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Dear Barrington 220 Community,
In the education world, May is always one of the best times of the year because there is so much to celebrate. From our elementary students making the grade-level transition to middle school, to our high school seniors who will walk across the stage at graduation this evening, I am so proud of all the accomplishments of our students and staff.
If you’re a parent sending your child off this morning for their last day of school, or if you’re a staff member walking into your school building, before you start your summer I hope you can take some time to reflect on all the growth you have witnessed between the very first day of school in August and today.
As a school district, we have achieved so much in the past several months through the work being done as part of our strategic plan, Framework 220.
We implemented a fully integrated pre-K through 12+ social emotional learning program called CharacterStrong. This marks the first time we have a pre-K through 12+ program, which enables a unified approach across the district to support student and staff belonging, well-being, and engagement. Click here to watch a video where our students reflect on how CharacterStrong lessons have helped them this school year.
After many years of discussion in the community, we also successfully launched free full-day kindergarten at all eight of our elementary schools, which extends core instruction (math, science, literacy, etc.) throughout the school day. We also launched our innovative Kindergarten Lab Program at BHS.
In addition, we created a Social Media Awareness & Digital Citizenship Advisory Committee, which worked throughout the year to identify and implement a district-wide process to support healthy, informed digital citizenship among students. As we shared at a recent Board of Education meeting, new guidelines will be implemented next year, and we will be sharing much more information about this before the first day of school.
One of the most exciting things to happen this year that will have a significant impact on our district for years to come was the community’s support of a $64 million referendum. This summer, new flooring will be installed at Arnett C. Lines Elementary, which will mark the first construction project to get underway as part of our Transform 220 initiative. At this time next year, I anticipate we will be breaking ground on several exciting projects, including the new community auditorium at BHS, as well as the renovation of our middle school science classrooms and BHS fine arts classrooms!
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for making Barrington 220 #ThePlaceToB this school year! Stay tuned as we reveal our district-wide theme for 2025-26 in August. I hope you have a wonderful summer and find time to relax and enjoy the warm summer days and nights ahead with family and friends!
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