The District 158 Session, held at Huntley High School on March 10, wraps up the end of this year’s community engagement sessions.

The sole purpose of Destination 158 is to set the direction for our school by engaging the citizens of our community.

Continuing off of the last few sessions, such as the meetings held on Jan. 21 and Feb. 18, social and emotional learning as well as the preparation for students’ futures was further discussed at last night’s meeting.

Small groups formed by the involved citizens of our community completed tasks regarding two critical questions: “If you were to share the Destination 158 plan with a neighbor, what are the top three things you would tell them?”, and, “Are there any changes you would recommend to improve the goals and priorities that were presented tonight?”

Most small groups agreed that championing each student’s goals, personal growth, and development are significant areas which should be focused on. Parents reviewed the past six sessions with one another, gathering all of the significant information that they learned from the community-led engagement program.

“The two pieces that we really took away were social and emotional learning, and that’s been a recurring theme,” a parent of a District 158 student, Rich Bobby said. “As we gain success, the skills that many are looking for, whether you’re an employer or a co-worker of someone who graduates through this district, is that you have basic skills like teamwork and how to work with other people. Most people want to know this, whether they have kids that go here or not.”

Superintendent Scott Rowe also announced his understanding of the concerns that come from the citizens in the community regarding goal setting.

“We will achieve these goals. Each year, we’ll set annual baby-step measures of what we are going to do towards achieving each of those indicators. They should build upon each other annually,” Rowe said.

These ideas presented by the community will be presented to the school board on June 4 to begin the implementations of our district’s future plans. Our participants cannot wait to help prepare a community of learners.