Jacksonville School District 117 Superintendent Steve Ptacek is looking back at where the district was — and where it’s going — as he begins his final year on the job.
Ptacek says that the district is going to be going through a large amount of change over the next 2-3 years at all levels of personnel as well as 4 school board seats open for election in April.
Ptacek reflected on the condition of the district when he arrived in 2013. He said the district was dealing with financial problems, aging buildings, low teacher salaries and strained relationships between the board, staff and community..
Ptacek says a lot has changed since then.
The district has modernized its schools, improved its finances, raised teacher compensation and expanded programs for students.
But Ptacek says the biggest change wasn’t a building project or a financial decision. It was the way the district learned to work together.
Ptacek says change itself isn’t the threat, but he says that the processes and the collective governance should be the future. Ptacek says sometimes that collective voice needs to have the strength to say ‘no’ to certain people and things for everyone’s best interest.
He says that has made him some enemies over his time, but he has weathered those differences over 14 years due in large part to the collective.
Ptacek says that he’s also had a good core of institutional knowledge with long-standing school board members during his tenure that have led to that “We District” philosophy that he hopes will carry on.