April 2024 Board Meeting Recap
Fremont School District 79
Regular Board Meeting
Gabriela Whipple, Board President, remarked on the recent solar eclipse on April 8, thanking teachers and staff for the opportunity to make it a great learning experience for our students. The most recent edition of our Fremont Digest newsletter was mailed out earlier this month, focusing on our planning efforts for our facilities and enrollment growth, as well as financial updates. Students and families at the elementary and intermediate schools were thanked for their participation in the annual Kids Heart Challenge, which resulted in over $33,000 being raised for the American Heart Association.
Dr. Trisha Kocanda, Superintendent of Schools, highlighted the most recent "Soup with the Supt." engagement session, which was hosted along with middle school principal Dr. Emily Loerakker prior to the PTO meeting on April 17. A topic of discussion was the new early release schedule. Parents were thanked for accommodating this change to increase staff professional learning. The District hosted an administrator academy April 12 on the topic of artificial intelligence. The information learned from this session will be used to further inform District practices and guidelines. The District had four individuals selected as award recipients at the upcoming May 8 Lake County Educator of the Year Awards. This year's recipients are:
Juliana Hood (Early Career Educator)
Kelsey Crowley (Diverse Learner)
Denise Mazzocchi (Middle School Educator)
Beth Wax (Student Support Personnel
Board of Education Recognition
This month's recognition featured two groups. The first recognition was for the Fremont Middle School eighth-graders who participated in the school's musical all three years, along with their director, Stacey Begg. The next recognition honored members of the District's Business Office for earning the Meritorious Budget Award for a 14th consecutive year, as well as various other duties to ensure fiscal responsibility across the District.
Presentations
Dr. Brian Bullis, Assistant Superintendent of Learning, and Krista Winkelman, Executive Director of Student Services, provided an update on the District's recent efforts related to math, literacy, career technical education, world language, and social emotional learning. Math updates were highlighted with successful resource implementations, improvements made to the course recommendation guidelines, increases in projected Algebra completion rates, and gains made by females in math. Literacy updates were highlighted with an overview of the current two-year resource and curriculum review committee, including professional learning and a successful kindergarten phonics pilot.
Informational Items
Educational Long-Range Facility Plan
The District's Steering Committee met virtually on March 21 to establish priorities and guiding principles to aid in decision-making and evaluation of various scenarios. The community survey that was open from April 8-22 will help the committee learn the community's priorities for our facilities and preferred financial and operational advocacy for the anticipated enrollment growth. The next Steering Committee meeting will be held April 29 and will focus on aligning the newly established guiding principles with future facility needs.
The Consent Agenda and Following Action Items Were Approved:
2024-25 Board of Education Meeting Dates, Times and Place Schedule
Agreement with ECRA Group, Inc.
Agreement with Common Goal Systems, Inc.
Intergovernmental Agreement with Emmons SD33
Disposal of School District Personal Property
FY25 Consolidated District Plan
Director of Transportation Contract
To view the Board Packet materials from the April 22, 2024 Meeting, click here.
Fremont School District 79
Address: 28855 North Fremont Center Road, Mundelein, IL
Phone: (847) 566-0169
Website: fsd79.org
Twitter: @FSD79
Instagram: @FSD79
YouTube: youtube.com/FSD79