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Board hears Morton/Wharton Academy update and ten-year library partnership growth
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Summary
Morton CUSD 709 administrators and Morton Public Library outlined growth in a decade-old intergovernmental agreement: student library accounts rose from 71 to 248, educator checkouts expanded, and district–library outreach delivered more books to classrooms this year.
District staff and community partners updated the board on Morton Academy (also referred to as Wharton Academy) programming and a decade-long partnership with Morton Public Library.
Alyssa Williams of Morton Public Library reviewed the intergovernmental agreement that allows district students living outside library boundaries to receive library cards. She said student library accounts grew from 71 at the program’s start to 248 this school year and described an expanded educator card that allows six-week classroom-checkout loans; educator accounts increased from 15 last year to 55 this year. Williams said the library’s outreach coordinator delivered 651 books to district schools last year and 1,840 so far this year, and that the library partners with the district to host kindergarten visits, summer reading programs and classroom deliveries.
Ricky Erickson, the assistant director at Wharton/Morton Academy, described the program’s goals: community-based learning, social-emotional learning, structured transitions back to students’ home schools, and curriculum alignment with district benchmarks. Erickson explained daily restorative choice tools, data-driven instruction, and individualized transition plans in which teams (caregivers, Academy staff and home-school teachers) meet biweekly to increase a student’s time back at the home school when appropriate.
Board members asked for details on curriculum alignment, and Erickson and other staff noted use of common programs (SRA reading mastery, IXL, Lexia and benchmark data), and described a gradual step-back process for students transitioning to home schools. The board requested further follow-up from the Teaching & Learning Committee and the tech task force on best practices and measures of academic return on technology investments.
The presentation closed with trustees thanking staff and community partners for ongoing collaboration.
