Committee's District 197 Redesign Report Offers 'Evolutionary,' Not 'Revolutionary' Process

More online learning, additional opportunities for college credit and switching to cloud computing are just a few of the redesign opportunities put forward this month by a report for the .

The final report from the 43-person was presented to the school board Tuesday night.

The committee was designed last summer to research ways to both reduce the cost of education in the district and improve the quality of learning for students.

Three categories—personalized learning, expanding the educational portfolio, reducing costs and increasing revenue—resulted in 17 different recommendations within those categories for the board to consider.  

Evaluating building efficiency, preparing to share administrators with other districts and dedicating two staff positions to implement project-based and “blended” (online/classroom hybrid) learning in more schools are included in the recommendations.

The role of technology was prominent in many of the categories as both a way to reduce costs and create more flexibility and personalization for students.

Board chair and SRAC member Mark Spurr said the goal is not only to save the district money, but to get “more bang for the buck.”

Despite that, some of the recommendations were short on concrete numbers. Presenters said it was difficult to monetize some of the changes in the district that could be rolled out in the next three years.

Anecdotally, the report says programs such as college credit courses and aligning “learning pathways” could generate revenue by attracting more students to the district, which creates per-pupil revenue from the state. The district enrolls about 60 percent of school-age children in the district.

Project-based learning, blended learning and post-secondary offerings are already available to various degrees in the district, and the recommendations encourage their expansion to attract students while improving education.

By operating at 90 percent capacity, an additional 290 students, the district could increase revenue by about $725,000, according to the report.

More Time, Less Disruption

New school board member Joanne Mansur said the report has the potential to lead to bold change in the district. The stakeholder process and an extended timeline allowed by passage of a $3.5 million levy last November may ease in more dramatic changes such as those that were by the community last year.

 “(The process) creates buy-in from the community. It will be bold in a timely and well thought-out manner,” said Mansur.

 For example, the report recommends a redesign of the high school schedule, a proposition vehemently opposed by some parents last spring. However, a committee process already underway will lead that move with a target date of 2013-2014 for implementation.

“It buys us the time to truly research these things and come out with what will be sustainable changes that will have a lasting impact on the district going forward,” said board member Dewayne Dill, who initially proposed a redesign committee.

Dill said he would rather abandon “catastrophic” changes in favor of “these very obvious evolutions.”

Dill cited the use of online learning as a possible way to eventually free up space in the district, and potentially reduce the number of buildings.

 “Some of these difficult choices (will) become more obvious because the community has really helped lead us to those decisions, as opposed to us forcing them upon the community,” said Dill.

See the attached pdf for the full SRAC final report.