Superintendent Emily Tamaru reports Year‑1 progress on District 30 strategic plan, flags next steps

Superintendent Emily Tamaru presented a year‑one update on District 30’s five‑year strategic plan, saying the district has made progress across five strategic goals and will report updated academic ratings in the fall after the state revises assessment benchmarks.

Tamaru said the plan—which she described as developed with input from students, families, staff, community members and the Board—sets an aspirational target that “we aim for all 100% of our students to meet academic and social emotional standards,” while acknowledging students develop at different paces. She noted that District 30’s schools have previously ranked in the top two state rating tiers and that “the state of Illinois is updating their benchmarks for this year and will be changing ratings,” meaning official comparisons will be updated in the fall.

To monitor progress, Tamaru said the district uses multiple measures including NWEA data and that those measures show District 30 compares favorably to similar districts nationwide. On curriculum, she announced the district piloted and selected a new English language arts resource for elementary students and said next year the district will prioritize a comprehensive, consistent implementation of that resource. “We piloted and selected a new English language arts resource for our elementary school students,” she said.

On staffing, Tamaru described Goal 2 as focused on recruitment, retention and professional growth: the district expanded recruitment and mentorship programs and provided professional development driven by student data and teacher voice. She said next year the district will develop a comprehensive professional learning model offering varied topics and delivery methods for staff.

Regarding social‑emotional learning, Tamaru said the district added social workers to all three district schools this past year, allowing “100% of our students to participate in lessons that helped teach important social and emotional skills.” She said the district will continue to support students with social‑emotional lessons and clarify schoolwide expectations.

On family engagement, Tamaru said the district increased opportunities for discussion and feedback, expanded communication platforms, used translation tools and direct mailings to improve accessibility, and expanded in‑person parent‑teacher conferences.

On fiscal and facilities matters, Tamaru described the district as financially healthy, saying key performance indicators show the district is maintaining operating fund balance goals and steadily paying down obligations from prior capital projects. She cited recent capital work including completion of the new Maple School and other infrastructure projects completed on schedule.

Looking ahead, Tamaru said the district will prepare to potentially exit the True North Special Education Cooperative, continue advancing physical security improvements and the master facility plan, and assume treasury services currently provided by Northfield Township; she did not provide firm timelines or dollar amounts for those changes. She closed by reiterating that year one focused on social, emotional and human‑capital investments and thanking the community.

The district will report updated academic ratings in the fall when the state’s revised benchmarks are available; other next steps (including any formal actions related to the cooperative membership or treasury services) were described as planning priorities and no formal votes or implementation dates were announced in this update.