Volunteer Appreciation Week

The Board of Education honored its three volunteer partnerships - the Parent Teacher Organization, Learning Fund Foundation, and the D103 Music Boosters. PTO President Rebecca Young, LFF President Jing Ma and Music Boosters President Hazel Weaver represented volunteers from those organizations at the Board meeting. They were honored with flowers from BOE President Anne van Gerven.

Of their commitment to D103 schools, Superintendent Scott Warren, said, “This week is Volunteer Appreciation Week in our Illinois School Districts. Tonight, we recognize our District 103 parent organizations, The PTO, Learning Fund Foundation, and Music Boosters, who work countless hours supporting our staff, student and parent community. Our three organizations combined provide a multitude of educational events for students and staff, which occur during the school day, evenings, and weekends. Additionally, they sponsor field trips, sponsor musical performances, provide supplies and equipment, provide scholarships, volunteer in and out of classrooms, and raise needed funds that support our teachers, district and families. We cherish our partnerships and want to recognize the leadership of our three volunteer organizations that help make District 103 Leaders in Learning!”

Classified and Administrator Contract Approvals

The Board of Education approved salary increases for classified and administrative staff for the 2021-2022 school year.

Staffing

The Board approved the staffing plan for the 2021-2022 school year. The plan consists of the current positions, some recommended changes, and the proposed staffing for next year. Staffing is based on the assumption that District 103 will have 100 percent of students returning in the fall for in-person learning. The recommended plan strikes a balance of providing appropriate class sizes for core and CAPE classes while ensuring our special education caseloads have sufficient support.

D103 Learning Update

1. Graduation:

• SHS approved Daniel Wright’s use of its stadium for graduation. The ceremony will be held in-person for students and attendees. Principal Michelle Blackley is researching how many people can attend the outdoor event.

• In case of rain, the eighth-grade ceremony will be held in the SHS Performing Arts Center. The ceremony will have students in attendance and broadcast virtually for attendees.

• Graduation is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 2

2. Quarantining Close Contacts:

• If the COVID-19 positive individual is within 6 feet of others for 15 minutes per 24 hours, masked or unmasked, quarantining must occur for all individuals exposed

• Class spacing is 3-6 feet distancing at D103

• D103 quarantines a pod where necessary if an individual in the pod tests positive for COVID-19

3. Metrics: Lake County has a positivity rate of 4.3 percent. The incidence rate is 9.4 in D103 zip codes and 12.5 in Lake County. In Lake County there have been reported COVID-19 outbreaks in schools. An outbreak is defined as five people or more testing positive for COVID-19 in the same location.The health department is seeing more sports related outbreaks. While District 103 has experienced some COVID-19 cases inside its schools, there have not been five people or more who tested positive in a single school.

ELC Update

D103 is looking at the structure of ELC and shifting to a usage model instead of basing the cost to each district on the number of students with special education needs for each district. This draft change to the overall budget would have D103 paying 5 percent for services down from 20 percent in prior years, which would bring the district’s costs for next year to an estimated $450,000. Additional work needs to be completed to finalize the cost structure with the ELC.

Bus Leasing

The board reviewed a consideration to lease another bus for the 2021-2022 school year to help facilitate transportation.

Budget Projections

Patrick Palbicke, Assistant Superintendent for Business, provided an overview of the preliminary budget projections for the 2021-2022 school year. Mr. Palbicke will continue to refine the budget document to include approximate costs for salary and benefits, operation costs, transportation, and other expenses before a tentative budget is brought back for review to the board in another month.

Board Meeting Schedule

The 2021-2022 Board Meeting Schedule was approved by the Board of Education. The schedule adheres to the similar current meeting schedule with the avoidance of meetings on religious and other days off of school.

The next regular Board meeting will occur on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. The notice and agenda can be found on the District 103 Board meeting webpage.

D103 PTO's virtual 5K run/walk event is now open for registration.

In order to keep our community safe and continue to raise funds for our school district, the D103 PTO will host its first ever (hopefully only) ​Run for D103 VIRTUAL 5K Run/Walk. Please visit the Run for D103 website to learn more about the event and register.

The D103 PTO Executive Board appreciates all of our volunteers! We also like to acknowledge that one special person who has gone above and beyond the call of duty. If you know of a deserving person you would like to nominate for the 2020-2021 D103 PTO Scott S. Guziec Volunteer of the Year Award, please fill out the Google nomination form. Nominations are due by May 1.

Each year, the PTO recognizes a volunteer who exemplifies the commitment of Dawn Anderson to District 103. Dawn generously volunteered for District 103, the D103 PTO and in our community. We now award a volunteer that demonstrates that commitment.

Requirements for Nomination: The nominee must be someone whose youngest child is an eighth-grade student so that this volunteer will be "graduating" from District 103. The volunteer should be someone who has committed his or her time over several years to our District, including volunteering for the PTO.

Maybe this is a visible volunteer who has led many PTO events or a quiet contributor who we could always count on to fill in when needed. Like Dawn, this volunteer should have an infectious volunteer spirit. The deadline for submission is April 30. Please fill out the Google nomination form to recognize a volunteer.

The D103 Learning Fund Foundation financially supports many programs in D103, including the library at Laura B. Sprague School. Their news fundraiser, the Legacy Brick Fundraiser, allows families to make a donation to support D103 schools and have their name engraved on a brick laid in a walkway at Daniel Wright. Watch Stripes and Principal Ann Hofmeier show how this fundraiser benefits Sprague students.

The Village of Lincolnshire is holding a Wine, Dine, & Win campaign during the month of April to do our part to help Lincolnshire restaurants. Check out the restaurants and how to win a $50 gift car on the Village of Lincolnshire website.

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