For the first time in 80 years, the Glenbrook School Board has received the Illinois Association of School Boards’ (IASB) School Board Governance Recognition designation, Superintendent Dr. R.J. Gravel said.
School Boards can apply to receive the award, and the application process requires the involvement of the entire board of education and superintendent over a two-year period, according to iasb.com. IASB manages school boards throughout the state, and, annually, they award boards the honor of recognition, Carol Smith, Director of Communications, said. IASB found this year’s board outstanding in all aspects, leading to them getting the honor, Smith added.
This year, the board has fulfilled all the needs to be eligible for the recognition, Gravel said. The board first needed to go through a self-evaluation, where the board gets together to talk about how they function as a team, Gravel explained. The board then needed to establish goals for the district and focus on the development of policies, such as rewriting the policy manual from scratch last year, instead of adopting a streamlined policy manual, Gravel said.
“Those things put together are very legitimate,” Gravel said. “All the check boxes that existed on the application.”
IASB, unlike other organizations, has every school district in the state represented and able to win awards, Gravel said.
“Typically, organizations only have 50 percent of districts who could be members,” Gravel said. “To be at 100 percent is pretty awesome.”
At the board meeting on Sept. 14, the board revised nearly 50 policies, the updated course guide for next year, and the budget for the year, Gravel said. The board works hard on these routine ideas and ultimately signs off on the best estimate for revenues and expenses for the next school year, Gravel said. The hard work spent to make sure all the policies are up to date has helped the board get this recognition, Gravel added.
“We’re getting this recognition because we’re demonstrating excellence, and we want to continue that,” Gravel said.
