District 203 Officials: We Made a Major Misstep

Officials from admitted Monday night that they made missteps when communicating to families in the district information gathered in a review process.

District 203 Superintendent Mark Mitrovich made a statement before the board of education’s meeting on Monday night. The statement was e-mailed to members of the District 203 community late Monday night. The letter, which was sent to the community reads as follows: 

"Attendance area adjustments that impact the lives of students, parents, and staff are deeply emotional as they affect the relationships we have worked hard to develop and the ties we have formed with our school community.  We want to address this issue with thought and sensitivity.  Obviously, we have made a major misstep in the message and the timing.  For that, I take full responsibility and I apologize for the anxiety this has created for many people in this community.

From the beginning, it is has been our intent for this process to be highly visible.  There is often a delicate balance between exploring all of the issues involved and keeping everyone informed simultaneously. On this I can assure you that we will do better. 

Concerning the supposals, our goal is to review all options in an effort to be thorough and look at all scenarios, even those that are difficult to consider. It is better to have studied an option and dismiss it, than not to have reviewed it at all.  

 Moving forward from this point, the next scenarios will be posted on the district website no later than Friday afternoon of this week. They will include all schools and will reflect the comments and recommendations of the committee.

The findings of the committee will then be presented to the Board on December 19th. That meeting will take place in the Auditorium at Naperville Central High School. At that time, next steps will be shared by the Board who will determine the direction this process will take. Again, my apologies. Be assured that we are reading your emails and responding to as many as possible. We will do better.”

The Daily Herald reported that more than 100 parents attended the meeting, with about 20 addressing the board of education. 

Mitrovich told those in attendance that he understands the impact boundary changes can have and apologized for the matter of fact way the information was disseminated, according to the Daily Herald. He said the district would do a better job communicating the information.