ALTON - During their regular meeting on Aug. 20, 2024, the Alton Community Unit School District #11 Board of Education voted unanimously to approve the District Improvement Plan.
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This plan prioritizes a culture of belonging, grade-appropriate instruction and assignments, and professional learning communities. Elaine Kane, ACUSD11 superintendent, spent a few minutes discussing the culture of belonging in the district’s schools.
“We believe the students and staff in the Alton school district deserve excellent conditions for teaching and learning,” Kane said. “Everyone in this district talks about creating a culture of belonging. We talk about it for our students, we talk about it for our staff, but we want to make sure that our actions and our decisions and our allocation of resources creates a culture of belonging for everyone in the Alton School District…That is the most important thing for learning to occur.”
The principals from each school spoke about how they are determined to cultivate a culture of belonging. Tron Young, assistant superintendent, said he had met with each principal individually to hear more about their plans for creating a culture of belonging, and he looks forward to seeing how administrators enact this mindset in their schools.
The elementary school principals — Latasha LeFlore-Porter at Lewis and Clark Elementary School, JoAnna Curvey at Gilson Brown Elementary School, Jody Meggos at Eunice Smith Elementary School and John Ducey at Lovejoy Elementary School — spoke about their goal to greet every student by name by October.
They also announced that they will be introducing peace circles in every classroom. This activity encourages students to share information about themselves and make friends.
“In order for students to be successful, they need one friend at school and they need one adult,” LeFlore-Porter said. “They need a friend at school because they need someone who looks for them to be there every day that they can count on. They need one adult because they need to be able to come to school and be able to count on someone.”
The intermediate school principals — TaRael Kee at West Elementary School, Lisa Harris at North Elementary School and Lanea DeConcini at East Elementary School — spoke about their hopes to improve their scores on the 5Essentials Survey. They plan to improve their “supportive environment” rating to a strong score on the survey.
“At the intermediate level, our theory of action is simple but powerful,” Kee said. “We consistently make decisions that prioritize the best interest of students. We will see tangible improvements in their attendance, their academic achievement and their citizenship.”
For middle school principal Brian Saenz, this year’s goal is to elevate the Capturing Kids’ Hearts model, a professional development program for educators nationwide. This model includes greeting students when they come to school and learning more about them, their families and their interests. Saenz believes this will help teachers and administrators build relationships with students.
“The most important thing in education for middle school kids is that they’re very impressionable, and the establishment of relationships with students is where all learning begins,” he said. “The more we learn about them, the better off they’re going to be.”
Stacie Franke, principal of Alton High School, echoed Saenz and noted that the high school has prioritized building a culture of belonging this year. She added that the school has implemented advisory, a program where students will have a primary teacher through all four years of high school with whom they can form a relationship.
“The high school spent, with administrators and teachers, a lot of time over the summer really looking at data and what we need to do to enhance our existing systems and then what new systems we put in place,” she explained. “And I will tell you that when we were having this conversation, the goal of having students wanting to be in school, having a sense of belonging and creating a positive climate was really our number one goal when creating and enhancing systems.”
Young concluded the speakers by saying that cultivating a culture of belonging is the first step in changing the world.
“One thing that I know is true, when you talk about culture, when kids feel like they’re connected and they belong in the classroom, change happens,” he said. “I think it all starts with a sense of belonging inside of our classrooms.”
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