South Cook News

The Rich Township Board of Education received an update from school leaders to begin the new year during its Jan. 24 meeting.

The board heard from its co-principals, Janice Williams of the STEM campus (formerly Rich Central) and Lynn Fields Jr. of the Fine Arts campus (formerly Rich South). The principals spoke to the board on a campus update for their respective schools based on the district's four pillars of academic achievement, post-secondary success, student pride and global citizenship, Williams said, which factors into a system the district calls "Raptor Ready."

"(We're) Still focused on being Raptor Ready, making sure that that is a language that we are speaking every day," she said, adding that it involves behavior, attendance and grades, and it puts responsibility on the student to be Raptor Ready.  She added that students "cannot participate in sports after school before school on the weekend if they are not eligible or Raptor Ready. And so, when we look at the failure rates and how our students are being ranked already, you can see that less than 300 students are not Raptor already across the board. And so, we have broken down what rack already looks like in each of the each of the academies, which is spread across both campuses. So looking at that, there are less the highest number of 69 students who are who are not ranked already, and that's in the freshman and sophomore classes. Other than that, our juniors and seniors are really pulling their weight in either recovery courses that are part of the flex or when you hear people saying that I've made accommodations for students either one period or another, that is what Flex is, is the ability to make those accommodations during the day for students to have access to success."

The board compared data from end of the first semester to where students were at the end of the first quarter, which showed a 50% reduction in students with an F grade from week 10 to week 20. At week 20, the district showed twice as many A's as there are F’s, which signified an improvement throughout the semester. They have also been focusing on attendance and absenteeism, and the district is still struggling with this issue in the senior class, however they have maintained their attendance rates as compared to previous years. The district had 85-86% attendance for the first semester, officials added.

The district makes a point to honor achievement, as evidenced by award ceremonies and recognition the district gives for things such as grades and attendance. It's also dedicated to helping students succeed, putting together a multi-college tour trip to historically black colleges in the coming semesters to help students see all the choices they have for their future, Williams reported.

The trip will be open to 40 students and will cost them $100 each to tour colleges in several states. Williams said the district also tracks how many college applications students put in, adding that so far, 384 students haven't completed a college application, and 64 have 1-2 applications, 22 with 3-4 applications, and 127 students five or more. The goal is to have students submit around three applications, she added.