Collaborative Community Partnerships

Building a community

Public education is the cornerstone of a healthy, vibrant community. But in order to be truely successful, school districts must also leverage all available resources from within the community, from local corporate business partnerships to shared resources with human service agencies. U-46 schools do this today. Local manufacturers advise CTE classrooms. Local social service agencies provide teacher and student training sessions. Faith-based organizations and local entreprenuers provide afterschool programs. I would like to see U-46 leverage as many outside resources as possible for the benefit of our students. I am committed to being active and involved in community engagement. 

Citizens’ Advisory Council
Committe and Leader

I have been an active member of the Citizens’ Advisory Council (www.u46cac.org) for School District U-46 for the last 7 years. Five of those years, I co-chaired the Special Education Committee. During that time, we brought many innovative programs to parents, including the Special Needs Parent Resource Fair. This Fair, which we ran for 5 years, brought service agencies from three counties – DuPage, Cook and Kane – together under one roof so that parents had easy access to find services for their special-needs children. We built relationships with over 50 area service agencies and their representatives.

In 2013 my co-chair and I, along with our Committee, were named Volonteers of the Year by School District U-46.

I have chaired the Council for the last two years, helping to facilitate work on the most recent boundary change in U-46, community outreach including our successful Realtor Breakfasts, parent engagement in curriculum matters, and targeted informational programs for special education topics.

Alignment Collaborative For Education Operating Board Member

In 2016, I was invited to join the Operating Board of the Alignment Collaborative for Education (http://www.align4edu.org) in Elgin. ACE seeks to algin community resources for the benefit of all students in the district. As part of the ACE Operating Board team, I managed the volunteer effort behind the Explore 2016: Curriculum and Career Expo which showcased high school curriculum and area colleges. Local business also showcased their careers, providing students with hands on demonstrations. 

For a look at what ACE does, please visit this article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/news/ct-ecn-u46-align-resources-st-0626-20160624-story.html.