3 Reasons to Sign Our Petition About the D41 Think Tank Initiative

Why Petition?

When deciding if you should sign the petition, please consider the following…

PLEASE PILOT

We appreciate the labors and efforts of the Think Tank to come up with ways that D41 can make our children more successful. However, with a firm proposal to the Board of Education not slated until late February, the petition is asking that more time be taken to implement the changes once the model is finalized. Supposedly, in its entirety, the Think Tank initiative is a brand new model created for D41 and because of this there is no hard data to demonstrate the success of the model. Shouldn’t D41 take the time to first pilot the final model, gather data and feedback, make changes and then implement the strongest model possible district wide?

WHY RUSH?

The Think Tank spent over 18 months developing the initiative, what is the rush to make such a major change in so little time? Shouldn’t the district take longer than a few months to implement this district-wide? There appears to be no concrete reason as to why this initiative has to be implemented for the 2013-2014 school year. This is a huge adjustment in instructional delivery for the classroom teacher. Why not take more time to train our teachers, plan and prepare our facilities?

CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP?

Is it responsible to make such a change to our school district when over half of the Board of Education positions are up for election and our superintendent is retiring? Also, this might negatively impact the district’s search for a qualified new superintendent. Desirable candidates might not be interested in the job if they know they are going to be forced to implement a new initiative that they had no say in.

DO YOU AGREE WITH ANY OF THE ABOVE? If yes, could you please sign the petition and forward along the email encouraging others to sign? We need as many signatures as possible before the next regular Board of Education meeting on January 28. We also need attendance at that board meeting (Monday, Jan. 28th 7:30pm – Central Services Office). It is our understanding that board members are open to representing our concerns about the implementation plan of this initiative; however, we need proof in numbers that the public would like a delay. We need all members of our community to have their voices heard. Even residents without children in schools can sign the petition (if this change is unsuccessful it could affect property values). And please make sure every tax-paying member of your household signs.

Possible concerns about signing petition:

• You like the changes proposed by the Think Tank. Signing the petition is not support for or against the Think Tank initiative, it’s only intent is to stop district-wide implementation for the 2013-2014 school year.
• Don’t want to sign the petition until you see what the final model looks like. By the time the model is finalized by the end of February it will be too late to delay or ask for a pilot. Now is the time to address this concern.
• Privacy. If you do not want your name published on the petition site as a recent signature you may uncheck the box that says “Display my signature…” Only name and city/state will show up in the printed petition that is presented to the Board of Education.
• Who can sign? Any residents whose children attend D41 schools or who live in Glen Ellyn and are old enough to pay taxes can sign the petition – even renters and community members who do not have children in elementary school.

Link to petition

The Why 41? group that started this petition appreciates the work of the Think Tank and of the school district to continue to make improvements to the way we educate our children. Our main concern at this point is the current timeline and how a rush to implement district-wide could negatively affect our children. Also, the group supports some aspects of the proposed Think Tank initiative, but has ideas for other ways to accomplish some of the goals of the initiative. You can see our home page or Facebook page for more information.