Building on
District 112’s Success.

Over the past eight years, District 112 implemented nearly a dozen new curriculum resources aligned to state and national standards, invested in instructional coaching, and listened to our teachers to learn what they need. We are beginning to see the results. This year, District 112 students ranked in the 91st percentile in Math and the 84th percentile in English in state-wide testing. Two of our schools have earned the prestigious National Blue Ribbon award – given to only four or five Illinois schools annually. Three of our schools were designated as “Exemplary” by the State of Illinois, the most in District history.

To address achievement gaps, we implemented targeted support for students in the lowest performing quartile, resulting in 65% and 50% improvement in that group’s Math and English performance, respectively, over the past five years.

The hard decisions to close Lincoln and Elm Place schools created more than $5 million in annual savings that allowed District 112 to self-fund renovation of Northwood and Edgewood Middle Schools. Every student now spends three years in one of those fully modernized buildings!

Building on this success, we won an historic 72% approval for a bond referendum to fund renovation of our elementary schools and District-wide security upgrades. Indian Trail was completed in November – on time and on budget – with two more schools under construction and two in planning and design. We also added security upgrades to all District facilities.

Renovated buildings support our educational mission. Air conditioning, indoor air quality, modern lighting, and other features make our buildings better places for teachers to teach and for students to learn. Modernized buildings also reduce maintenance costs and extend the life of electronic equipment and other building systems.   

District 112’s financial trajectory has completely turned around. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, District 112 had to cut programs to balance its budgets. In 2016, cash reserves were projected to be exhausted by 2020.

As a new Board in 2017, we made the difficult decisions to close Lincoln and Elm Place schools, reducing annual operating costs by more than $5 million. We restructured purchasing contracts ranging from landscape and transportation services to photocopiers and telephone systems. We carefully reviewed staffing and (humanely) reduced positions where appropriate.

Today, our budgets are balanced, our fund balances are strong, and our resources are refocused on educational excellence. As renovations approach completion in two to three years, we will expect to consider abatements to reduce the burden on taxpayers.

In my first meeting as a new board member, we committed to setting a positive and professional “tone at the top.” This was crucial as we searched for a new Superintendent. And we were successful – eight months later, we signed our top choice, Dr. Michael Lubelfeld.

Today, District 112 is again a “Destination District” where the best educators choose to spend their careers. In an ongoing educator shortage, this is invaluable. We support our people, invest in them, and create opportunities for them to learn and grow. Everything we do depends on having the right people to do it.

We are building a data-driven and evidence-based culture of continuous improvement. Our teaching teams continuously use academic assessments to plan upcoming lessons and differentiate instruction. At a leadership level, we regularly survey satisfaction and engagement of our students, staff, and parents, then use that data to learn and improve.

District 112 faces a critical leadership transition as Superintendent Lubelfeld prepares to retire in 2025-26. The School Board is deeply engaged in planning for this change. It is much more than a change to one position; it requires a thoughtful, multi-year re-balancing of our entire leadership team.

Board continuity is vital to a successful process. As a veteran board member, I understand the strengths of our different team members. I have insights into how they match up with the evolving needs of our organization. I know our leadership “bench”, can anticipate future changes, and help ensure that we create advancement opportunities and develop our next generation of leaders.

While our student achievement and quality of education have improved significantly, we must continue advancing on multiple fronts:

• challenging every student with rigorous curriculum suited to their individual strengths and needs;
• reinforcing our progress toward data-driven and evidence-based instruction and instructional supports;
• promoting student voice, choice, and agency;
• completing the transition of special education programs to a single continuum of support at newly remodeled Ravinia School;
• preparing students for emerging technologies like artificial intelligence;
• looking beyond academic metrics to support each child to achieve their unique, personalized best version of themselves.

District 112 is about half-way through nearly a quarter-billion dollars of facilities renovations. Phase One, completed in 2022, included renovation of Northwood and Edgewood Middle Schools and comprehensive life-cycle maintenance at Oak Terrace School.

Phase Two is well underway. Indian Trail was completed in November. Ravinia is scheduled to be completed this Summer. Sherwood will break ground in February. Braeside is in design, and Wayne Thomas is in planning.

Phase Three will address Red Oak School and long-term locations for the District administrative offices, operations, and maintenance, which are now in rented facilities. Phase Three is in early discussions.

The Facilities Committee (of which I am a member) meets regularly with the District’s architects and construction managers to review progress and planning, evaluate the many issues that arise in projects of this complexity, and prepare recommendations for the full Board. We also are working on cool stuff like first-in-the-State geothermal heating systems for several of our schools!

The Dual Language program has been a crown jewel of District 112 for almost thirty years. As a Board member, I am unequivocally committed to maintaining a strong Dual Language program.

The program matches Spanish-speaking English Learner students (ELs) in a 50/50 ratio with English-speaking students that want to learn Spanish. It has a strong record of success. Our data shows that our ELs in the Dual Language program show greater academic growth than peers who are not in the program.

The number of Spanish-speaking ELs living in District 112 has been declining for many years, limiting the size of the Dual Language program. If the trend continues, it will become increasingly difficult to keep the program active at both Red Oak and Oak Terrace. At the same time, there may be opportunities to strengthen the program by consolidating our resources in a single building.

The School Board has retained a consultant to help us evaluate the program, including the pros and cons of potential consolidation. We expect to receive her report this Spring. As a Board member, I am keeping an open mind to her recommendations, including potential changes to the program, so long as they protect the needs of all of our students. 

I am proud to have been personally involved with creating the capstone service-learning travel experience to the Dominican Republic, and helping to raise the funds to make it accessible to our low income students. The trip is offered to all eighth-graders but specially targeted to our Dual Language students.