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Spotlight on Jefferson Early Childhood Center
Jefferson Early Childhood Center Principal Lisa Halverson gave the Board and community a look at the school and how it has transformed since its renovation. In addition to the facility upgrades, the school became known as Jefferson Early Childhood Center this year to make sure the community and future families understood that Jefferson is the home of our earliest learners in District 64.
Ms. Halverson highlighted some improvement projects: safety, functionality and aesthetics. You can view her presentation to the Board here.
“These building improvements help to support why we’re all here, which is educating our youngest learners,” said Ms. Halverson. “The Jefferson motto is to ‘play - learn - grow,’ and I share that with you this evening because a preschooler's job is to engage in play and their learning involves play.”
This was Ms. Halverson’s final presentation to the Board, as she is set to retire this summer.
The entire D64 Board wished Ms. Halverson a great retirement and thanked her for her service to the community. “It’s been our honor to have you here,” said Board member Larry Ryles.
“I remember dropping my daughter off there [at Jefferson]. I was crying because I didn’t want to let her go and she just said ‘bye, Mom’. You looked at me, and you said, ‘It’s okay. You know you’ve done a good job when they’re free and independent and ready to go,’” recalled Board Secretary Phyllis Lubinski to Ms. Halverson. “I’m so proud to be a part of this District and to have you and I wish you luck in your retirement.”
Update on Superintendent Search Process
Board Vice President Carol Sales gave an update on the superintendent search process.
The Board and the newly elected members met five times over the past two weeks to interview candidates.
BWP, the search firm running the search, received 24 applications and then narrowed that down to six candidates. The Board interviewed all six and then picked three candidates to move forward to the final round of interviews. Those three candidates were interviewed by the seven current Board members, along with the three newly elected Board members and administrators and principals.
“Last night, the 10 people reached a unanimous consensus on one individual,” said Sales. “There’s a commitment by the seven Board members to follow through with that consensus, and the contract is being reviewed by our attorneys.”
The Board is planning a special meeting on May 3rd to approve the new superintendent's contract.
Approval of Chromebook Purchase for 1:1 Digital Learning Program for 2023-24
Motion approved
Each year the District plans and budgets to purchase devices for students based on refresh cycles to
support the 1:1 Digital Learning Program. With new technology and improvements being made on existing models of devices, an ongoing review of the efficacy of devices is conducted each year.
You can view the entire Board recap here.
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