“Times will change,” he reflects,“but student success will remain the focus, and we always want to make sure our students are ready for that next step.” From expanding early childhood services to integrating AI and upgrading facilities through a community-backed referendum, District 27’s leadership team is leaning hard into that mission— together. Collaboration isn’t a buzzword here; it’s the operating system. “As a district, we are a close-knit team,” Dr. Deiter says.“It was important to have everyone at the table for this conversation, because that’s how we lead every day.” STARTING STRONG: EARLY CHILDHOOD AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY Although District 27 is an elementary district serving students from pre-K through grade eight, its leaders see those earliest years as absolutely pivotal. The district’s preschool program, now in its second year, grew out of both necessity and vision. “We are required to provide services for children with special needs as soon as they reach age three,” explains Heather Miehl, Director of Special Education. “When some of our external partnerships began to dry up, we knew we needed to create capacity indistrict.” What emerged is a multidisciplinary, inclusive preschool class that serves both students with disabilities and community peers. The program is anchored by a teacher with triple certification—early childhood, special education (Learning Behavior Specialist), and English language learner endorsement.Around that classroom, District 27 has built a robust support team that encompasses a speech pathologist in the classroom three days per week, an occupational therapist one-and-a-half days per week in addition to a school psychologist one day per week, focusing on social-emotional learning and co-teaching. Curriculum-wise, the district uses Creative Curriculum, a widely respected early childhood framework, and supplements it with early learning components of Heggerty and Jolly Phonics, both of which feed seamlessly into the district’s kindergarten literacy programming. “The early childhood years are the most formative,” Dr. Deiter emphasizes. “We’re already seeing a real difference in students who’ve been in our preschool program as they move into kindergarten. That early start really matters.” 299 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 12 NORTHBROOK SCHOOL DISTRICT 27
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