Parental Involvement: A Huge Factor in a Child's Education

Many research studies have concluded that the single most important factor in a child's educational success is parental involvement (click here for a State of Michigan publication summarizing some of these findings). You read that right. It's not socio-economic status, per pupil expenditures, or access to technology. It's good old-fashioned parental involvement. It's parents taking the primary responsibility for their child's education (after all, the first and most important authority in a child's education rests with his or her parents) . It's parents setting high standards and ensuring their children work to achieve them. It's parents reading to their children and helping them with homework. It's parents asking questions about what their child is learning in school, what textbooks they are using, and what standards they are being held to. It's parents getting involved with their child's classroom, school and school district. It's parents holding the school board and administration accountable to spend the community's tax dollars in the most efficient manner to provide the best educational opportunities possible with those tax dollars.

If you are already involved, great! If you are not yet involved, why not? You could and should have a huge impact on your child's educational success.

Gifted Education

Each year our administrators and school board members are invited to attend a joint conference of the Illinois Association of School Boards, Illinois Association of School Administrators, and Illinois Association of School Business Officials. The conference is in Chicago in November. At the conference, various seminars are offered on issues of interest to administrators, school board members and business officials. One of the seminars I attended last year was focused on educational opportunities for gifted children. The presenters shared a number of techniques which school districts can employ to help gifted children at little to no cost to the school district (our District already employs some of these techniques). They also recommended reading a study funded by the John Templeton Foundation regarding the basis for and effects of these techniques. The study consists of two thought-provoking volumes (click here for volume 1)(click here for volume 2). If you have any interest in gifted education, it may be worth your while to read the study. You may also be interested in perusing the website of the Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration at the University of Iowa.

School Board Nominating Petitions Available

If anyone is interested in serving on the Minooka CCSD 201 school board, nominating petitions are now available for the April 5, 2011 election. Click here to be taken to the District information release regarding the nominating petitions.

Link to Agenda for September 22, 2010 Board Meeting

Click here to be taken to the agendas for the Committee of the Whole Meeting, Budget Hearing, and regular Board Meeting taking place this Wednesday, September 22, 2010. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Committee of the Whole Meeting will be followed by the Budget Hearing and then the regular Board Meeting. Please take the time to attend.

Link to Financial Projections

Click here for a link to financial projections which Mr. Gegenheimer presented to the Finance Committee on April 15, 2010 and are updated to reflect the deficit reduction measures that were taken or are being implemented. One thing it does not reflect, however, is a loss of approximately $700,000 of state aid for the 2010-2011 fiscal year (which the board learned about last month). Click here for a link to the Finance Committee page on the district's website. The meetings of the Finance Committee are open to the public, and everyone is welcome to attend.

Link to Proposed 2010-2011 Budget

Click here to be taken to the Minooka CCSD 201 proposed budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. And, for comparison, click here to be taken to the Minooka CCSD 201 budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

Welcome to a New School Year!

Parents, taxpayers and employees of Minooka Community Consolidated School District 201,

Welcome to a brand new school year! This is your school district. I would like to encourage you to attend our school board meetings and provide your input to the school board. Our school board meetings for the remainder of the school year are as follows:

September 22, 2010
October 27, 2010
November 17, 2010
December 15, 2010
January 26, 2010
February 23, 2010
March 16, 2010
April 27, 2010
May 25, 2010

School board meetings are now held at the Minooka Primary Center at 305 Church St., Minooka, IL 60447. A "Committee of the Whole" meeting takes place at 6:00 p.m. before the regular school board meeting in the Minooka School District Office board room (the old library). At 7:00 p.m., the school board moves to the gymnasium for the public recognition portion the meeting. After the public recognition portion of the meeting, the school board moves back to the board room (the old library) for the remainder of the meeting. Both the Committee of the Whole meeting and the regular school board meeting are open to the public.

At our very next meeting (on September 22nd), the school board will be discussing and voting on the budget for the 2010-2011 school year. Approving a budget is one of the most important responsibilities of the school board.

Again, I encourage you to attend (especially the business portions of the meetings) and provide your input. (You will need to fill out and submit this form at the beginning of the meeting to request to address the school board.) The decisions made by the school board affect every parent, child, taxpayer and employee in the district.