Dear District 30 Family,

We continue to celebrate reclaiming our ceremonies and traditions as we close this terrific 2022-23 school year together!

Below you can review relevant items from our May 18 regular Board of Education Meeting, which included the Board’s unanimous support of a five-year contract between our Board and Education Association. The Board also approved an updated 2023-24 School Calendar that creates an Institute Day on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, the date Wescott and Willowbrook will likely serve as polling places for the Presidential Primary.

Have a great weekend!

Warmly,

Dr. Brian K. Wegley

Superintendent

Our Board led recognitions thanking our PTO Co-Presidents and congratulating three high-performing student groups:

• PTO Co-Presidents' Recognition & Thank You: Maple PTO Anna Matuszewska & Janelle Duthie, Wescott PTO Amanda Neidhardt & Lisa Fishbain, Willowbrook PTO Roslyn Moktarian & Elise Radford.

• Our Maple Wrestling Cooperative Team state qualifiers coached by Eric DeMattia and Mark Streeter recognized, including Eli Brown from Maple; Bryce Kopinski from Field; Lucas Goldman, Ariella Dobin, and Isaac Johnson from Northbrook Junior High; and Mateo Odiotti from Wood Oaks.

• Our Maple Math Team state qualifiers coached by Math Teacher Cora Byrne, including Oscar Lee, Sophie Hou, Lucas Zhang, and Randy Yang.

• Our Maple Science Bowl, Electric Car Race, and Electronic Car Engineering Competition team coached by Science Teacher Robin Dombeck, including Abigail Chua, Tyler Fang, Bradley Feinstein, Sophie Hou, Anaiya Layland, Oscar Lee, Pavel Matokhin, Charlotte Okulaja, Mihir Purayil, Cole Sommer, Adeline Tan, Claire Tsui, Evan Webb, Surina Yadav, Randy Yang, Janelle Zhou, and Hansi Zhu.

Our Board also shared appreciation for our staff for providing these outstanding opportunities to our students!

The Board of Education unanimously approved a new five-year collective bargaining agreement with the District 30 Education Association. The agreement reflects successful negotiations between the Board Team and the Association Team, resulting in a contract that will serve the district from the 2023-24 school year through the 2027-28 school year. Aligned with the Board’s goal to attract and retain quality candidates, the new contract also maintains competitive salary schedules and benefit offerings.

District 30 Board of Education President Jeff Zuercher shared, “This contract reflects a successful conclusion to our collaborative negotiations process. The Board of Education and the Administration respect our teachers and deeply admire and appreciate all they do for our students and the community. Through this contract, we provide raises that keep us competitive and reward the tremendous commitment and hard work of our teachers. As representatives of our community, we are confident that this is a responsible investment in the continued success of District 30.”

District 30 Education Association President Dawn Nettelhorst also praised the new contract, “We are appreciative of the commitment throughout the process that generated this new contract. The Association looks forward to continuing the collaborative relationship with the school board, working together for the best interests of the children, families, and teachers of the district.”

Thank you again to all who committed to this important work throughout the year, including Association Members Dawn Nettelhorst, April Eichmiller, Heidi Fletcher, Meg Krulee, Lainie Levin, Aimee Newmann, Valerie Yaeger, and Facilitator Lynn Adler. Thank you also to Former Board President Nancy Artz, Current Board President Jeff Zuercher; District 30 Administrators Dr. Scott Carlson, Dale Falk, Dr. Melissa Hirsch, Dr. Brian Wegley; and Attorney Lynn Himes for their dedicated work toward this agreement.

The Board approved three leaves and one retirement notification.

They also approved the hiring of Marnie Price (Special Education Teacher at Willowbrook) and Jamie Solomon (Speech Language Pathologist at Wescott and Maple). Please join me in welcoming them to the District 30 Family.

Congratulations to Paulina Coletta, who will take over as our Administrative Assistant at Wescott from her current Instructional Assistant role. We also congratulate Colleen Bramlage, who will teach Health at Maple next year, after serving as a Special Education Teacher at Wescott.

Instructional Assistant Michael Boarini resigned, effective at the end of the year.

Dr. Wegley noted that Wescott and Willowbrook will likely continue to be required to serve as polling places in 2023-24. The administrative team discussed shifting the March Institute Day, originally scheduled on March 4, to March 19, 2024, the date of the presidential primary election. Supporting this shift would include attending school during Pulaski Day on March 4. Dr. Wegley noted that the Education Association, Administrative Team and PTO Co-Presidents endorsed the change.

The Board also modified next year’s Parent-Teacher Conferences schedule from its current format to all schools, providing evening conferences on:

• Wednesday, October 18, 2023, from 12:00 - 8:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, February 21, 2024, from 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.

• Thursday, October 19, 2023, from 12:00 - 8:00 p.m.
• Thursday, February 22, 2024, from 12:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Dr. Wegley noted that next year’s calendar includes extending our elementary student day by 10 minutes (8:40 a.m. - 3:20 p.m.) to generate the required 30 minutes of unstructured play during lunch, returning ten minutes of instruction to the school day.

An updated 2023-24 School Calendar has been posted to www.district30.org.

Dr. Wegley updated the Board on next year’s Staffing Plan, which continues to trend toward forecasted enrollments.

He also highlighted the meaningful Teacher Appreciation Week Board breakfasts and PTO lunches provided to our educators this month in recognition of their outstanding service to our students!

The Board reflected on examples of the outstanding commitment of our educators that included publicly thanking Maple Staff Members Sam Kurtz, Mario Gurgone, Mary Norquist, Libby Kane, Cora Byrne, Julie Ireland, Robin Dombeck, Decima Panitch, and Katie Weissler for giving our 8th-graders the benefit of the Washington, D.C., trip. They also recognized additional Maple Staff Members Josh Pettenuzzo, Katie Darling, Emily Foster, April Lobo, Val Yaeger, and Brynn Leiter for the recent Chicagoland trips with our 8th-graders.

Mr. Kurtz also reminded those in attendance of our Lew Blond Run at 8 a.m. May 20, where last-minute participants can register on site!

Maple Principal, Mr. Kurtz, in collaboration with the summer Professional Learning Team (PLT) committee, presented on the implementation of the PLT program at Maple School. Committee staff members include: Math Teacher Sarah Arends; Spanish Teacher Heather Cherney; Assistant Principal Betty Holzkopf; Principal Sam Kurtz; English Language Arts (ELA) Teacher Kyle Manders; Technology & Project Lead the Way Teacher Michelle King-Mulvihill; ELA Teacher Nicky Stannard; and English Language Teacher Jodi Stipes.

The team explained the staff’s unified focus of promoting “grit” throughout the school, and they shared the many positive experiences from and reflections on the pilot program by students and teachers.

Maple is encouraged by their first year’s outcomes, and the staff is eager to collaborate and build on the initial PLT model.

Maple Principal, Mr. Sam Kurtz, and Assistant Principal, Mrs. Betty Holzkopf, celebrated the school’s outstanding year going Back to the Future. They emphasized their pride in reclaiming and evolving our ceremonies and traditions! They also reflected on the value of student opportunities through community partnerships, including career day, visits by guest speakers like young adult author Jennifer Neilsen, and Imagination Theater.

Mr. Kurtz also highlighted the new Mustangs Are TRRFCC program, which rewards students for demonstrating the Six Pillars of Character Counts with meaningful experiences!

The Professional Learning Team (PLT) efforts highlighted above were also reviewed, along with the progress being made on the District-wide RULER Initiative to support social-emotional learning.(Recognizing emotions in oneself and others; Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions; Labeling emotions with a nuanced vocabulary; Expressing emotions in accordance with cultural norms and social context; Regulating emotions with helpful strategies.)

Following the presentation, the Board thanked Mr. Kurtz and Maple’s staff for their tremendous efforts throughout the year! They also thanked Mrs. Holzkopf for her for her years of service, and wished her the best in her well-deserved retirement!