Oswego parents, community members able to give their thoughts on variety of topics during public forum

Oswego School District 308 parents and community members had the chance to provide their thoughts about the district’s curriculum, facilities and a number of other topics during a recent public forum.

During the public forum at Plank Junior High School, district leaders said they will be looking at the needs of multilingual and special education students and will be engaging in a student assignment plan.

“This year, the focus is on a program review of our multilingual and special ed students,” Deputy Superintendent Heather Kincaid said at the beginning of the forum. “We know that we’ve got programs for these learners at a variety of different schools. We need to do a program review to make sure that we are servicing our students in the best way possible.”

District 308 Superintendent Andalib Khelghati told those attending the forum the school district wants to make sure that everybody’s voice is heard.

“I am confident that together, we will find a way to ensure that we are wise about our funds and we are strategic in how we plan our future so that our educators don’t have to be the ones who we rely on solely to do the good work of this district and to move us forward,” he said.

During the evening, there were individual breakout sessions on different topics, including the district’s curriculum and its facilities. The district covers about 68 square miles, taking in parts of Oswego, Aurora, Joliet, Montgomery, Plainfield and Yorkville.

The district is the seventh largest district in the state. As those who sat in on the discussion of the district’s facilities learned, budget cuts in the past 10-plus years have included preventative maintenance for the district’s facilities.

Those who weren’t able to attend the Nov. 4 public forum can watch a virtual recap of the forum from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Nov. 14.

The Google Meet link will be available on the district’s website, sd308.org, on the day of the event.

The district is working on a new strategic plan. The plan will examine the district’s strengths along with areas of improvement.

In addition, board members recently unanimously approved a $380,000 contract with Wight & Company to develop a master facility plan for the district.

Plans are for the school board to adopt the master facility plan by December 2025. As part of the process, the company will get feedback from parents, school board members, district and school leaders, teachers/staff and students through workshops, surveys and public meetings.

The plan’s first phase began on Nov. 4, including a comprehensive walk through of the buildings to evaluate the condition of all physical facilities and systems. The second phase will assess the educational use of spaces and the third phase will plan for future improvements and enhancements.