CHSD 128 leaders report progress on FY24–25 strategic plan, highlight SEL, equity and college-career gains

CHSD 128 district staff presented a year-end update to the Program and Personnel Committee on progress implementing the districtstrategic plan for the 2024–25 school year, focusing on health and well-being, equity and inclusion, and college-and-career readiness.

Tom (staff member) opened the report and introduced three district leaders: Dr. Jessica Herman, director of student services; Ben Rodriguez, director of college and career readiness; and Larry Varn, director of equity and inclusion. Dr. Jessica Herman described the health-and-well-being work, including digital citizenship guidance on student cell‑phone use, a district inventory aligning the districtDaring mission with Illinois social-emotional learning standards, and an inventory of staff-wellness events and appreciation efforts.

Larry Varn said the equity and inclusion committee identified five work strands and noted operational changes that increased access to advanced coursework and interventions. He said the district implemented an "accelerated placement" procedure and expanded enrollment of students of color in Advanced Placement classes; the district also piloted heterogeneous ninth‑grade classes and reviewed tier‑2 academic interventions to better align support to student needs.

Ben Rodriguez outlined the district"explore multiple paths" work to expand college-and-career planning. The district implemented a universal career curriculum called the Daring Journey and moved much of its college-planning work into a new platform, School Links. Rodriguez reported that 95% of students now have career goals recorded in School Links; dual‑credit sections increased from five to 10 offerings year‑to‑year, with about a 200% increase in student enrollment in dual credit and roughly a tripling of the college credit students earned. He said roughly 1,500 students participated in pilot or expanded exploration activities such as career treks, internship placements, Butler Lake Day, the D128 food‑science day and a STEAM showcase.

The presenters also described several supports designed to address barriers to participation. Staff and administrators identified that students attending a four‑hour summer school often lacked snacks; the district arranged for healthy snacks to be available to low‑income students, with those snacks funded through district dollars. Larry Varn and Ben Rodriguez said the change was made after staff found low-income students were leaving to obtain food and then missing secondary classes.

Board members asked about evaluation metrics and monitoring. Board member Jim Batson and others asked what benchmarks the board should track; staff replied some measures already exist in the strategic plan (for example, pathway and dual‑credit goals) and that the district plans to define additional specific measures and outcomes next year. Board member Lisa Hessel asked about student feedback on a summer success academy for incoming freshmen and AP/honors students; staff said they surveyed participants twice (immediately after the workshop and again at the end of semester one) and used responses to tailor future offerings.

The committee discussion closed with praise from board members for the district's implementation and a reminder that next year will be an opportunity to help craft the next iteration of the strategic plan as new leadership and board members join CHSD 128.