News from CCSD15 Board of Education

At the May 13 Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Laurie Heinz discussed plans for summer school and the 2020-21 school year.

Due to the pandemic, the decision was recently made to hold summer school virtually for both Title 1 and Extended School Year (ESY) programming. Families invited to participate in these programs have been contacted directly regarding the change.

At this time, it is unknown if school will be in-person or virtual when the 2020-21 school year begins. To be proactive, District 15 is planning for a variety of scenarios for the upcoming school year. Committees are under development to address the key areas of:

• Health and safety;
• Social emotional learning/mental health;
• Learning recovery;
• Distance learning/technology;
• Finances; and
• Workforce needs.

As new information is learned and developed, it will be shared with the District 15 community.

At its May 13 Board of Education meeting, the Board conducted its annual organizational vote. During the meeting, the Board elected Lisa Szczupaj as president, Frank Annerino as Vice President and Samantha Ader as secretary. Learn more about the Board of Education members by visiting our website.

The last day of school was originally scheduled for Wednesday, May 27 due to the use of one emergency day in the 2019-20 school year. Since this date was announced, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has announced that districts statewide do not need to make up any emergency days this school year. Because of this decision, the last day of school will now be Tuesday, May 26.

At its May 13 meeting, the Board of Education approved the purchase of 1:1 Chromebooks for fourth grade students district-wide. Monies allocated through the COVID CARES Act will be used to purchase the devices.

The purchase of 1:1 Chromebooks for students in grades 4 and 5 (previously approved by the Board) will allow the District to re-deploy existing Chromebook devices to students in grades K-3, making the District a true 1:1 environment.

The Board of Education approved the purchase of 315 internet hot spots for families without internet access at home during its May 13 meeting.

Hot spots were ordered in April and have been distributed to families in need of home internet access. The cost for these devices will be submitted for reimbursement from COVID-19 CARES Act.

The Board of Education approved the hire of 11 new administrators at its May 13 meeting:

• Diana McCluskey, Chief School Business Official
• James Kaplanes, Director of Facilities and Operations
• Joshua Schoot, Director of Financial Services
• Andrew Thome, Assistant Director of Facilities and Operations
• Elizabeth Rihtar, Instructional Technology Coordinator
• Tiffany Costa, Gray M. Sanborn Assistant Principal
• Theresa Drogos, Frank C. Whiteley Assistant Principal
• Charles Fabrikant, Lake Louise Assistant Principal
• Laura Masa, Kimball Hill Assistant Principal
• Matthew Stary, Conyers Learning Academy Assistant Principal
• Sarah Walsh, Stuart R. Paddock Assistant Principal
  
  

Additionally, the board approved a change of assignment for following staff:

• Jason Christ, Virginia Lake Assistant Principal
• Robyn Cook, Assistant Director of Professional Learning and District Development
• Angela Gallegos, Special Education Coordinator
  
• Lindsay Knobloch, Social Emotional Learning Coordinator
• Monique Martinez, Multilingual Program Curriculum Coordinator
• Laura Swanlund, Director of Comprehensive Mental Health
• Hailed Thiry, Multilingual Program Curriculum Coordinator
  

Email: D15Communications@ccsd15.net
Website: www.ccsd15.net
Location: 580 North 1st Bank Drive, Palatine, IL, USA
Phone: 847-963-3000
Facebook: facebook.com/CCSD15
Twitter: @D15Schools