District 100 Vision Statement by Bob Pauly

To those of you interested in improving our schools, and ultimately our community, I would like to extend an invitation.

First, some background: In December 2008, Dr. Stan Fields, superintendent of Berwyn South School District 100, formed a committee called "DACEE" - District Advisory Committee for Educational Excellence. This committee consists of board members, District 100 staff and teachers, community members and parents. I am a member of the DACEE committee.

The first order of business for DACEE was to develop a vision statement for the district. A vision statement outlines what an organization wants to be. It defines the desired or intended future state of an organization in terms of its fundamental objective and/or strategic direction.

The vision statement for District 100, as proposed by DACEE, is as follows:
"Berwyn South School District 100 will rank within the top 25% of schools in the State of Illinois, as evidenced by state testing."

At present, our district ranks at the 67th percentile, meaning that 67% of Illinois elementary and high schools rank higher than District 100 in terms of testing. This ranking, relative to DACEE's vision for the district, presents a big challenge for our community. On Wednesday night at Piper School, Dr. Fields will present this vision statement to the school board for approval. I plan on attending this meeting to offer support to Dr. Fields and the vision statement. I invite you to do the same - northsiders and southsiders alike - whether you are a parent like me, or someone who is just interested in building a better Berwyn. The school board meeting begins at 7:00 pm, and Piper School is located at 2435 Kenilworth Avenue. I hope to see you there.