Taking the helm of North Chicago School District 187 nearly six years ago, Superintendent John Price inherited a school system with a high school graduation rate and freshmen on track rate — students likely to graduate after four years — of just 56%.
At graduation from North Chicago Community High School last May, 82% of the class graduated and, based on the performance of this year’s sophomores, the rate is likely to climb to 94% or higher for the Class of 2025, officials said.
“We built a team at the high school focused on each individual student, and what they needed to do to improve,” Price said of his approach when he started his tenure. “There were weekly meetings of teams of teachers focusing on the needs of each student.”
Superintendents around Lake County, like North Shore School District 112 Superintendent Mike Lubelfeld, have come to know Price over the years and recognize his leadership of District 187.
“I have tremendous respect for him,” Lubelfeld said. “His vision in North Chicago is very far-reaching. A lot of us look at him with tremendous admiration and respect. He has built a great team, and they have had great success with his leadership.”
Price was recently voted superintendent of the year by the Lake County Superintendents Association as the best superintendent in the county and the organization’s candidate for top statewide honors from the Illinois Association of School Administrators.
Dora King, president of the District 187 Independent Authority, said the most significant thing about the award is who gave it. The Independent Authority functions as the board of education while North Chicago’s public schools remain under state control.
“This came from his peers,” King said. “His peers recognize the job he has done is just over the top. He is so engaged in the community. He’s here on the weekends helping to build houses.”
Though the community looks at the high school graduation rate as a measure of success, Price said freshmen on track is equally important because they are not mutually exclusive. The parallel is very strong.
Other statistics in addition to the graduation and freshmen on track rates include kindergarten readiness and teacher retention, according to the Illinois State Board of Education annual report card.
Price said kindergarten readiness, which is measured part of the way through the youngsters’ first year, climbed from 3% when he started to 25% for the 2019-2020 coronavirus-impacted school year. More recent numbers were not available.
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“The kindergartners were really, really hurt by the pandemic,” Price said.
Along with improving the district’s academic benchmarks, under Price’s leadership the teacher retention rate has climbed from 60% to 75%, according to the report card. He said it has been a cooperative effort with the unions and leadership from the principals.
“We focused on the climate in every classroom,” Price said. “The principals developed professional development plans to give the teachers the tools for success. We worked with the unions to increase teacher salaries.”
Teacher incentives played a role, too. Price said the a “we pay, you stay” program was developed. The district pays for teacher’s obtaining graduate degrees, certificates and accreditations with a commitment from the teacher to remain in North Chicago.
Building a diverse teaching staff to match the district’s diversity with a large population of Black and Latinx students, the percentage increased from no new hires of people of color when he started, to 50% for the 2021-2022 school year.
“Research clearly shows students will do better when they identify with a teacher who looks like them,” Price said.
Not only has Price built a team of administrators and a strong teaching staff with a lot of collaboration, but he said he has reached out to the community for involvement as well. Those efforts resulted in a new state of the art middle school and plans to build a new elementary school.
After a more than four years of planning and building, the district opened the new $40 million Neal Math & Science Academy middle school funded by a $40 million donation from AbbVie.
Working with U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, and the U.S. Department of Defense, planning has started on a new building for Forrestal Elementary School at Naval Station Great Lakes, with 80% of the funding coming from a Defense Department grant.
Price said a host of community groups and foundations, like North Chicago Community Partners and the John & Kathleen Schreiber Foundation, have offered strong volunteer help and made significant donations over the years.