Tuesday, December 8, 2009

District 201 Superintendent Search

At the November 11, 2009 School Board meeting, The Morton High School District 201 Board of Education announced that interim superintendent Larry Senters will review resumes submitted for the Superintendent position which has been vacant for 20 months. Mr. Senters will interview superintendent candidates and make a recommendation. Mr. Senters is currently reviewing internal applications. If Mr. Senters decides there are no qualified candidates among the internal candidates, then the board will involve a search firm. There was no discussion or mention about the board involving the Illinois State Board of Education in the superintendent search or validating the candidate qualifications with the ISBE. The hiring of a superintendent is, perhaps, the most important responsibility of a local school board. 20 months is a long time for a district of our size to be without a leader. Berwyn CARES is hopeful that a qualified candidate with excellent skills and experience will be found to help our district realize the stated vision.

"J. Sterling Morton High School District 201 educates all students to meet or exceed the standards of learning by providing educational experiences that challenge, engage, and empower them to be productive members of the global community."

Monday, December 7, 2009

Thank You

Below is a letter of gratitude from a Berwyn teacher whose Donors Choose proposal was funded in part because of the generosity of Berwyn CARES members. Click here to read about other Berwyn projects that need funding.

Dear Donors:

I'm writing to express how happy and grateful I am for your generous donation. ...I would like to share with you what you have done for my students. A lot of my students are struggling readers who need to be exposed to literature. My students are motivated to read, but they have limited exposure to genres such as science fiction, fantasy, and graphic novels to name a few. ... The students in my school and community are becoming more and more interested in these genres. Because of this growing interest, I decided to ask for specific books that would match the interests of my students as well as meet their various cognitive, and social emotional needs.

Because of your donation, my students are excited to read again. They are excited to read books they normally wouldn't choose. My boys are thrilled to read The Olympian series by Rick Riordan and my girls are ecstatic to read the series books by author Sharon G. Flake. My students really enjoy the classroom library and have completely made it their own by sharing the responsibility of cleaning it, organizing the books, and sharing them.

Most importantly, I want to thank you for helping my students feel appreciated and noticed. A lot of them couldn't believe that someone like you would help
them grow as readers.
Your donation has proven to them that reading is powerful and that genres such as science fiction should not be forgotten. You have given them hope and motivation to become independent readers and thinkers, and you have helped me to continue instilling the power of reading. For all of this I thank you.

With gratitude,Ms. H.