The Community Forums are the heart of this initiative. Each forum can accommodate up to 300 community members; and will be structured in a way that enables all community members to offer their input on key ingredients for the Unit 4 School District 15-Year Plan.
- Community Forum Facilitation Job Description (MS Word)
Community Forums will be:
- Led by Elizabeth Perrachione, lead facilitator; and co-facilitated by a group of University of Illinois and Parkland Community College Students—as well as other community members—trained in professional facilitation.
- Scheduled with sensitivity to ensure that as many participants who are interested can attend at least one
- Structured in ways that best utilize the participant’s time and result in comprehensive feedback for the Working Groups and Vision Committee.
Community Members present at the Forums will be asked to:
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Offer their perspective and ideas in respectful and clear ways.
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Be honest about their feelings; and concrete about ways that past challenges can be redirected to future success.
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Balance the issue(s) that are most important to them with a wider picture of what all students might need to succeed.
A report will be generated after each forum and posted on this website. All of these reports will be carefully reviewed by the Working Groups and Vision Committee who will be meeting throughout the process to begin identifying trends and compile the community’s feedback into the Plan.
Community Forum March 12, 2008 Notes
Community Forum March 12, 2008 Statistics and Comments
We asked participants, to rate how much they agreed or disagreed with two statements related to Unit 4 Schools. This picture shows their answer at the beginning and end of the Forum at a glance.
Our first Community Forum, to be held on Wednesday, March 12th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. (location to be determined) is an opportunity for anyone and everyone who has an interest in the schools to come out and share what you think and feel. We will begin the forum with a very brief presentation about the Great Schools, Together initiative. Everyone will spend the rest of the evening in small groups sharing how they feel about our schools.
We want you to come out and share with us what is most important to you! What is working well? What are the issues as you see them? What ideas do you have to address these issues? And where might you need more information from the School District or city so that you are best positioned to speak to the current and future needs of all students in the schools?
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Wednesday, March 12th Community Forum draft agenda |
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Agenda Item |
Lead |
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Welcome |
Vision Committee or Working Group member |
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Overview of Great Schools, Together initiative |
Kristine Chalifoux, Greg Novak, or Elizabeth Perrachione |
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Overview of Community Forum Process |
Elizabeth Perrachione |
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Small Group Question/Feedback Brainstorming |
Community Forum Facilitators |
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Wrap Up & Next Steps |
Elizabeth Perrachione |
We have also put together a draft calendar of Community Forums, Vision Committee and Working Group meetings from now through the end of April. These are located on the Schedules page of this website. Please mark the Community Forum dates on your calendar, and check back in with this website to keep abreast of where meetings will be located and/or changes in the schedule.
As always, if you have questions or concerns you may email us at: greatschoolstogether@champaignschools.org.
"This is not a referendum-driven process. This is about our
community deciding what our schools need to succeed."
Greg Novak, Unit 4 School Board Member