Board RECAP

The District 211 Board of Education met Thursday, January 23, 2025, in the Board Room of the G.A. McElroy Administration Center. Below is a recap of key items acted on and reviewed.viewed.

Schaumburg High School – Principal

Thomas Mocon has been named the new principal of Schaumburg High School. He currently serves as 12-month assistant principal for building and grounds at Hoffman Estates High School, a role he has held since 2020. Prior to that position, he was lead disciplinarian at James B. Conant High School for three years. Tom began his teaching career in District 211 in 2007 as an English as a Second Language teacher at Palatine High School, where he also served as dean of students from 2013 to 2015. He launched his career in administration as a 10-month assistant principal at Palatine High School. Tom received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History Education from Michigan State University, an endorsement in ESL from Oakland University, and a master’s in Linguistics from Northeastern Illinois University. Additionally, he holds a master’s in Educational Leadership from Northeastern Illinois and is working toward an Educational Doctorate in Educational Leadership from National-Louis University.

Administration Center – Director of Multilingual Programs and Community Outreach

Ryan Zak has been appointed Director of Multilingual Programs and Community Outreach. He currently is Director of Linguistic Programs at District 75 in Mundelein, a position he has held since 2021. Prior to that role, he served as English Learner program coordinator in Cary District 26. Ryan began his career in education at Kildeer-Countryside District 96 in 2011 as a fourth-grade biliteracy teacher and language development coach. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of Illinois. He earned a master’s in World Language Education from DePaul University and a master’s in Educational Leadership from Concordia University-Chicago..

Students who earned honors in statewide competition received Board of Education recognition.

William Fremd High School

IHSA Girls State Swimming and Diving
Presenter: Andrew Kittrell

Caterina Gaido: 11th Place 200 Yard Freestyle Relay

Anna Hinshaw: 11th Place 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 15th Place 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

Erica Meyers: 15th Place 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Noora Nahlawi: 6th Place 100 Yard Backstroke
Ellie Patla: 6th Place 200 Yard Freestyle, 8th Place 500 Yard Freestyle, 11th Place 200 Yard Freestyle Relay., 15th Place 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

Sophia Pentchev: 11th Place 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 15th Place 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Mihika Tillu: 7th Place Diving

Schaumburg High School

IHSA Girls State Swimming and Diving
Presenter: Timothy O’Grady

Annabel Banicz: 4th Place 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 13th Place 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Diana Bobiv: 13th Place 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, 14th Place 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
Nina Gwin: 13th Place 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Zuzanna Krasnicki: 6th Place 50 Yard Freestyle, 12th Place 100 Yard Freestyle, 13th Place 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, 14th Place 200 Yard Freestyle Relay

Veronika Mieczkowski: 14th Place 200 Yard Freestyle Relay

District 211 is committed to preparing students for their future. As part of this mission, we strive to build communications systems that ensure our students, families and community receive relevant, timely and accessible communication that meets them where they are using creative methodology and language translation. Further, we know there are stories within each building and student that, when told effectively, can magnify the work being done in District 211 and help build awareness of the successes and gains in our learning community. This work is foundational to our Strategic Plan, which outlines the priorities, goals, strategies and targets to drive progress. Mr. Kurt Tenopir, assistant superintendent for administrative services, and Ms. Erin Holmes, director of communications, presented on the District’s progress toward and initiatives reflective of the Communications goal within the District’s 5-Year Strategic Plan.

View the presentation here.

The Board approved the minutes from its Regular Meeting of December 12, 2024.

The Board accepted the donations of $1,000 from Prospect Electric Company to support the Magic Closet and Blessings in a Backpack programs at Schaumburg High School and $1,000 from the Chicago Bears in recognition of a recent “Chicago Bears Classroom Legend” award to support the math department at Hoffman Estates High School.

The Illinois School Code authorizes public agencies to form joint insurance pools for the purpose of seeking prevention or lessening claims and losses for the individual agency. The Secondary School Cooperative Risk Management Program (SSCRMP) is a risk-sharing insurance pool governed by Districts 207, 211, 214, 225 and 212. The pool provides comprehensive insurance coverage at a lower cost than the district can obtain individually.

The Board reviewed a report summarizing renewal costs, allocations and an overview of the Workers’ Compensation program.

Each January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the prior calendar year. The CPI-U is the measurement of change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services over a period of time. For calendar year 2024, the rate of CPI-U increased by an amount of 2.9% over the prior year.

The 2.9% rate of CPI-U will be the limiting rate for the 2025 levy, which will not be approved until December 2025. The rate of CPI-U is used to determine assumptions in the District’s five-year financial forecast. An updated forecast model will be presented at the February Board of Education meeting with the final 2024 CPI-U rate and updated information.

View more information, including a 10-year summary of historical CPI-U rates, here.

Since the COVID-19 emergency school closure in March 2020, the United States Congress has passed three stimulus bills with the aim of providing funds to the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Education Relief (ESSER) fund. Portions of this money are designed to assist states that are expected to distribute at least 90% of the money to local education agencies (LEAs) based on their proportional share of funding received from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title-IA.

The Board reviewed a summary of District 211’s expenditures of all stimulus bills, as well as a complete list of ESSER expenditures. The full report can be found here.

District 211 offers a comprehensive high school experience with more than 700 unique courses offering an extensive array of opportunities for every student. Each year, the District 211 Curriculum Committee meets three times to ensure the rigor and relevance of course curriculum, instructional methodology and alignment of coursework across the District. The Curriculum Committee is made up of department chairs from each District 211 school along with school principals and the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

While the Curriculum Committee is composed of eleven members, the process of curriculum development and modification is a collaboration between teachers and administrators. Each group is engaged in the process at different levels of our organization to ensure our curriculum remains dynamic and relevant to our students and the course.

At the winter 2024 Curriculum Committee meetings, each department presented information on how their teachers are increasing the use of culturally relevant materials and culturally responsive teaching practices. Department chairs also engaged in a series of conversations on the District 2 211 Staff Artificial Intelligence (AI) Implementation Continuum, the skills matrix that provides detailed information related to the stages of the continuum, the District 211 Controversial Topics Framework and an overview of the ACT Series of Assessments.

The Board approved the curriculum committee report and recommendations.

At the June 2024 Board meeting, the Board approved an Administration Compensation and Benefit Package to enhance the ability of District 211 to recruit and maintain administrators, clarify current benefits and add additional benefits. One of the next steps was to review and recommend structural changes to the assistant principals including the potential of restructuring the 10-month assistant principal position to a 12-month assistant principal position.

The full report includes more details and recommended next steps.

The Board recognized the reorganizing of the current assistant principal positions.

The Simplex fire alarm panels at all five large high schools and the graphic panels at four high schools are in need of replacement. In March 2024, the Board authorized replacement of the graphic annunciator panel at Palatine High School after it failed. The 10-year master facility assessment includes replacement of the fire panels as a priority one replacement. Replacement of network cards will be completed on all panels through the scope of the replacement. The network card allows for communication between the control panels and the computer. The existing cards are from the 1990s and no longer serviceable. The system is proprietary to the existing system within the school.

At its December 12, 2024 meeting, the Board authorized District administration to apply for an ISBE School Maintenance Grant toward this project. Should the District be named a recipient, funds of up to $50,000 could be allocated to offset the cost of the project. The Board awarded the replacement of fire alarm and graphic annunciator control panel systems, including contingency funds, as presented in the report.

In November 2012, statewide education organizations united to develop a comprehensive visioning process for enhancing public education in Illinois in the long term. That effort resulted in Vision 2020, the first-of-its-kind blueprint for public education in Illinois that sparked legislative action on school funding, teacher recruitment policies, college and career readiness, and the state’s accountability model.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the landscape of public education has been significantly altered, presenting immense challenges and prompting increased scrutiny. A new vision was needed to propel Illinois forward in designing a system that better serves the needs of diverse learners, attracts new people to the profession, enhances student opportunities, and continues the state toward long-term predictable funding. In October 2023, the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA), Illinois Principals Association (IPA), Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB), Illinois Association of School Business Officials (IASBO), the Superintendents’ Commission for the Study of Demographics and Diversity (SCSDD), Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools (IARSS), Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education (IAASE), and The Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools (AIRSS) launched Vision 2030 with the goal of articulating what the education community stands for and aspires to realize.

The Board publicly supported Illinois Vision 2030 through a presented resolution and will inform the IASB of the adoption through the Illinois Vision 2030 website.

More information is available here.

The 2030 plan can be viewed here.

The next scheduled regular Board of Education meeting will be held on Thursday, February 20, 2025, with closed session beginning at 6:30 p.m. and recognitions beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Anne Koller Board Meeting Room at the G.A. McElroy Administration Center.