Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Extracurriculars topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District 99 survey: most students participate in activities; district plans to remove barriers and expand options
Summary
District 99 officials reported a large student response to a participation survey (2,675 students) and presented a set of operational steps to increase participation and remove barriers, including streamlined registration, targeted outreach, use of activity buses and replenishing an Angel Fund for student fees.
A districtwide participation survey and targeted follow-up conversations led District 99 officials to conclude most students participate in activities or athletics, while identifying specific barriers the district plans to address through communication, registration and support changes.
“We have 2,675 responses from students this year,” Ryan Doherty, director of student experiences, told the board, noting that the response pool represents roughly 56% of district enrollment. The survey also drew family and staff responses that helped the activities and athletics team identify where to focus improvements.
Key findings: many students are involved in school activities or in outside club sports; students expressed interest in emerging programs such as girls’ flag football, boys’ bowling and pickleball; and reasons for nonparticipation clustered around academic focus, participation in outside clubs, lack of motivation and, to a lesser extent, transportation and registration barriers.
District staff described a two-step follow-up: first, large-scale survey analysis; then targeted “access” interviews in which advisors spoke one-on-one with students who were not rostered. Those follow-ups uncovered dozens of students who were participating but not yet rostered, and others who simply had not completed registration. The activities and athletics team said outreach and registration fixes led staff to get many of those students on rosters.
Planned responses include simplifying registration, consolidating communications onto a common platform (FanEx app, ParentSquare and the new district website), clarifying how to start a club, continuing activity and athletic fairs, and using buses and other transportation options to reduce access barriers. District staff also highlighted the Angel Fund, a community-backed program that helps students pay fees or cover costs (for items such as yearbooks, prom, summer school or travel) and said Education Foundation partners will work to replenish funds that have been heavily used this year.
Athletics staff noted that some sports are governed by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) process for adding a sport; several items mentioned by students are in an “emerging” stage in other districts. Staff said they are preparing to add conference-level offerings for girls’ flag football and boys’ bowling next year where conference scheduling allows.
District leaders said they will continue collecting data and will use the participation work as a baseline for future analyses; they emphasized that many of the next steps are operational (communication, registration, transportation, and small-dollar supports) rather than requiring major capital investment.
