District 300 Strategic Planning Begins

As Huntley School District 158’s Strategic Plan is criticized for its teachers’ lack of acceptance, Carpentersville District 300 is unveiling its $80,000 survey results for various stakeholders.

I haven’t had time to look at it, but Thursday’s Elgin Courier-News article by Rebecca O’Halloran delivers a doozy of a lead:

”More than half of the 10,458 community members who responded to a strategic planning surveygraded Community Unit School District 300 a “D” or “F” in financial management.”

Guess that might help explain why John Ryan and Monica Clark won election to the board in April.

“The community has not felt that the board, up until this time, and the administration have conducted their financial affairs as transparently as both could and should,” O’Halloran quotes Ryan.

And the responding public fears that population growth will lead to higher taxes.

They’ve got that right.

And the developers will finance tax hike committees like Advance 300 so they can enormously outspend taxpayers and even heavy-hitters like Jack Roeser’s Family Taxpayers Network.

Here’s Northwest Herald reporter David Fitzgerald’s take of Tuesday night’s meeting.

“Perception is reality,” Fitzgerald quotes District 300 Superintendent Ken Arndt.

The article continues,

And if that is true, then District 300 students are proud to be products of the school system, yet are unchallenged, felt unprepared for college, do not have adequate technology instruction and perceive their high schools to tolerate drug use, according to the results of the strategic plan.

And, here’s Jeff Gaunt’s, for the Daily Herald.

Gaunt characterizes it as “a snapshot of what many in the community feel about the district.”

He points out that more than one-third of high school graduates do not feel prepared for life, but 90% of teachers say they teach to state standards.

And true to almost every consultant’s report, it comes down on the side of the people paying the money:

“Overall, the district is doing better than people perceive,” consultant ECRA Group is quoted by the Daily Herald.

I would note that presidents and governors are criticized for deciding what to do based on the most recent poll results.

I don’t know if a similar criticism would be relevant here or not


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