District superintendent reports strong start to school year, early enrollment below last year

Elizabeth Herrera Jimenez, president of the District 100 Board of Education, opened the board meeting and turned the superintendent's report over to Dr. Mary Havis, the district superintendent. “We had our very successful new teacher week, as well as opening institute days for our staff,” Havis said, describing multiple welcome activities and materials given to staff, including journals and a symbolic wand to encourage teachers to “bring the magic into the classroom.” Havis told the board that, while the district’s school year began with events such as school supply drop-offs and a back-to-school picnic, early enrollment counts are lower than at the same time last year. She said most schools are reporting declines of “probably 10 to 20” students compared with last year and provided two middle-school snapshots: “We’re currently at 466 at Freedom and 459 at Heritage.” Havis added that Heritage was an exception with about eight more students than last year. Board members asked about newcomer students and the superintendent said the district had “had a few” newcomers and that staff would follow up with the director of language acquisition to provide more precise counts and the students’ places of origin. Havis said she would provide the board with an updated enrollment report before the next meeting if the board wanted one and noted that the district registers preschool students throughout the year. The superintendent also thanked staff who organized welcome activities and noted the district will report fuller enrollment data in the September report. No formal action or vote was taken on enrollment during the meeting.