Board Highlights

This summary includes agenda items that may be of interest to the broader community. Click here for complete meeting agenda and packet. Recordings of meetings are posted on our YouTube page.

In March 2023, Board member Audrey Williams-Lee initiated a discussion about whether students should join the Board of Education. The Board requested that Superintendent Greg Johnson develop a specific model for the Board to consider. Dr. Johnson collaborated with Student Council and this evening presented the resulting Student Ambassador proposal.

Students would apply for the ambassador positions representing each grade level. The senior ambassador would sit at the Board table and engage in discussions, while the other ambassadors would attend as non-participating members. The ambassadors would be responsible for gathering feedback from their peers and reporting back to Student Council on the Board discussions and actions.

Per Illinois School Code, the student representatives would not vote, attend closed session, or receive access to closed-session documents. They would receive access to the board packet the same time as the rest of the board.

Next steps: After incorporating suggestions from the Board's discussion, the proposal will be brought to the Board for a vote at its regular meeting on Sept. 26.

A comprehensive review during the 2018-2019 school year showed significant inequities in students' course placements: Students of color were disproportionately enrolled in college prep courses, while white students predominantly occupied honors and advanced placement classes. The data also showed that honors courses, while intended to provide a rigorous academic experience, often resembled detracked courses, and that students in college prep tracks reported lower levels of challenge and achieved fewer high grades than their peers in honors courses.

In response to these findings, the district committed to a transformative restructuring of the freshman curriculum aimed at dismantling the entrenched tracking system. The restructuring, which began in the 2022-2023 school year, introduced a single rigorous curriculum for all freshmen, eliminating the previous distinction between college prep and honors tracks. This initiative seeks to provide every student equitable access to high-level coursework and address the underlying beliefs contributing to systemic disparities.

The Board has received, and will continue to receive, regular updates on student outcomes. For this report, the district partnered with Isobar Public Sector to analyze perception data from students, teachers, and families. A high-level summary reveals several insights:

• There were large areas of agreement about the strengths and opportunities related to the current freshman courses.
• In general, there was a statistically significant positive to neutral view of the restructured freshman curriculum.
• Stakeholders largely agreed with the following positive aspects of the restructured freshman curriculum: rigor, skill development, collaboration.
• Stakeholders largely agreed with the following opportunities for improvement of the restructured freshman curriculum: pacing, relevance to real life, targeted support.

Next steps:

• In fall 2025, partner with Isobar to collect and analyze comprehensive quantitative and qualitative data.
• Review findings with teachers to identify next steps specific to each division.
• Use key data points to explore support and intervention structures to increase student outcomes, particularly among students of color.

The Instructional Technology department focus on using a wide range of tools, devices, and applications to create interactive, engaging, and effective learning experiences. This evening's report provided an overview of the department's current work, which includes addressing the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Last school year, Instructional Tech launched a successful pilot program of MagicSchool AI, which was built specifically for educators to teach responsible AI experiences and AI literacy. This year we've partnered with MagicSchool, whose student-facing platform, MagicStudent, allows students to gain AI literacy and practice in a controlled setting. Students can access the platform only when enabled by their teacher. The teacher chooses which tools to use and has full access to the student’s output history with the AI, and the platform has filters in place. For instance, students can't write a paper with the platform, but they can use it to check whether a paper they've written fulfills the rubric for the assignment.

Illinois School Code requires certain types of school districts to provide free student transportation. However, when a district has a public mass transit system within its boundaries, the district may elect to certify to the State Board of Education that adequate transportation for the public is available for students and not offer free pupil transportation.

Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 uses the mass transit exemption due to the availability of public mass transit transportation. The district is required to submit its exclusion each school year.

Next steps: The Board will vote on whether to approve the exclusion at its Sept. 26 meeting.

Board meetings take place in the Board Room (2163), with public session beginning at 7:30 p.m. Committee of the Whole (COW) meetings include information and discussion from the Board's Finance, Policy, and Instruction committees; action may be taken at a special meeting following the COW. The Regular meetings are when the Board typically approves action items.

• Thursday, Sept. 26: Regular meeting
• Thursday, Oct. 10: Committee of the Whole
• Thursday, Oct. 24: Regular meeting