New Initiatives for 2008 -2009

     There will be two major focuses for the 2008-2009 school year. These focuses are improving our instruction of Reading and Writing across all departments and increasing our effectiveness in responding to the needs of students who may be showing signs of academic failure. Federal legislation, specifically the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the reauthorization of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), have clearly emphasized the urgency to make sure that all of our students meet standards in their skills in reading, writing, and math. In addition, that legislation outlines the need to respond to student needs in a more collaborative manner where all educators work together as a professional community to create intervention services. This response is outlined in IDEA and is called Response to Intervention (RtI). The end goal of the legislation is clearly noble and aligns to our mission of “[promoting and providing] growth experiences in learning, leadership, and living.” In order to make progress towards accomplishing this goal, in-depth staff development and an opportunity for teams of educators to meet regularly are required. Our current school calendar and school day does not allow for the entire faculty to meet on a regular basis to address these needs. To address this, a proposal for weekly late starts for the 2008-2009 school year was presented to the Board of Education in March and was subsequently approved at the April 22nd board meeting.

     Each Monday, beginning August 25th, will be a late start day with 1st hour beginning at 10:01 a.m. and 8th hour ending at the regularly scheduled 2:58 p.m. time. As a school we will be strictly utilizing this time to do several things: provide staff development to improve our instructional practices within each classroom; create a school community where each professional educator contributes to the instruction of reading and writing; and to continue the implementation of current school wide initiatives. In addition, time will be allocated to have teachers meet in teams for the purpose of aligning curriculum and assessments, identifying students who are in danger of failing, implementing student specific interventions, and gathering data to monitor the student’s progress as required in RtI. Elementary and middle schools have typically been farther ahead than high schools in the implementation of RTI due to time built into their schedules for teachers to meet frequently in teams. Our weekly late starts will provide us with the critical time for teachers at the high school to meet as a professional learning team to discuss and address student and curricular needs. While we have decreased the number of contact hours with students, the benefit gained is more effective instruction in the classroom that leads to greater student achievement. Community High School will still be in compliance with Illinois School Code requirements since our regular school day exceeds the number of minutes required.

     Also new for the 2008-2009 school year is a program for our incoming Freshman students called WeGo in with Pride. As a faculty, we understand that the first day of the first year in a large high school may be overwhelming and intimidating. It is important that Freshman students get off on the right foot and transition into Community High School as quickly and successfully as possible. WeGo in with Pride is a special day created just for Freshman on the first day of school. While Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors will be dismissed at 10:30a.m., Freshman will stay the entire school day and follow a unique schedule. They will be introduced to Community High School in a way that helps them find their way around the building, understand the expectations of school rules and policies, learn some skills to thrive in the high school, be introduced to the many opportunities for athletics and activities, and be welcomed as the newest members to the Wildcat family. Students will meet coaches, activity sponsors, deans, counselors and teachers, and listen to a motivational speaker, Eddie Slowikowski, in a non-threatening environment. Eddie Slowikowski is a 5 time NCAA All American in track, a gold medal winner in international competition, and a 1992 Olympic contender. You can find out more about him at http://www.making-it-happen.net/eddie/index.html. Through WeGo in with Pride we want to encourage each student to become more connected to the school community by being involved in at least one sport or activity. Research has indicated that students who are involved in school are more likely to be successful in their classes throughout high school. Freshman students will end their day of WeGo in with Pride with a social event with Creative DJ’s in Commons to create an opportunity to meet each other and establish new connections before going home. It is our hope that each class of students who walks into Community High School would know that we care about them as individuals and want to help them succeed. Making the first day of Freshman year as positive as possible is an important piece to an overall successful 4 year career at CHS. WeGo in with Pride was created to do just that.

     The faculty and staff at Community High School District 94 are committed to making your son/daughter’s education as successful as possible. I am excited about the wonderful opportunities that these new initiatives will bring in 2008-2009 and believe they will help us in accomplishing the goal of educating all students. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me via phone at 630.876.6300 or via email at mcheng@d94.org.

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Sincerely,
Moses Cheng, Ed.D.
Principal