District 88 reports rise in dual-credit requests, expands developmental-learning placements and notes small staffing reduction

District staff presented a fall 2025 course-enrollment and staffing update, reporting growth in college-credit and career-pathway course requests and outlining modest shifts in licensed staffing tied to student selections.

Miss Segalis, a district staff member who presented the enrollment slides, said course selection for 2025–26 shows increased student demand for dual credit and Project Lead The Way courses. She reported a 9% year-over-year increase in total college-credit course requests, with the largest gains in dual credit and PLTW enrollments. New or expanded offerings include aerospace engineering (a Project Lead The Way course), AP macroeconomics and microeconomics for dual credit, AP U.S. history for dual credit, and a proposed “math and construction” course at Willowbrook High School that the district is pursuing for dual credit with the College of DuPage (COD). Segalis said some courses remain pending final external approvals.

Segalis outlined a programming change for students in the district’s Developmental Learning Program (DLP): historically housed at Willowbrook High School or in outside placements, some DLP students who reside in the Addison Trail attendance area will be returned to Addison Trail so students attend school in the community where they live. The presenter said this shift follows best-practice guidance from feeder schools and aims to align placement with students’ home communities.

Mr. Bolden, a district staff member who reviewed the staffing summary, described the districtwide enrollment context and how that translated to staffing: current course selections show a net district enrollment decrease of about 57 students, which the district projects will result in a reduction of about 2.9 licensed staff FTE overall. At Addison Trail, projected changes include a 0.7 FTE net decrease driven by small reductions in several departments; at Willowbrook, changes were minor with modest shifts across departments such as career and technical education and world languages. Bolden said the district continues to maintain supports such as social workers and psychologists and will finalize staffing recommendations before the March 24 board meeting.

Board members asked whether students are taking comparable course loads under the schedule; Bolden and Segalis said there is no evidence of a shift away from rigorous schedules and that some students take more than eight classes using before- or after-school options or online/zero-hour offerings. Administrators noted that full-time status is defined by the school code as 300 minutes of contact time and that the district has not mandated an eight-period day.

The presenters emphasized the district’s priorities in scheduling: give priority to AP, college-credit and career/industry credential courses and combine low-enrollment language sections where feasible to preserve access. Segalis said counselors will follow up with students who selected courses that will not run and will ask them to choose alternatives.

Looking ahead, staff said they will present any final staffing recommendations at the March 24 board meeting and will provide updated master-schedule numbers when sections and enrollments are locked.