The primary goal of a Community Engagement initiative is to gather comprehensive information from local constituents (parents, students, business owners, residents, and staff members) to inform the Board of Education and school district leadership about the many voices of people in all roles within the communities the District serves. This information and input will be used by the Board of Education and District administration to prepare a Strategic Plan document declaring and clarifying the District’s direction, priorities, and outcomes for the coming five years.

A part of the process is to conduct community-wide engagement sessions. Open to anyone in the community, these large public meetings will be held numerous times during the community engagement initiative and would enable input surrounding the assets, liabilities, and challenges facing District 211. These meetings will provide an opportunity for a two-way exchange of information and feature a presentation and work sessions focused on results and collective suggestions as a group. Community-wide engagement sessions will be conducted in an efficient manner and facilitated by trained committee members. Information obtained at each session will be documented, and used to create an executive summary to be presented to the Board of Education at the end of the Community Engagement sessions.

High School District 211 utilized a trained facilitator to conduct several focus groups to gather input from a variety of constituent groups representative of the community.  A total of 14 listening sessions, including well over 200 participants, were conducted in late January 2016.  Participants included a wide variety of individuals that make up the school community including citizens at large, municipal officials, parents, students, business owners, members of the District 211 staff, and several groups representative of the resident immigrant population.

D211 Focus Group Summary

• Monday, February 1, 2016
  Fremd High School
  1000 S. Quentin Road, Palatine
  – Agenda (en Español)
  – Presentation: State of the District (Daniel Cates, Superintendent)
  – Small Group Work Activity (en Español)
  – Small Group Work Activity Verbatim Responses
  – Small Group Work Activity Executive Summary
  – I have a question — Responses
  
  

• Tuesday, February 2, 2016
  Schaumburg High School
  1000 W. Schaumburg Road, Schaumburg
  – Agenda (en Español)
  – Presentation: State of the District (Daniel Cates, Superintendent)
  – Small Group Work Activity (en Español)
  – Small Group Work Activity Verbatim Response
  – Small Group Work Activity Executive Summary
  – I have a question — Responses
  
  

• Monday, March 14, 2016
  Palatine High School
  1111 N. Rohlwing Road, Palatine
  – Agenda (Español)
  – Presentation: Academic Programming (Lisa Small, Associate Superintendent for Instruction)
  – Small Group Work Activity (Español)
  – Small Group Work Activity Verbatim Response
  – Small Group Work Activity Executive Summary
  – I have a question — Responses
  
  

• Tuesday, March 15, 2016
  Conant High School
  700 E. Cougar Trail, Hoffman Estates
  – Agenda (Español)
  – Presentation: Academic Programming (Lisa Small, Associate Superintendent for Instruction)
  – Small Group Work Activity (Español)
  – Small Group Work Activity Verbatim Response
  – Small Group Work Activity Executive Summary
  – I have a question — Responses
  
  

• Monday, April 4, 2016
  Hoffman Estates High School
  1100 W. Higgins Road, Hoffman Estates
  – Agenda (Español)
  – Presentation: Student Involvement & Wellness (Daniel Cates, Superintendent; and
  Lisa Small, Associate Superintendent for Instruction)
  – Small Group Work Activity (Español)
  – Small Group Work Activity Verbatim Response
  – Small Group Work Activity Executive Summary
  – I have a question — Responses
  
  

• Tuesday, April 5, 2016
  Palatine High School
  1111 N. Rohlwing Road, Palatine
  – Agenda (Español)
  – Presentation: Student Involvement & Wellness (Daniel Cates, Superintendent; and
  Lisa Small, Associate Superintendent for Instruction)
  – Small Group Work Activity (Español)
  – Small Group Work Activity Verbatim Response
  – Small Group Work Activity Executive Summary
  – I have a question — Responses
  
  

• Monday, May 2, 2016
  Conant High School
  700 E. Cougar Trail, Hoffman Estates
  – Agenda (Español)
  – Presentation: Finances & Facilities (Daniel Cates, Superintendent;
            Lauren Hummel, Chief Operating Officer; and Barbara Peterson, Controller & Treasurer)
  – Small Group Work Activity (Español)
  – Small Group Work Activity Verbatim Response
  – Small Group Work Activity Executive Summary
  – I have a question — Responses
  
  

• Tuesday, May 3, 2016
  Fremd High School
  1000 S. Quentin Road, Palatine
  – Agenda (Español)
  – Presentation: Finances & Facilities (Daniel Cates, Superintendent;
            Lauren Hummel, Chief Operating Officer; and Barbara Peterson, Controller & Treasurer)
  – Small Group Work Activity (Español)
  – Small Group Work Activity Verbatim Response
  – Small Group Work Activity Executive Summary
  – I have a question — Responses
  
  

• CES 4 Chapter 1 — Tax Levy Information
  CES 4 Chapter 2 — Understanding My Property Tax Bill
  CES 4 Chapter 3 — Financial Reserves

Phone Survey — A sample size of 500 random phone surveys of community members were completed by Unicom•ARC (phone numbers used were from voter registration listings).  The phone survey began on May 6, 2016, and 500 phone surveys were completed on May 18, 2016.
Online Survey — An online survey was posted to District and school websites from May 19, 2016 through May 31, 2016.

– Survey Summary (phone and online)

– Community Engagement Summary
– Presentation: The 211 of Tomorrow (Peter Carlson and Linda Reedy, Facilitating Team Co-Chairs)
– The 211 of Tomorrow Community Engagement Program Reports