Goals and objectives for a district-wide re-boundary process will be set by District 117 board members at tonight’s special meeting.
Board members of Jacksonville School District 117, along with Superintendent Steve Ptacek have discussed possible scenarios for re-structuring elementary school boundaries over the past several months. Ptacek has provided public, as well as online presentations regarding the issue on several occasions.
Last week, however, after conducting a staffing analysis, it was determined that the district will pursue a district-wide re-boundary process rather than a limited-impact one. In fact, Ptacek informed the public yesterday that he’s sent links via email to a narrated online presentation regarding the subject. The presentation has also been posted on the district’s Facebook page.
Ptacek explains what information is contained in the latest online presentation. .
“That will walk everybody through all of the data, similar to the narrated online presentation before. You’ll be able to watch it as a PowerPoint at your own pace, or we’ll convert it into a YouTube video if you just want to watch it without having to download Microsoft PowerPoint and run it that way,” says Ptacek.
As for tonight’s meeting, Ptacek says a board-appointed committee will be established, however no decisions will be made.
“The Board is going to develop the overall charge statement, the goals and objectives. (Tonight’s meeting) will not have any decisions. The goals and objectives will simply be to establish some form of a committee. The public is able to attend, which in this importance issue, we want to be as transparent as can be,” says Ptacek.
Ptacek explains what type of boundary issues the board hopes to hash out.
“We’ve got some areas around this district that we don’t know why they were defined the way they were, and they don’t a lot of sense, to be blunt, and I think the Board has a desire to smooth some of those out. We’ve got some inconsistencies that have happened in the past that this will also help us to clear out,” Ptacek says.
Tonight’s special meeting starts at 5 o’clock and will be held in the gymnasium of the Central Office building.
Click here to view the online presentation.