Peoria Standard

The Peru Elementary School District 124 Board of Education met Oct. 12 to hold a strategic planning work session.

Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the board:

Open Session Minutes – October 12, 2016 Page 1

CALL TO ORDER

A special meeting of the Board of Education of Peru Elementary School District 124, LaSalle County,

Illinois, was called to order in the Library at Parkside School, 1800 Church Street, Peru, IL, by Board

President Jim Renk, on Wednesday, October 12, 2016, at 6:00 p.m.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

President Renk led the Board and audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

ROLL CALL

PRESENT: Members Rob Ankiewicz, Simon Kampwerth, C.G. Pillai, Jeff Sheppard, Vice President

Mark Lamboley and President Jim Renk. ABSENT: Cindy Gustat.

APPROVAL OF SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA

MOTION: Moved by Member Sheppard, seconded by Member Kampwerth, to approve the special

meeting agenda of October 12, 2016. ROLL CALL, VOTING AYE: Sheppard, Kampwerth, Pillai,

Lamboley, Renk, and Ankiewicz. ABSENT: Gustat. NAYS: None. The motion carried 6-0.

PUBLIC COMMENT, CORRESPONDENCE, AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

There were no public comments, correspondence, or announcements.

BOARD STRATEGIC PLANNING WORK SESSION

Mr. Cross opened the work session by asking the Board what they hoped to accomplish through the

strategic planning process. As part of this discussion, the Board reviewed the previous two strategic plans

for the district. Mr. Cross also shared the approach some other districts have used successfully. After

some discussion, it was agreed that the Board would like to keep he plan relatively simple and focused,

and would also like to get input from school district stakeholders to help guide the plan and process.

The Board discussed and identified some of the current strengths and weaknesses of the district, and

agreed that surveying various stakeholders would be helpful in this process. This includes teachers,

parents, perhaps community members and even students. It was also suggested and discussed that getting

feedback from current high school students who attended Peru schools could be very helpful. The Board

directed Mr. Cross to begin the process of developing some draft surveys for this purpose to review and

discuss at a future meeting. It was also agreed that targeting current high school freshman and/or juniors

would be helpful.

Mr. Cross also suggested that the Board consider gaining some of this feedback in the form of focus

groups. As an example, he stated the community survey participation is usually very low, so it might be

helpful to instead hold some meetings with a representative sample and simply have a back and forth

discussion with these individuals to get input into the plan. Similarly, he said the administration was

prepared to dedicate time with the teachers on the October 21 school improvement day for this purpose.

Mr. Cross would facilitate this discussion with the staff and the Board agreed this could be a helpful to

get feedback and help form the district’s future direction.

The Board agreed to continue with more discussion related to strategic planning at the October 19, 2016

regular meeting.

MINUTES

SPECIAL BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING

PERU ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT 124

OCTOBER 12, 2016, 6:00 PM

Open Session Minutes – October 12, 2016 Page 2

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION: Moved by Vice President Lamboley, seconded by Member Sheppard, to adjourn at 7:48 p.m.

Aye 6, Nay 0. The motion carried 6-0.

____________________________ ______________________________

Jim Renk, Board President Kim Vezzetti, Board Secretary