Inside the Classroom: How Community Creates Excellence at Bell Graham

Inside Our Schools: The Eye-Opening Insights from Community Members who Served on the D303 Facilities Committee

This school year, we’ve taken you inside our schools and classrooms across D303. In this episode, we talk with three members of the D303 Communitywide Education Facilities Committee about what they learned as they went inside our schools and classrooms as one part of the 5-month Committee process, which culminated in a Final Report to the School Board, with findings that support a communitywide investment in 16 projects with a total estimated cost of $295.6 million. The School Board is now discussing whether to place a referendum on an upcoming ballot to ask voters to approve bond funding for a communitywide facilities investment–something that hasn’t happened in D303 in more than two decades. The Committee Members we talk to in this episode are: - Joe Donaldson–the parent of 2 D303 students and the treasurer of the St. Charles Education Foundation -Ruth Kuzmanic–a D303 resident whose children are grown and who joined the Committee as a concerned and involved community member. And… -Linda Steinberg–the parent of a St. Charles East High School graduate and a current East student. All of the details of the Committee meetings and the School Board’s discussions are available here [https://district.d303.org/facilities-committee].

Inside the Classroom: Visiting Classrooms and Student Spaces at Wild Rose & North HS

This school year, the Voices of D303 Podcast is taking you inside our schools and classrooms, to hear from our staff about how we’re advancing our mission of…Together, Building Pathways to Excellence.  In this episode (which also includes video of the full conversations [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk9T1CZUjCg]), we visit several classrooms and student spaces at Wild Rose Elementary School and North High School. These are two of the schools that members of the D303 Communitywide Education Facilities Committee [https://district.d303.org/facilities-committee] visited as part of their work in prioritizing potential facilities investments for the Committee’s report to the D303 School Board in April. All of the details of the Committee meetings and discussions are available here [https://district.d303.org/facilities-committee].

Inside the Classroom at Thompson Middle School: Teaming & MS Transition

This school year, the Voices of D303 Podcast is taking you inside our classrooms, to hear from our educators about their work in advancing the D303 mission of: Together, Building Pathways to Excellence. In this episode, we navigated the teeming Thompson Middle School hallways. There we talked with 8th grade teacher Sandy Ishaq’s and Principal Matt Clark about the critical middle school years and the importance of the "teaming" model. Learn how Thompson educators work together to support and provide students with individualized attention while also fostering independent learning and growth skills, along with the challenges posed by Thompson’s exceptionally large (nearly 1400-student) enrollment.

Supporting Student Attendance: “Guiding Students from Avoidance to Achievement” Parent-Empowerment Series with Dr. Megan Schmitz

As part of D303’s Student Attendance Campaign [https://app.smore.com/n/v9txq-attendance-campaign] this year, the district hosted a parent-education and empowerment series with contextual-behavioral psychologist Dr. Megan Schmitz of Vital Living Wellness Solutions. In this special episode of the Voices of D303 Podcast, we talk with Dr. Schmitz about the topics covered in her three-part series and how her expertise can help remove barriers that may be in the way of strong and regular student attendance. Families interested in accessing the video recordings of the parent-education and empowerment series can contact Dr. Schmitz at megan@vitallivingws.com.

Inside the Classroom: How Community Creates Excellence at Bell Graham

In this episode, we visit the classroom of Bell Graham 4th grade lead teacher Ruth Vostal to talk with her and Principal Amy Kleuppel about how educators come together in Professional Learning Communities to build a culture around the D303 core values of Achievement, Belonging, and Perseverance. We also discuss how the entire Bell-Graham community works together to build pathways to excellence for their kindergarten through 5th-grade students. A big congratulations to Bell Graham Elementary School [https://bellgraham.d303.org/], which is one of D303’s 7 schools that just received the highest “Exemplary” rating on the 2025 Illinois State Report Card [https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/School.aspx?schoolid=310453030262012].