On March 6, School District 308’s Board of Education invited community members to participate in a public forum at Plank Junior High School. In attendance was board president LaTonya Simelton, board member Jared Ploger, and SD308 Associate Superintendent Faith Dahlquist, in addition to various members of the SD308 community.
The purpose of the forum was to get the community’s input on how the district can fulfill their newest mission statement: “Together we will work together to empower, support, and motivate all students to thrive along their unique educational journey.”
This public forum deviated from ones hosted by the board in the past. Instead of having attendees come up to a podium to address the board, board members spoke individually with groups of attendees
“An important aspect of the board’s role is to connect with our community,” President Simelton said. “Open forums are a way to accomplish that through conversations, dialogue, deliberations, and collective thinking.”
Members of the community were given a list of four questions to answer:
- What does “thrive along their unique education journey” mean to you?
- What are our district’s strengths in empowering, supporting, and motivating all students?
- What are our district’s opportunities for improvement in empowering, supporting, and motivating all students?
- How can we work together to improve?
One table discussed offering flexibility to students and tailoring the educational experience to meet their unique needs. They suggested more expansive social-emotional learning as well as having students build meaningful relationships with staff.
Mental health among students has been of increasing concern both for the community and nation. More and more students have been losing sleep to cram for tests and missing homework as they go straight to their jobs after school. The pandemic caused much stress for students and their families both financially and mentally, and many are struggling to recover.
Standardized test scores have gone down in SD308 compared to previous years as a result of this stress. In 2019, 12.1% of students who took the SAT exceeded in the English section, with another 29.9% meeting expectations. 39.1% approached expectations with another 18.9% only partially meeting expectations. In 2022, only 10.2% of students exceeded expectations in the English section, with 27% meeting and 41.3% approaching expectations.
Ploger, who has been a member of the board since 2022 and is up for reelection this year, stressed the importance of listening to the community’s wants and needs. He also acknowledged that people should not be afraid to share their perspectives and messages to the Board.
“Each of us has a story here in 308…an important story,” Ploger said.
Another table discussed making school a safe place for students where they can “stop thinking in a deficit lens” and not feel like they’re “under a microscope.” They suggested allowing students to retake any material they previously did poorly on, such as homework assignments and tests.
“Education is not about a test result. It’s about empowering education in that student so they can carry on from that point forward,” a former teacher said while speaking for their group.
The board’s role in the district is to “develop and adopt goals and policies that meet state and local requirements; provide the resources necessary to pursue its goals according to its policies; monitor district performance to see that results are consistent with goals and policies,” according to its website.The Board of Education typically meets on Mondays during the second and fourth weeks of each month. The link to contact the board can be found here.
OHS Senior, first and only year on staff
