District 88 to receive two Illinois State Board of Education Those Who Excel awards

Pictured is District 88 Superintendent Dr. Scott Helton.

I’m thrilled to share District 88 will be recognized with two awards during the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) 2019-20 Those Who Excel Awards Banquet!

Former District 88 Board of Education member Sharon Kucik will receive an Award of Merit (the second-highest award level) in the category of Board Member. Kucik served on the Board from 2007 to 2019 and was Board Secretary from 2011 to 2019. She is being honored for her tremendous commitment to the Board through her service on numerous Board Committees, as well as her work on the Building The Future referendum project, leading as Chairperson of the District 88 Foundation and being a member of the Willowbrook Athletic Hall of Fame Committee and the Willowbrook Distinguished Alumni/Distinguished Service Awards Committee.

Members of the DuPage High School District 88 Learning Community School Safety Team (which is comprised of the Village of Addison, the Village of Villa Park, the Addison Police Department, the Addison Fire
Protection District, the Villa Park Police Department, the Villa Park Fire Department, the DuPage Regional Office of Education, state representatives and senators, Peg Agnos and Jen Figurelli from the Legislative Education Network of DuPage County (LEND), Addison Trail social worker Jorge de Leon and Willowbrook social worker Erik Engel) will receive an Award of Excellence (the highest award level) for their work in creating and participating in several safety activities and programs. Those include a School Safety Forum in March 2018 (where about 400 student leaders from 28 Chicago-area high schools came together at Willowbrook for a day of conversation and planning regarding school safety) and a Safety and Security Tabletop Exercise in April 2018. They also are being honored for the implementation of ALICE Training in District 88 in August 2018 and for earning a grant from the Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) for the School Violence Prevention Program. With the funding, District 88 and District 4 have bought and are installing pull stations similar to fire alarms, strobe lights and mobile panic buttons that will be placed throughout the schools and outside the buildings through BluePoint Alert Solutions. This provides another layer of protection and allows the schools to contact local authorities quicker in the event of an emergency. The safety and well-being of our students and staff is our No. 1 priority, and this team is well-deserving of this recognition for its efforts to ensure a safe and secure environment in our schools.

This year’s Those Who Excel Awards Banquet will take place on Oct. 19 at the Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. For more information about the program, go to https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Those-who-excel.aspx.

These are two examples of the leadership, commitment and care for our learning community that allow us to accomplish our mission of working for the continuous improvement of student achievement. Congratulations to the honorees, and thank you for your continued support of District 88.