Dunlap Community Unit School District #323

Holly Creel has been named Assistant Principal at Dunlap Middle School effective with the 2012-2013 school year. Mrs. Creel worked in private industry prior to moving to the Dunlap area. She has 23 years of teaching experience, with 21 of those years being in the Dunlap School District at both the high school and middle school levels. Currently, Mrs. Creel teaches sixth and seventh grade math and social studies.

Mrs. Creel has a proven record of leadership. She has served as a member of the Secondary Curriculum Council, Dunlap District Strategic Planning Team, School Improvement Team and Technology Improvement Team. She has promoted community service by organizing volunteer activities at both Dunlap Middle School and Dunlap High School. Mrs. Creel has also worked with stakeholders to create events and opportunities that enrich the educational experience for our students.

Mrs. Creel lives in Dunlap and is married to Bob Creel, and they have one son.

Congratulations to Mrs. Creel.  Welcome to the administrative team!

-Continuous improvement through teamwork, collaboration & shared leadership!

Recently, Duane Peterson was named the 3A & 4A Division Athletic Director of the Year at a banquet hosted by the Illinois Athletic Directors Association.

Since 1979 Mr. Peterson has worked with young adults as a physical education teacher and coach. He added the title of athletic director to his resume in 1993 as he continued to teach. While this might overwhelm most people, Duane balances these position with a tireless work-ethic. He has also been of invaluable service to our Mid-Illini Conference and various state organizations.

He has served as host to over one hundred IHSA regional, sectional, and super-sectional events. Duane is also a two-time athletic director president of the Mid-Illini Conference.

Congratulations Mr. Peterson!

-Continuous improvement through teamwork, collaboration & shared leadership!

Our 21st Century Classroom- Written by Mr. Conlee’s 5th Grade Class

We are the 5th graders at Wilder Waite. Our teacher is Mr. Conlee. He may teach us, but he does not make all of the decisions. We, the respectful and responsible students in 5C, make a lot of the decisions around here. That’s because we have a student led classroom. Our 21st century classroom helps us to achieve our district goals.

First, we are technologically skilled creators. We make projects called book projects. That’s when we read a small book and then we choose a way to share the information with the class. We might make a PowerPoint presentation or an oral report. For some really big projects, we do a Photo Story. That’s when we put lots of pictures into software called Photo Story and we prerecord what we want our audiences to hear.

We have also created a small business called the 5C store. That is when we sell school supplies at lunch. The money we make goes to buy something for the school, and some is given to a charity. Right now, we are working on building projects. Some people are making a picnic table, some are making a reading loft, and the rest are making models of ships, rockets, and even one human body model. Finally, we do spelling activities each week. Spelling activities are small projects that we do on the computer to help us learn our spelling words. These are all creative projects that our class takes part in.

Next, we are skilled collaborators. We have many different teams that we do different projects with. For example, we have teams to build cars and rockets, we have reading groups, and we have class teams. These teams all work together to help us become more successful. We have goals on our data center that we work on as a class. We graph our math, reading, and behavior each week. It takes a lot of teamwork and collaboration to accomplish our class goals. We also came together as a class when we made our class video. Some people took pictures, some were creative consultants, and there were also the people who put the video into a Photo story.

Finally, our class is full of self motivated learners. We have goal sheets that we fill out each day. Our goal sheets are made to help us accomplish our goals. We check off whether or not we accomplished our goals that day. We also have a class website where students update upcoming events and homework. Then, there are our data binders. Our data binders are where we put our past goal sheets and test scores. These show how we progress throughout the year. Finally we have our data center. That is where our class goals and missions go. We have graphs, goals, expectations, and our mission statement. We fill out the graphs and add suggestions for our classroom. By setting goals, we become self- motivated learners.

In conclusion, we have a student led classroom. We work toward our school and district goals. Thanks to Mr. Conlee and our other classmates, we are ready and prepared for the future.

Written by Mr. Conlee’s 5th grade class!

-Continuous improvement through teamwork, collaboration & shared leadership!

Dunlap Appreciates its Employees!

Goal 3 of the strategic plan reads “To achieve a satisfying and productive classroom and school teaching environment.”  Today’s post is a great example!

Throughout the year, there are various employee appreciation opportunities. Monday was the start of Teacher Appreciation Week, as well as School Nutrition Employee Appreciation Week, and we just recently celebrated Administrative Professionals Appreciation Week.

These dates on the calendar are a good reminder to celebrate our employees and their unique contributions to our schools.

Dunlap feels the best way to show appreciation for employees is through our philosophy of teamwork, collaboration, and shared leadership. We demonstrate this through numerous initiatives such as our Building Leadership Teams, Support Services Leadership Teams, District Leadership Team, and Stakeholder Satisfaction Surveys, to name a few.

We involve employees in setting the strategic direction of the organization because we value their contribution. We give employees a voice because we trust and respect them.

Today, each school received a cake as a small token our appreciation.  Thanks to all of our employees for their dedication to continuous improvement.  They are the reason our schools are successful!

Dr. Jay Marino

-Continuous improvement through teamwork, collaboration & shared leadership!

The mission of the Dunlap School District is to “empower all students to excel in a global society.” We define this as 21st century learning where students are:

■Self-motivated learners

■Critical thinkers

■Effective communicators

■Skilled collaborators

■Responsible and culturally aware citizens

■Technologically capable creators

Today’s post is a great example of a self-motivated learner! Maya Jain, Dunlap High School student, was named first place winner in Congressional District Student Art Show and Competition!

On Saturday April 21st, Maya Jain, a junior, was named as the first place winner for the 31st Annual 18th Congressional District Student Art Show and Competition.

Maya’s art work will hang for one year beside works of art from other Congressional districts in the passageway between the House of Representatives office buildings and the United States Capitol. Congressman Schock was on hand to make the announcement, which took place at the Downtown Peoria Library. Several hundred people showed up to view the wide variety of art work on display from the student artists across the 18th district

“I am always amazed by the artwork submitted for the art show and competition. I was very impressed by Maya’s winning submission. She is well deserving of this year’s top honor,” said Schock. “I’m proud the 18th district will be well represented among the art on display in the Capitol.”

Maya’s colored pencil artwork was derived from several sources of inspiration. She combined her imagination from a scene described in the book, The Great Gatsby, and from a drive home one rainy night when the reflection of the street lamps on the road caught her attention. Maya was joined by her proud parents, Sharad and Elizabeth Jain.

Read the Journal Star article online for more details.

Dr. Jay Marino

-Continuous improvement through teamwork, collaboration & shared leadership!