Board of Education to Hold February 11th Workshop
At the January 21st Board of Education meeting, the Board explored a variety of options to reduce future funding shortfalls. During this meeting, Board Members also listened to extensive comments and questions from citizens. The Board of Education will continue their discussion at a Board Workshop on February 11th. As a Board Workshop is different from a Board Meeting, no action will be taken on that night. The Board Workshop is scheduled to begin at 7.00 PM and will be held at Jack London Middle School.

La Junta de Educación ha organizado un Taller para el 11 de Febrero
En la reunión del pasado 21 de enero, la Junta analizó una serie de opciones para reducir los próximos déficits financieros. Durante esta reunión, los Miembros de la Junta también escucharon numerosos comentarios y preguntas de los ciudadanos. La Junta de Educación va a continuar esta conversación en un taller el próximo día 11 de febrero. Considerando que un taller es diferente de una reunión, la Junta no tomará ninguna decisión esa misma noche. El taller está previsto que comience a las 7.00 PM en la Escuela London.

• Information on Kindergarten Registration, what is required to register, and the dates and times of evening registration opportunities

District 21 Facing Economic Challenges
Prior to the regular December 2009 meeting of the Board of Education, the Board Finance Committee met again to discuss the long-range financial situation facing District 21 and surrounding school districts. The situation is a result of factors far beyond the scope of District 21 as the American and global economies have also suffered during the past 18 months. The tax caps that are in place as a result of Illinois law will limit the District's ability to increase taxes for the 2010-2011 school year beyond 0.1%, as this was the Consumer Price-Index (CPI) from December 2007 to December 2008. This will result in District 21 having essentially the same amount of money during 2010-2011 that the District has had during the current 2009-2010 school year. Of course, even though the District has actually been able to lower specific costs through judicious spending and by carefully negotiating for products and services, many costs will continue to climb over time.

Faced with this situation, the Board Finance Committee has considered a number of areas in which additional cuts can be made to further reduce expenditures for 2010-2011 and beyond... Continue

El Distrito 21 atravesando retos económicos

Celebrating Excellence
In an effot to celebrate excellence, Dr. Mical and the Board of Education publicly acknowledge the hard work and efforts of our teachers. Teachers were recognized at the December Board Meeting for embracing and supporting all of the major elements of our Professional Learning Community.

The Winter 2009-2010 Celebrating Excellence Honorees

State Report Cards 2009
Each year, at the end of October, the state publishes a School Report Card for public schools throughout Illinois. This document contains demographic data on the collective group of students, information about teachers' credentials, details of the school district's finances, and the results of student assessments administered by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Each fall, District 21 hosts its annual State of the Schools meetings. This year, like in previous years, three meetings were held--one each at middle school. These meetings were open to both parents and the public at-large. As parents, community members, and staff members entered each middle school cafeteria, they were greeted with outstanding artwork from elementary and middle school students. Each event began with outstanding musical performances from our middle school students--jazz bands, show choirs, and even original solo works were presented.

From there, Dr. Mical shared the annual State of the Schools video, which focused on District 21's current financial status as a result of the economy in general and the impact of the significant lack of State funding over many years. Following the video, Dr. Mical also took time to answer questions from the audience.

After the general session, participants were able to attend two different break-out sessions from the many that were offered in both English and Spanish.

Finally, each evening witnessed a raffle made up of generous prizes donated by area businesses.

The students and staff members of School District 21 thank parents and community members for their attendance at and participation in this year's State of the Schools.