dan Burns and Rod Wright.

In November, the Board of Education approved offering full-day kindergarten at all of its elementary schools, beginning with the 2013-14 school year. All-day kindergarten was already piloted at seven schools, which were selected because they receive federal Title I funds to assist in early intervention activities.

Naperville 203 had been studying and laying the groundwork for the extended kindergarten program for more than a year. Officials said that Common Core standards were adding more rigor and that an all-day program was a solution.

They cautioned that, in addition to more in-depth work in early literacy and math, there would still be choice time and time for play.

The move to an all-day program aligns with many other school systems in the area. Start-up costs were $1.2 million for this pilot year, $1.3 for the coming year, and $2 million to operate annually.

Other Highlights

• A virtual charter school was being proposed as an alternative for about 500 at-risk students in the Fox River Valley area, but there were 18 public districts in that area that were to help fund it, including Naperville 203. Each voted down that prospect. The state mandates that charters receive 75 to 125% of what a school normally would have spent per student. Board of Education members from the 18 districts said that their schools already provided the services offered by Virtual Learning Solutions. While the legal wrangling continued for months, eventually the charter school director resigned and the school never materialized.

• Following a change in law passed the previous year that reaffirmed Edward Hospital’s non-profit status, Naperville 203 was required to refund the hospital $2.2 million in property taxes. The General Assembly had allowed non-profit hospitals to be exempt from local property taxes if they can show that they have done charitable work equal to or more than the property taxes they would otherwise owe, and allowed hospitals to claim property tax refunds for the three years before the law’s passage.

• It’s not often that schools close for rain, but the six to eight inches of rain that fell April 17-18 prompted the closing of school in Indian Prairie District 204 and made attendance optional for students in Naperville 203. The rain flooded streets, businesses, and basements and caused the DuPage River to leap over its banks.

I have been an active member of the District 203 community for 50-plus years starting as a student, then teacher, and also parent to my three sons (my family of five are all NCHS graduates)! All of the experiences have influenced my life in a positive way making it my very special home district.

JULIE GROVES RANCH VIEW ELEMENTARY STAFF MEMBER

• With teen drug use rising across the country, schools were under pressure to test students for drugs. Naperville 203 studied the issue, but decided against mandatory drug testing for students in co-curricular activities, unlike some neighboring districts.

2014

Rigor was the defining word of the year. After revising its math curriculum last year, Naperville 203 launched a new language arts curriculum and is working on a new science curriculum. All are in response to aligning to the new, more rigorous state standards and Common Core curriculum.

The new science curriculum is to encourage more students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The goal is to have students learn more about science and start thinking like scientists. Students will be learning the concepts through practicing science, which is a fundamental shift away from memorizing facts.

With a more exacting curriculum came a more rigorous assessment. Results on the 2013-14 Illinois Report Card showed Naperville 203 continued to far exceed state averages in reading, math and science. This was the second year that the assessment reflected the more stringent curriculum. The District was especially proud of closing the gap in achievement within subgroups of students, a push by the state in recent years. Especially noteworthy were math gains among Hispanic students and low-income students, a result, officials said, of the more stringent math curriculum.

“We have more work to do,”

Superintendent Dan Bridges said at the time. “A celebration is we have made progress in closing achievement gaps in several areas.”

In a move that was denounced by some parents, Naperville 203 eliminated what they termed an old model of instruction and moved to a new model of supporting students in the classroom. In the old model, students were pulled out of the classroom for reading support or other support. The new model, which will be put into effect in the 2014-15 school year, will put those teaching assistants into the classroom to work with all students. The District later hired back many of those for 48 new instructional assistant positions, who support all students in the classroom. School officials said the District is not abandoning early reading intervention but rather supporting and preparing all students for a rigorous curriculum.

Naper School’s 4th grade and the woodshop team at NNHS collaborate on a STEAM project.

Since the school shooting at Sandy Hook two years ago, keeping students safe and the building locked down has been an overriding concern across the country. It was no different in Naperville. A new state law now required schools to conduct active shooter drills.

Schools began the drills and wanted to strike a balance between keeping students safe and not alarming them unnecessarily, a concern that would build in years to come.

As technology made more things possible, online was a new way to learn in Naperville 203. In 2014, there were nine courses offered online in partnership with Indian Prairie District 204 and Community Unit School District 200 (Wheaton Warrenville): American government, English 9/10, English 11/12, Consumer Education, Mandarin Chinese, Geometry, Health, U.S. History, and Web Design. Consumer Ed and Health were the most popular classes. The consortium planned to add more classes next year and offer its most popular classes in the summer, which would benefit students who don’t want to be or have time to be in a physical classroom.

The partnership was developed the prior year and called Expanded Learning Opportunities or eLo Consortium. In the three districts, 205 students took advantage of the classes’ reading assistants and enrichment assistants.

Other Highlights

• A lightning strike and storms postponed the Naperville Central and North Class of 2014 graduations for one day. Just as the members of the class were filing into the outdoor stadiums, the storm erupted, prompting officials to cancel the event and reschedule it for the next evening. It is a tradition cherished by students that the commencements are held outdoors, one that allows the entire class to celebrate together.

• The unrelenting, bitter winter of 2013-14 was one of the coldest in the history of the Chicago region. It was also one of the snowiest Januarys on record. The arctic air prompted the cancellation of school on Jan. 27 and 28.