November 22, 2023

At the Nov. 21 Barrington 220 Board of Education meeting, the Board heard an update from district leaders about Barrington 220's annual report card, which is assembled by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). The report card reflects data from the 2022-23 school year in areas of student achievement, growth, attendance, indicators of college and career readiness, as well as school climate and culture. During the 2022-23 school year, Barrington 220 students performed better than more than 90% of students across the state.

Illinois has five summative designations for schools: Exemplary, Commendable, Targeted, Comprehensive, and Intensive. All Barrington 220 schools received either exemplary or commendable status, and it is important to note that the schools that received commendable designations are very close to earning exemplary.

One area of focus for the district is improving student attendance, which weighs heavily on a school's summative designation status. Chronic absenteeism has increased in Barrington 220 and across the state since the pandemic. In addition, the district is focusing on how it can accelerate growth for all students through rigorous academic opportunities. Click here to listen to the presentation.

At the Nov. 21 Board meeting, the Board heard an update on the new GEM (Grow, Excel, Magnify) Program at Barrington High School. The program, which is only open to seniors this school year, allows students to expand their learning through flexible, project-based learning options and field experiences during the school day. Schedules are customized to each student, allowing them to mix GEM experiences with traditional classes. The district plans to expand the program by offering it to juniors and seniors next school year.

This school year one student from each Barrington 220 school is making a special appearance at a Board of Education meeting to share an update about all of the great things happening at their school. At the Nov. 21 Board meeting, the Board welcomed Everly Alexander, a 5th-grade student at Roslyn Road Elementary. Everly is a student in the district's Spanish Dual Language Program. She is looking forward to an upcoming field trip to the Challenger Learning Center, as well as the district's 5th grade track meet in the spring! Click here to listen to Everly's report.

At the Nov. 21 Board meeting, the Board continued its discussion about possibilities for new fine, visual, and performing arts spaces at Barrington High School. The design work for these new spaces was an identified project within the $147 million dollar referendum that Barrington area voters approved in 2020. The cost to build these new spaces was not included in the referendum.

The Board is planning to form a referendum advisory committee in order to gain feedback from the community about projects that should be included in a potential referendum question during the 2024-25 school year. The committee will meet during the second half of this school year.

Lines travels to DC to accept Blue Ribbon Award

In his Superintendent's Report at the Nov. 21 Board meeting, Dr. Winkelman shared that he recently traveled to Washington, DC to attend the 40th Annual National Blue Ribbon Award Ceremony on behalf of Arnett C. Lines Elementary School. Dr. Winkelman was accompanied by Lines Principal, Dr. Ken Hyllberg, as well as Lines STEM Teacher, Sarah Dowdy. Lines is one of only 20 (16 public) schools across Illinois and 353 (313 public) schools nationwide to be honored with a 2023 Blue Ribbon Award. Lines also earned the Blue Ribbon Award in 1994 and 2008.

During his Superintendent's Report at the Nov. 21 Board meeting, Dr. Winkelman recognized 28 BHS students who have been named 2024 National Merit Commended students. These students received a letter of commendation based on their scores on the PSAT test taken in their junior year. Commended students are among the top 50,000 scorers of more than 1.5 million students from across the country who took the test.

Congrats to the following seniors: Daniel Abraham, Asad Ali, Simran Bansal, Calder Brienen, James Brown, Joshua Chen, Mya Chhadia, Jasmine Clark, Vidhit Dureja, Hannah Fors, Ameya Gourisetty, Jerome Graessle, Kaitlyn Jos’Land, Zain Malik, Andrew Manczak, Benjamin O’Connell, Daniel Pashkow, Sarah Pinto, John Proctor, Sahana Ramesh, Emma Richmond, Tyler Thymian, Maxim Uvarov, John Ward, Adrian Wu, Ruijia Yang, Valerie Yeung, and Maya Zahir.

Take the D220 external communications survey!

In his Superintendent's Report at the Nov. 21 Board meeting, Dr. Winkelman shared that Barrington 220 is currently conducting an external communications survey as part of the district's work on its strategic plan, Framework 220. If you are a Barrington 220 parent/guardian, student, or community member who does not have children in the district please click here to take the 3-minute survey!

At the Nov. 21 Board meeting, the Board approved revisions to the school calendar that will provide staff members with more opportunities to review student data, plan instruction, and engage in professional development. Beginning with the 2024-25 school year, there will be four early release days for students throughout the school year. One of the early release days will coincide with spring parent/teacher conferences. The early release days for the 2024-25 school year will fall on Aug. 30, Sept. 27, March 20, and April 17. Below are the hours for an early release at all levels:

• Elementary Day: 8-10:45am
• Middle School Day: 8:52-11:37am
• High School Day: 8:30-11:15am

At the Nov. 21 Board meeting, the Board heard a presentation about the tentative 2023 tax levy, which is the first step in the process to establish a final levy of property taxes to support the district in 2024. Barrington 220 collects property taxes from Kane, Lake, Cook, and McHenry Counties, and property taxes account for approximately 80% of the district's annual operating revenues. If approved, the district expects to receive an overall levy increase of 5.5% compared to last year, however, it is requesting a 6.3% increase in the event new construction is larger than expected. This is inclusive of capped funds and debt service obligations. Based on projections, the total expected tax revenue to be collected in 2024 is $158,062,300. The next step in the tax levy approval process is a public hearing set for the Dec. 5 Board meeting. The Board is anticipated to approve the final tax levy on Dec. 19.

As part of the tentative levy, the Board will not issue Debt Service Extension Base (DSEB) this year. This will save local taxpayers approximately $2.5 million. Click here to listen to the presentation.

At the Nov. 21 Board meeting, the Board approved the district's 2022-2023 audit report, which was completed by Lauterbach & Amen, LLP. The district is happy to share that it has received another clean audit, and was commended for accuracy and efficiency throughout the audit process. Click here to view Barrington 220’s 2022-23 Annual Financial Report.

At the Nov. 21 Board meeting, the Board approved bids for a few of the district's capital improvement projects that will be completed this summer. The projects include repairing and replacing parts of the roof at BHS, as well as pavement rejuvenation that will extend the life of the asphalt in school parking lots. Every summer the district allocates approximately $3 million in its operating budget for school building improvements.

At the Nov. 21 Board meeting, the Board approved a two-year contract renewal with Barrington Transportation Company (BTC), which operates all Barrington 220 school buses. The district's current contract with BTC ends this summer. The rate for the 2024-25 school year will increase by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) + 2%, with a ceiling of 5%. The rate for the 2025-26 school year will increase by the 2024 CPI + 1.5%, with a ceiling of 5%. This rate increase is favorable compared to other school districts in the area, some of which are seeing increases as high as 10-26%. The increase in costs is driven by a shortage of school bus drivers, increasing fuel prices, and limited competition among bus companies.