Focus.

Every successful business and organization has it.

District 130 also has focus. Over the past two years, the district has been focused on backfilling a series of significant gaps in the system. Technology upgrades, equalizing educational resources across the district, building strong leadership capacity, developing better communications tools, restructuring Kerr Middle School, selecting a K-8 reading series, and giving teachers state of the art tools for assessing student learning are just some of the results of this effort.

But it is like filling potholes in the road. You have to do it. You have to build up that foundation.

With that foundation largely established, we can now focus on what matters even more. While we have seen some quick gains during this time, we can now focus on our ultimate destination--Aggressively increasing the achievement of all students across the district.

This year’s success will be built upon that solid foundation we have built over the past two years. Our focus this year will be on:

• Improving students’ literacy skills through the implementation of a new reading series—a critical piece of our overall system of reading instruction.
• Creating a Curriculum Development model so that every curricular area is in a continuous cycle of development, implementation, review, and improvement.
• Implementing daily Physical Education across the district. Students learn better when they are physically fit and practice good nutrition.
• Bilingual Education and the Arts will continue to be strengthened and expanded to nurture the whole child and to respect our great cultural diversity.
• The Alternative Learning Center at Greenbriar School will be revamped into a model school that rethinks how children learn and that understands their unique needs.

This year promises to be even more exciting than the previous two years! I give you my personal guarantee that School District 130 is a school district that is all about the children. We are unwavering in our commitment to the girls and boys of School District 130. Please join us in this wonderful journey!

Sincerely,

Raymond A. Lauk, Ph.D.
Superintendent
rlauk@district130.org