District 64 is inviting all community members to join a conversation about local schools in a new style of online forum from May 9 through June 5.
“We are inviting community members to let us know what they think we are doing well in our schools and the District and where we can improve,” according to Superintendent Laurie Heinz.
“We also want to hear their thoughts on the key areas of focus found within our 2020 Vision Strategic Plan as the first school year guided by the plan comes to a close,” she noted.
District 64 selected an innovative new format, called Thoughtexchange, to engage the community in a unique conversation. “We describe it as an online town hall meeting,” Dr. Heinz said. “We think parents, staff and community members will find it easy to use and very convenient,” she noted.
Postcard invitations with a direct link to the District 64 Thoughtexchange are being mailed to all local residents. The link also may be accessed via the District 64 website. Current parents and staff were already emailed direct invitations to participate in a conversation at their schools.
The forum has three steps. “First, participants have an opportunity to share their thoughts on three open-ended questions,” Dr. Heinz noted. This step will be open through May 22.
“The second step -- called star -- is where participants review ideas and add stars to weight the ideas they find most important to them,” she added.
“They will see a sampling of ideas from other participants that they can react to, along with their own ideas if they participated in the share step. This exposes everyone to a range of thoughts and opinions, just as they would during an in person town hall meeting,” Dr. Heinz noted. This step will close on June 5.
“The final step occurs this summer, when the results are reviewed and we discover what the community values and cares about the most and what specific topics may be emerging within the community,” she added.
Survey results also will be included as measures within the District’s 2020 Vision Strategic Plan scorecard.