School Report Cards from the 2010-2011 year are now official, and districts throughout the state are examining their scores. Unfortunately on the state level, performance on the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE), the test given to all high school juniors, has dropped 2.5 points from the previous year. Community High School District 117 in northern Lake County, however, is bucking this state trend and has seen substantial growth.  While the district is still working to achieve all of its goals, it is another step closer to realizing its vision of becoming a preeminent educational environment in Lake County, promoting excellence through an unwavering commitment to its core values and to the needs of our stakeholders.

Both Antioch and Lakes High Schools saw their scores in all subgroup categories statistically improve. The growth from last year’s PSAE scores ranges from 3.72% to a tremendous 26.1% increase. The percentage of students meeting and exceeding state standards in reading went from 56.2% to 63.4% for a 12.8% improvement. In math the percentage meeting and exceeding jumped a tremendous 15.96%, growing from 57% to 66.1%. Not surprisingly ACT scores have improved as well.

District data from ACT demonstrates that student growth greatly exceeds national averages. Normal growth from the PLAN exam given to sophomores to the ACT given to juniors is about 2.4 points, while District 117 averaged an increase of 3.2 points for students in the district that took both exams. This represents a 33% greater growth than students throughout the rest of the country achieved. The district’s students, staff, and community share equal credit for these successes.

“We are extremely proud of the growth our students have demonstrated on the high stakes test, but we are more excited about how we are achieving these improvements,” stated Co-superintendent Mike Nekritz.

He added, “Our students understand the importance of learning and succeeding in school while our faculty has been committed to developing curriculum and instruction that are better preparing students for success beyond high school.”

In addition to these improvements in test scores, the district has experienced an enormous increase in students taking rigorous coursework, fewer discipline referrals, higher attendance rates, and consistently high participation rates in clubs and activities. The number of philanthropic endeavors occurring in both buildings is also impressive. “As a school leader and community member, I could not be prouder of our community’s role in shaping our young people,” Nekritz concluded.

Educators from the surrounding school districts joined District 117 teachers on Oct. 7 for a day-long program of sessions geared towards “Keeping High Expectations In A Changing World.” Districts 24, 33, 34, and 36 joined Antioch and Lakes teachers for the workshop, which was held at Lakes High School.

More than 525 high school, middle school, and grade school teachers attended their choice of six presentations from the available list of more than 100 which were prepared for those in attendance. Sessions covered topics in one of five categories: instructional strategies, special education and interventions, assessment and goals, technology, and common core standards.

Most attendees were treated to an inspirational keynote presentation by Manuel Scott, whose personal story was told in the 2007 movie Freedom Writers, starring Hllary Swank and Patrick Dempsey. Scott now travels the world giving motivational talks and inspiring people to succeed.

At 5:30 am on September 30, 2011, well over 1,000 spirited ACHS and LCHS students made their NBC debut at a pep rally held at the Lakes gymnasium. The Antioch-Lakes football game had been announced as the game of week by a community vote. Despite being smaller schools, the District 117 rivalry prevailed earning a live broadcast early Friday morning. This event demonstrated to the Chicago land area much more than a great athletic rivalry and school spirit. Our students shared the stage/spotlight and displayed tremendous respect for one another, while having a great time. The ‘house’ truly rocked. As the NBC crew was leaving, the technician went out of his way to let us know how wonderful the event had been. He commented on our display of nationalism citing both schools singing of our National Anthem, the record number of students participating in the Prep Destination rally, and the positive demonstration of our collective school spirit.

While the Chicago land area witnessed our passion for our schools, they could not see how proud we are of all our students for demonstrating class and respect. Antioch, Lake Villa, and Lindenhurst should be proud of our high school students. We certainly are!

Three individuals and one group in the District 117 community have been recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education’s Those Who Excel Program.

Lakes High School math teacher Scott Leverentz received the Award of Excellence in the Classroom Teacher category, teacher assistant Diane Scott earned the Award of Meritorious Service in the Educational Service Personnel category, and former school board member Tracy McGrath earned the Award of Recognition for the School Board/Community Volunteer category. The Antioch High School Differentiation Team received the Award of Excellence in the Team category.

District 117 administrators nominated the candidates for the awards last spring. These recipients will be recognized during the Those Who Excel Banquet in Normal, Ill. on Saturday, Oct. 22.

Adults in the community now will have the opportunity to sign up for various recreational and educational classes following a recent partnership between District 117 and the Antioch and Lindenhurst park districts. Parent University includes offerings in sewing, healthy cooking, retirement/college planning and more. Many of the classes will be taught by District 117 faculty members at Lakes and Antioch high schools.

Each class meets four times for an hour and a half on Tuesdays beginning Sept. 20. The cost is $40 per class. Childcare is also available for $3 per child.

The idea for Parent University came about after an interest survey conducted by the Lindenhurst Park District indicated that adults in the community were looking for more educational/recreational opportunities.

“Parent University is a great way for our community to model for students that education is fun and a life-long process,” said Superintendent Mike Nekritz. “Hopefully this new program will be successful and we can offer many more opportunities to our communities moving forward.”

For more information or to register, contact the Lindenhurst Park District at 847/356-6011.

Over the course of this past year, our area experienced the wrath of Mother Nature with extreme snow, rain, wind, and heat. While we cannot change the weather, we can improve our ability to deal with difficult situations with better communication. This is the goal of District 117’s Text Message Alerts.  By subscribing to District 117’s Text Message Alerts, students and parents can receive text messages in the event of school closings or other emergencies. By providing a cell phone number and the name of the wireless provider, district administrators can send these alerts directly to subscribers. The system proved successful this past year, and we hope to increase the number of families taking advantage of the program.

The system uses email to send text to wireless. Aside from a confirmation text message, no routine messages will be sent via the alert system, only urgent communications dealing with school closings or emergencies. Bulletins will also be posted on district websites, as in the past.

Click here to sign up to receive District 117 Text Message Alerts. Subscriptions will last the entire year.

Community High School District #117 is transitioning from our academic year to our summer schedule. Our summer elective courses begin June 6, 2011 while the Freshmen Academy starts June 14, 2011. Students earning credits through our recovery program or enrolled in the Geometry Bridge course will begin on June 13, 2011. Classes will be held at Lakes Community High School.

Summer hours for our high schools and district office will last from June 6, 2011- August 2, 2011 and will be as follows:

Monday-Thursday 7:30 AM – 4:00 PM

Friday offices will be closed.

Good luck to all of our recent graduates from the Class of 2011. Graduation ceremonies at both Antioch and Lakes high schools celebrated the wonderful individual and collective accomplishments of the nearly 650 students of Community High School District #117 on May 23, 2011.   The graduates received words of advice and encouragement from selected faculty members Marni Polakow, Scott Leverentz, and Cathy Ingram. The ceremony was emceed by Amber Dalgaard and Paul DeJong at ACHS and Jessica Quinn and Michael Beckman LCHS. These students were voted outstanding senior girl and boy at their respective schools. We wish all the graduates success and happiness. We are very proud of all of you!

Only seven percent of the approximately 27,000 public high schools in the nation make the Washington Post / Newsweek 2011 High School Challenge: America’s Best High Schools listing — and this year LCHS is one of them. LCHS is number 1,839 on the list of 1,910; the school qualified for the list because of the high number of AP tests students take in comparison to the number of graduates. According to the Washington Post, “While not a measure of the overall quality of the school, the rating can reveal the level of a high school’s commitment to preparing average students for college.”
Illinois schools comprise 4.5 percent of the list, with 86 Illinois schools making the cut. LCHS is number 81 on that list, according to the Chicago Area Directors of Curriculum and Instruction.
“After years of making a college level experience and AP participation a priority for our students, it is wonderful to be recognized for the outcome of the efforts of our faculty and students,” said Principal Steve Plank. “Lakes Community High School and District 117 have much to be proud of.

Antioch Community High School has met the same criteria for this prestigious award for the 2010-11 school year, so we should see both high schools recognized next year.

In mid-March Community High School District 117 received national recognition from The College Board for its growth in participation and performance on its Advanced Placement program. As one of twenty-seven Illinois school districts to receive this prestigious academic award, we are proud of the collective efforts of our students, staff, and community for accomplishing one of our established goals. Not resting on these accomplishments, however, this year the district will have 438 students taking 790 exams throughout the month of May. Next year we will further grow our programs by offering an additional AP course, Advanced Placement Language and Composition. This college-level class will be open to juniors for English credit.  As many of you know, Advanced Placement courses are our capstone courses that are equivalent to college rigor and offer students the opportunity to earn university credit.

Our successes, however, have not been limited to our AP program but have been realized in all areas throughout the district. We truly feel we are beginning to realize our vision of being “a preeminent educational environment in Lake County, realizing excellence through an unwavering commitment to its core values and meeting the needs of our stakeholders.” Please visit our websites (www.sequoits.com and www.lakeseagles.com) for more information about all things District 117.

All of these successes have come on the heels of budget reductions over the past two years. We have asked our students and staff to do more with less during these financially challenging times, and they have responded with incredible results. Unfortunately, we are now entering our third, and hopefully last, year of substantial cost cutting measures. Although our financial resources are decreasing, we are confident that we can continue to realize our goals and achieve excellence.

As unfortunate as programmatic cuts are, it is important to emphasize that we have tried to exhaust all other options before making these difficult cuts. In an effort to meet our current financial challenges, we have involved a large variety of stakeholders, who have critically examined every line item of our budget, renegotiated vendor contracts to get the best possible agreements, conducted community forums at both high schools asking for input, and reduced some costly outsourced services. Next year, for example, we will provide a district-wide transition program for some of our special education students. Previously, we had sent these students to a more costly program outside the district. We have also written and been awarded multiple competitive grants in several areas including technology, energy, building safety, student assistance/drug testing programs, curricular redesign/instruction, and more. We still await the news on several of these competitive grants. Our local Regional Office of Education has recognized our efforts and the quality of our school improvement plans, providing additional funding for professional development of District 117 employees. With the support and assistance of our state representative, we have even helped draft legislation that attempts to create more equity with school funding. Our school board, which is also active in addressing funding disparities, has proposed a resolution to the Illinois Association of School Boards that also addresses equity in school funding.

It is important to recognize that our association has been a strong partner in our financial talks and budgeting process. They have been helpful in realizing substantial savings. This has come in the form of voluntary salary freezes, voluntary stipend freezes dating back to the summer of 2010, and other important concessions. We would have been forced to make additional programmatic cuts without this team approach to creating a budget and financial plan for next year and the years to come.

We understand that virtually all members of our community have themselves experienced some sort of financial difficulty over the past few years or know a loved one who has struggled. While we need to make some cuts to our budget, we are fortunate to still offer a tremendous amount of extra-curricular programs and an incredibly robust curriculum to our deserving students. Please know we are grateful for your ongoing support of our students and staff of District 117. We will realize our vision regardless of the uncertainties of the world around us. Our students and community are too deserving to provide anything less.