After what Superintendent Robert Nolting called “a little bit of an exciting start” marked by disruptive storms, the Orland High School District 230 board welcomed new teachers and celebrated a successful beginning to the school year Thursday.
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“Summer is such a short time to get in all the work that we need done, and this summer brought a lot of challenges with all the storms,” said board member Tim Danlow.
Danlow and the other board members praised the district’s director of facilities, Dave Keating, and his department for completing all necessary projects over the summer despite the challenges caused by the severe weather.
“Currently all of our summer projects are wrapped up, or wrapping up,” Keating said. “With the storms we’ve had, we’re trying to reshuffle or prioritize what we need to do next summer.”
In a video, newly hired teachers and staff at the district’s three high schools — Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Hills and Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park — introduced themselves and their teaching philosophies.
“My approach to teaching is fostering a caring environment, that every student is capable of learning,” said Spanish teacher Ailed Duenas.
Many of the new teachers are alumni of the district’s high schools, Zeder noted. Several spoke about being excited to return to the schools they’d studied at to teach the next generation.
“I’m mostly looking forward to being able to just give to a community that gave me so much,” said English teacher Carolyn McGuire.
Quwiyya Folaji, Stagg High School’s Student Council president, said new students were welcomed Aug. 12 with an assembly and extracurricular fair. School for all students began Aug. 13.
“Our Chargettes and cheerleaders lined the entrances greeting the new Chargers,” Folaji said.
Senior students at the three high schools also got to mark the start of their final high school year with coffee and doughnuts at a senior sunrise event, said Lily Konczyk, Andrew High School Student Council co-president.
“As students acclimate to the new school year, the positive energy possessed by teachers and students is evident, especially as our activities have also kicked off,” Konczyk said. “Our first football game was last Friday, which we did win, which featured all varsity sports for the fall season during halftime.”
The three high schools were recently recognized by the U.S. News & World Report, Nolting said, placing them in the top tier of high schools both statewide and nationally.
“We’re really proud to celebrate that, as it’s a culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication of our staff,” Nolting said.
Sandburg High School, with its 95% graduation rate and a 53% AP participation rate, particularly stood out, according to a news release. Sandburg placed 75th in Illinois and 1,735th nationally in the report.