New Superintendent Meets the Press

On his second day at Burr Ridge School District 180, new Superintendent Tom Schneider was asked to respond to a few questions from the Suburban Life Newspaper.  The interview is supposed to be published in the paper this weekend, but an early version of the correspondence is available below.

Suburban Life: How do you think your responsibilities, as superintendent for district 180 will vary from those at Willow Springs School District 108 where you spent the last five years?

Dr. Schneider: I’m confident that my experiences at Willow Springs have prepared me for the challenges at Burr Ridge.  The districts are similar in that they serve a diverse group of students and communities.  We had some wonderful success stories at Willow Springs that were the result of many different dedicated people working together.   Thanks to these efforts and the support of the community we provided educational opportunities to meet the needs of all of our students.

SL: What do you think is the biggest challenge that District 180 faces right now?

TS: Every school, every school community faces challenges. Like the children and communities they serve, schools are always growing and developing. Additionally, the skills children need to be successful adults continues to change and evolve; and that too is a challenge.  Every school district faces challenges and Burr Ridge 180 is no different.

SL: Initial data regarding 2007 ISAT results indicate the district may fall short this year of meeting the Annual Yearly Progress standards because two subgroups in the middle school are not currently meeting reading standards. If the final reports prove this to be the case, what will you do to get the students to succeed in the future?

[Special Note: As of July 5, 2007 the Illinois State Board of Education web site has confirmed that both Burr Ridge School District 180 schools have met AYP in all subgroups and in all subject areas.  Burr Ridge School District 180 is continuing to work with the State Board to ensure that the data used in calculating AYP is correct.  As this process continues, the scores and percentages reported by the state continue to improve in their accuracy.]

TS: From what I can see from a brief review of these test scores, students who have been in the district for two consecutive years appear to meet standards at a very high rate.  A tremendous effort from the school, the teachers and the student goes in to making that progress and that growth should not go unnoticed or unrecognized.

Today is my second day at Burr Ridge and over the next few weeks I’m going to be exploring our past efforts and looking at what others have learned from those efforts.  My goal is to get acquainted with faculty, parents, students and community members and understand the district itself and then find ways for us all to work together to build and continue to improve upon these efforts.

We hope to provide opportunities for all of the children we serve to be successful, and to be successful, we all must learn and work together.

SL: In a two-year period there has been a 50 percent turnover rate for students in the district. How do you think this impacts the district as a whole and what, if anything, can be done to help this percentage decrease?

TS: I’ve only been here a short time, but in that time it has become clear to me that, we love our students and hate to see any of them go.

And we hate to see them go not just because we care for them. 

We know that children in a consistent educational setting will have fewer gaps in their learning and have a greater opportunity for academic success. The academic success of all of our students is and will continue to be a focus of study and improvement for the entire district.