'Sense Of Belonging' Rate Concerns Lyons Township High

LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School has an ambitious goal for improving the "sense of belonging" among teachers and other staff.

But little progress has been made over the last four years.

Last school year, a survey showed that 57 percent of teachers felt a sense of belonging, up from 54 percent in 2021-22, according to a presentation to the school board. The rates were the same for noncertified staff.

"We recognize this is incremental progress, and we still have work to do to reach our life of plan target of 75 percent," Ed Piotrowski, the human resources director, told the school board this week.

After a larger presentation about personnel, the board's president, Tim Albores, said he loves to see the school's metrics improving in every category. But he asked for more information on the belonging rate.

"That is certainly one we have concern about," Piotrowski said.

The school, he said, is taking several steps to increase the rate. One is the creation of listening circles to find out about the incremental growth in the belonging rate, he said.

He said officials believe they have established the "foundations for growth" in the metric.

"We just know that those results might not come immediately, and they are going to take time," Piotrowski said.

Patch also reported on the "sense of belonging" issue in October 2023.

At the time, Patch filed a public records request for all the results from the survey, which the company, Panorama, has handled for years.

The school chose to keep the records secret. It asserted that an exemption under state law allowed it to keep the results under wraps.

By contrast, neighboring Hinsdale High School District 86 has posted online the survey results for staff and students for the last five years.

On Wednesday, Patch filed a new records request for the results.