On Thursday, Oct. 20, the second meeting of the month for the District 158 Board of Education occurred. The meeting has started off with runners from the Marlowe Middle School Cross Country team leading the Pledge of Allegiance. 

After this, the board recognized Marlowe’s four cross country runners that qualified for the ISEA State Championship. Then announced cross country runner Haley Rahman placing third overall at state against 233 other runners. She ran for about 12 minutes to take the spot she earned at state.

Members of the board then went over everything about the College and Careers Readiness SchooLinks. It is a source replacing Naviance that was used for the past few years as a platform for College and Careers.

This has helped all students from all over District 158 experience an easier way of finding information about understanding the education colleges have to give people the right learning tools on finding the career clear to do. 

“The reason why we got rid of Naviance is because it got really complex and difficult for our students to use,” College and Careers Readiness director Mike Kennedy said.

SchooLinks immediately came up with a solution of creating a One Stop Shop to not require students to keep searching the whole website for colleges and careers. 

“SchooLinks is very easy for students to use, its fun, its eye-catching, its appealing, it just works out really really well,” Kennedy said.

Naviance did not necessarily take the criteria of making its platform engaging for students with the way information on colleges and careers was set up. 

Now the board has transitioned into revealing the results of the Fall 2022 Culture and Climate Staff Survey. This was meant for staff to share their opinions on what feedback needs to be given on the organization of how the climate is here with safety, collaboration, connections, and support to make this the best experience possible for all students.

As well as their thoughts on how organized the culture for learning is for students all over District 158 with the factors of utilizing social and emotional learning, respecting all student’s needs, and coming up with a plan of an everyday routine.

“As compared to previous years, this school year began with a high degree of positivity among our school community among staff,” superintendent Scott Rowe said.

This is a promise that must be kept by all staff to ensure a positively engaging environment for all students to enjoy learning. 

This meeting started to come to a close with any final words or conclusions of what this meeting was all about.

There was a mixed variety of topics at this board meeting from Marlowe Cross Country going to state to revealing a staff survey to the climate and culture of the school.