Over the last two years, several groups of teachers, parents, and community members came together to support the establishment of a Districtwide vision for technology that is grounded in teaching and learning. At the Board meeting, technology teachers, building and central office administrators, and members of the technology department shared details of the vision on behalf of members of the Superintendent Advisory Committee and the Summit Hill Education Foundation, which generously supported the tech infrastructure project and tech pilot at Walker School.

Our vision is that students will develop the technological competencies needed to become productive members of our global society. To achieve this, we will build and support a learning environment that is reliable, effective, and evolutionary.

As a District, we will:
• commit to using technology and understand it is central to how we teach and learn;
• create powerful learning environments using research-based strategies that effectively use technology;
• integrate technology standards into all areas of the curriculum through a collaborative model;
• provide ongoing and sustained professional development to achieve educator proficiency with effective teaching and learning practices; and
• use resources efficiently and strategically to ensure productivity and fiscal responsibility.

Summit Hill District 161 has earned the highest category of financial strength obtainable on the Illinois State Board of Education’s School District Financial Profile. With a total score of 3.7 out of a possible 4.0, District 161 earned Financial Recognition status. Since the 1980s, the State Board of Education has been monitoring the financial conditions of school districts via the School District Financial Profile to identify which districts are in or are moving toward financial difficulty. Financial Profile indicators include fund balance to revenue ratio, expenditure to revenue ratio, days cash on hand, percent of short-term borrowing ability remaining, and percent of long-term debt margin remaining. Given the economic difficulties school districts are facing, the State Board noted that this is a significant accomplishment.