BUILDING LEADERSHIP FOUNDATIONS: D99 ADMIN PREP FOR NEW SCHOOL YEAR WITH DEVELOPMENT TRAINING AT WEST40

On Friday, July 31, Cicero District 99 principals, assistant principals, department heads and executive directors from Cicero District 99 gathered at regional education agency West40’s Maywood headquarters for a day filled with brainstorming, collaboration and leadership team prep work in anticipation of the first day of school in just a few short weeks.

At the District’s Principal/Senior Leadership Team (SLT) Retreat, Superintendent Dr. Aldo Calderin, Directors of Teaching and learning Joanna Lago and Dr. Ben Zulauf, and recently-retired longtime principal Donata Heppner spearheaded discussions and advisory opportunities with D99 administrators. 

Core focus points of the retreat included allowing administrators to strengthen alignment between the District Improvement Plan (DIP) and all School Improvement Plans (SIP); refining instructional planning and instructional delivery methods; reviewing Professional Learning Team (PLT) and classroom walkthrough tools; and preparing leaders for a successful, fresh start to the new academic year.

Calderin says that over the past few years, the District has made it a top priority to identify the various ways in which school leaders could work toward improving instructional leadership in order to boost improvement in student outcomes.

“At the retreat, we came together to lay the foundation of how our work with staff will focus on planning during PLTs,” Calderin said. “We have laid the foundation for our administrative leaders to best lead in order to ensure our students improve their outcomes. Our District Improvement Plan is clear and two-fold — planning and instructional delivery. The goal is to ensure we are strengthening both to help our students learn.”

Zulauf says he hopes administrators from across District 99 were able to see the retreat as a valuable opportunity for establishing clear building priorities, school year agendas and next steps for guiding staff this upcoming year. 

“I would hope that administrators walked away from the retreat feeling more confident in their ability to describe the District 99 planning process and how using that process to guide instructional discussions sounds,” he said. “I also hope that they were able to plan their summer SLT day.”