As each Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 school readies its state-mandated improvement plan by June 30, some members of the Board of Education are concerned the budget they approve in September will not have enough money to cover those plans.
Shanele Andrews, an area superintendent overseeing the district’s five middle schools and high school, said each school develops its own plan to achieve success in language arts, math and the school’s overall culture. That is mandated by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
“It’s a blueprint or guide to ensure student success,” Andrews said Friday. “It identifies (in) which areas kids are doing well, and it identifies where improvement is needed. The goal is to create a clear path to improve the school.”
The District 60 Board of Education postponed a vote on the school plans on May 26, rescheduling it for 7 p.m. on June 23 at the Education Service Center in Waukegan to get more information to enable members to cast an informed vote with a proposed budget three months away.
Board Member Christine Lensing expressed concerns about approving something before knowing whether money will be available for it. Each school has its own plan. Some give specific dollar amounts to acquire resources, while others are less complete.
“Whenever there’s a school resource plan, there’s got to be resources behind it to support that school so it can meet its goals,” Lensing said. “I think the order we are doing this is out of place.”
Caroline Fabian, another board member who is also the director of family and community engagement for the ISBE, said some schools were “thoughtful and intentional,” including cost estimates, but she is concerned they do not have the required parent and community participation.
“Each school should have some kind of forum or add a parent to the committee, so we’re having that other perspective and that other voice to align with these school improvement plans,” Fabian said.
Some schools, like Robert Abbott Middle School, submitted detailed plans with specific costs for the items needed, like $30,320 for its literacy plan, according to the district website.
Abbott’s literacy plan sets forth goals like having all students “engage daily in rigorous, grade-level interdisciplinary texts through structured routines that require reading, academic discussion, and evidence-based writing.”
At some of the other schools, goals are set at percentage increases in reading performance, but the teaching methods are not included. Not all the schools include precise cost figures. For culture, some set goals of reducing absenteeism.
Eduardo Cesario, the district’s deputy superintendent for academic supports and programs, said at the meeting that both the ISBE deadline for the plans and dealing with a budget three months later require flexibility. Principals have learned how to cope with the situation.
“It’s a process,” Cesario said. “The process was started by the superintendent in August to understand how important it is to be efficient with our dollars. The monitoring of that is really critical as well.”
Though some of the plans lack specificity, Cesario said each school and plan is unique. He asked board members to communicate their questions so the school principals can provide additional information.
“I want to emphasize the fact each school is different,” he said. “They’re not identical. So, there should be some commonality with that. So, if you’re asking for more specificity in some of them, if you tell us specifically which schools, that might be helpful.”
Fabian said she is willing to approve the principles of the plans’ goals, but would prefer to stop short of approving a specific effort if there is not enough money to pay for all of it. She is also insistent on parent or community participation.
“I can approve those goals, but how do I separate that from them asking, ‘To get there I need this much money,’” Fabian said. “I’m okay approving the goals, but the administration has to understand they may not get everything that’s requested. We would make adjustments to that goal.”
Andrews said if there are not sufficient funds to pay for everything in the plan, administrators will make evidence-based decisions on what to include and what to cut as they proceed through the budget process.
“They’ll figure out what is the better return on investment,” Andrews said.
