• Junior Diana Temelkova, the photo editor for South’s yearbook Vespa, whose entry earned her third place in the Sports Reaction Photo of the Year category during the finals of the National Scholastic Press Association's annual national competition.
• The speech team, which beat out 31 other teams to take first place in the D211 Varsity Turkey Tournament held in Hoffman Estates.
• Madeline Nelson and Jamie Klepacz, two Voice of Democracy students whose audio essays about what makes America great earned them top awards from a pair of local VFWs and qualified them to compete in the larger competition being hosted by District 19 in January.
• The 15 students who represented South at the West Suburban Conference Leadership Conference in November.
• The students from the school's production of "Fiddler on Roof" who have been nominated for the Illinois High School Musical Theatre Awards.
• The students who were honored as the second group of Breakfast Club winners for the 2019-20 school year. Every quarter, teachers nominate students for this award based on "the intangible gifts they bring to the building and classrooms" at South.
• The eight members of the freshman and sophomore non-calculator team who took first place in their event during the recent West Suburban Math League #3 meet, and the math team as a whole, which took second place in the event.

• The 12 young men and women who were named Student of the Quarter by the school's various departments based on their leadership, kindness and skills as role models.
• Samara Jaquez, who is one of 45 students whose work has been selected by the Illinois Art Education Association for inclusion in an art show that will be traveling to locations throughout the state.
• Members of the swimming and diving team who performed well at the state tournament, including: Roslyn Tischke, who took 11th place in diving; Anna Gruvberger, Lauren Biegel, Lainey Quinones and Lindsey Theoharous, who took eighth place in the 200 Free Relay and 400 Free Relay; Kendall Pickering, who took fourth place in 100 Back Stroke; and Kendall Pickering, Carrie Kramer, Anna Gruvberger and Lainey Quinones, who took fourth place in the Medley Relay.

• Recruit, hire and retain highly-qualified applicants

1. Percent of staff returning to the district annually
2. Number of applicants identified by demographics for recruitment efforts each semester
3. Percent of staff holding multiple content areas of state certifications each semester
4. Number of staff holding National Board Certification each semester

• Staff satisfaction

1. Percentage of staff participating in the 5Essentials survey on an annual basis
2. Composite Essentials survey results on an annual basis for satisfaction with Effective Leaders
3. Composite 5Essentials survey results on an annual basis for satisfaction with Collaborative Teachers

• Opportunities for staff voice

1. Staff ratings on the Yale Climate Walkthrough Tool each semester
2. Teacher professional development evaluations
3. Team effectiveness survey results
4. Exit interviews

• Strategy 7 (Staff Engagement)

1. What has been done - survey results from staff events (open enrollment and Wellness Fair/flu shots); recruited team members for the Culture and Equity Leadership Team (CELT)
2. Next steps - first CELT team meeting in February; plan next steps; continue to collect staff satisfaction data

• Strategy 8 (Staff Voice, Growth and Progress Monitoring)

1. What has been done - surveys; work with user groups (Superintendent's Roundtable, non-union staff and labor/management meetings); longevity bonuses for non-union staff who complete professional development
2. Next steps - continue meeting with user groups; planning next steps; track/report staff satisfaction and employee evaluation data

• Constant Contact – Average open rate and average number of clicks for First Look, Board Briefs and Updates from 86

• Facebook – Lifetime post reach (number of people who had a post enter their screen), lifetime post impressions (number of times a post entered a person's screen) and lifetime engaged users (number of unique people who engaged in certain ways with a post – e.g., commenting on, liking, sharing or clicking)

• Twitter – Visits (number of times users visited your profile page), impressions (number of times users saw a tweet on Twitter) and engagements (total number of times a user interacts with a tweet)

• Introducing new or changing/updating existing communication tools or resources; creating new norms for communication regarding frequency and content

• Beginning to shift the amount of time spent on positive/proactive communication versus reactive communication

• Researching communication strategies and resources that are being effectively used by other school districts; exploring how they might improve/enhance how we communicate in District 86

• Assessing/analyzing the baseline data we collect to determine if modifications need to be made to the way we communicate with key internal and external stakeholders (e.g., day and time update emails are sent, amount of content included in our messages, greater use of images or visuals in social media posts, etc.) 

• Beginning to develop short- and long-term action plans for strategies 10 and 11; identifying ways to get building staff involved in the work on both strategies

• During the Flexible Learning Day on Jan. 29, the teachers will study the research of Alex Bowers and Ken O’Connor in conjunction with the work they are doing on grading and assessment practices. The ultimate goal of this work is to create a standard grading and reporting philosophy for the district.

• In November, both principals were part of a team from the district that visited Huntley High School to see its blended learning program in action. Dave Lapetino, who is the district's instructional innovation coordinator, will provide the board with an update about blended learning in D86 at a future meeting.

• The assistant principals for curriculum and instruction and the department chairs for math will be meeting during the week of Dec. 15 to begin discussing the process of aligning the district's math courses and to determine the makeup of the team that will lead the work starting after winter break.

• The teachers who are on the curriculum writing team for physics have completed drafts of half their learning units for next year. It is with this work in mind that we want to share with the community that Physics in the Universe is the name we are using internally to describe the course. Most of the content that will be taught to our students is the same as a traditional physics course. In addition, physics is the course name that will appear on student transcripts.

• The science team is scheduled to meet again on Jan. 14 and 15. During these two days, the members of the team will work with the chairs from the math department to ensure there is alignment between physics and Algebra 1. They will also review and discuss the feedback the district received from students and community members regarding science electives that fall outside of the PCB sequence. The board will receive an update on Jan. 23 about the topics the team discussed and the work it completed during its meeting.

• Bid Package 1 (Track Surfaces) was awarded to Track Surfaces Company in an amount not to exceed $302,000, and the contact was assigned to Pepper Construction. The district placed a legal ad in the Pioneer Doings on Oct. 31, 2019, and received a response/submission from one contractor.

• Bid Package 2 (Tennis Courts) and alternate two (saw cut joints at tennis courts) was awarded to U.S. Tennis Court Construction Company in an amount not to exceed $168,800, and the contract was assigned to Pepper Construction. The district placed a legal ad in the Pioneer Doings on Oct. 31, 2019, and received a response/submission from one contractor.

• Bid Package 3 (Roofing) was awarded to F&G Roofing Company LLC in an amount not to exceed $3,448,000, and the contract was assigned to Pepper Construction. The district placed a legal ad in the Pioneer Doings on Oct. 31, 2019, and received responses/submissions from eight contractors. F&G Roofing Company LLC was the lowest bidder.

• Bid Package 4 (Air Handling Unit Replacement) was awarded to Mechanical Concepts of Illinois, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $324,000, and the contract was assigned to Pepper Construction. The district placed a legal ad in the Pioneer Doings on Oct. 31, 2019, and received responses/submissions from eight contractors. Mechanical Concepts of Illinois, Inc. was the lowest bidder.

• Complete some of the projects that are more expansive and directly impact services to students (e.g., renovations to the cafeteria) in time for the start of school
• Offset delays we may encounter due to issues such as inclement weather
• Provide our students and staff with access to a safe environment that is best suited for learning – e.g., less noise, dust and dirt from construction; fewer restrictions on the spaces that are available for use; etc.