Principals and staff from Forest Park Middle School, Field-Stevenson Intermediate School, Betsy Ross Elementary School and Garfield Elementary School presented school improvement plans to the District 91 Board of Education on Dec. 18.
The school board also asked for a 4.9 percent increase in the annual property tax levy. This is the maximum allowed and must be approved by the Cook County Clerk, which in the past has not fully granted tax requests.
Speaking of the improvement plans, James Edler, director of learning and innovation for District 91, said: “While each one of these improvement plans are unique and different in their own right, the system and processes that we are using are consistent across all departments and across all schools.”
In November, the Illinois State Board of Education released the 2025 Illinois Report Card and every school in Forest Park School District 91 earned a Commendable designation.
Forest Park Middle School
Improving attendance while increasing math growth are top priorities for Forest Park Middle School. In order to achieve these goals, the school is using assessment data, small-group interventions, aligned instruction, student accountability partners, and enrichment support.
According to Forest Park Middle School’s recent Illinois Report Card data, math growth is at 64% for the 2025 school year, compared to 74% for school year 2024.
“We are using data to see what kind of small groups we need to have to support different students and help them with their academic growth,” said Daniel McElligot, academic coach for D91.
Terriyaka Watson, Forest Park Middle School principal, said leadership and staff are being proactive about improving attendance.
“We have sent out 54 letters to parents where there are concerns about attendance,” Watson said. “Of those 54 who received letters, we have 17 students who are on our list to have attendance buddies. These buddies are staff members that check in with them on a regular basis to make sure that they come to school and let them know that we are looking for them every day.”
Forest Park Middle School is also committed to strengthening Tier 1 instruction, academic and social-emotional supports, and enrichment opportunities for all students.
Field-Stevenson Intermediate
At Field Stevenson, the focus is on utilizing their core curricular resources and reducing chronic absenteeism.
The goal is to select, deliver, and evaluate scientifically supported academic, behavioral, and social-emotional instruction and supports provided in a school.
In order to support teachers, there is also a current emphasis on professional development and academic coaching support.
“We have really strong grade-level assistants that are working with students in small groups,” said Sara Boucek, a reading specialist at Field-Stevenson. “We also elevated our EL support to make sure that all of our students who are coming in are getting what they need.”
In 2025, Field Stevenson received a Commendable designation on the Illinois State Report Card after being deemed Targeted in 2024.
“We are very proud to be back,” said Susan Bogdan, principal at Field-Stevenson. “Field not only returned to Commendable status but also demonstrated an upward growth trend, surpassing our school year 2023 overall index score.”
Bogdan said the school is currently trying to reduce chronic absenteeism and is encouraging students to get to school on time.
“Instruction begins at 8:10 a.m.,” she said. “Even a 15-minute delay impacts learning.”
Betsy Ross Elementary
Strengthening reading and math instruction for all students is a shared priority at Betsy Ross Elementary. Leaders and staff are supporting this goal by strengthening foundational reading routines, implementing an inquiry-based math curriculum, and using small-group instruction to meet students’ diverse learning needs.
According to the Illinois Report Card, Betsy Ross Elementary School’s math growth increased to 68% in the 2025 school year, up from 49% in 2024 and 35% in 2023.
“What I really want to highlight is the amount of math growth from school year 2023 to school year 2025,” said Tinisa Huff, principal at Betsy Ross. “You’re looking at 30 percentage points almost. So that is huge and amazing and I’m so excited to see how our new math curriculum helps us move forward even more.”
Jennifer Uhlmann, an academic coach at Betsy Ross, said the school has implemented evidence-based reading practices that are yielding positive results.
“We’re really focusing on our foundational phonics instruction and making sure that it’s consistent and effective across grade levels and within classrooms,” Uhlmann said. “And we’re already noticing that with these routines, students are becoming more confident in their reading skills. They’re more willing to kind of attack these words that they don’t know and sound them out. It’s been really exciting.”
Garfield Elementary
At Garfield Elementary School, assessment is used as a tool to strengthen instruction and support student learning. The goal is to empower students through self-assessment and to provide teachers with specific information on what students need. There is also a current emphasis on decreasing chronic absenteeism.
“We need our students to come to school on time, every day, barring any fevers or stomach issues,” said Garfield Elementary School Principal Mary Stauder.
On the Illinois State Board of Education 2025 Report Card, Garfield Elementary achieved a perfect math proficiency of 100% and ELA growth of 92.49%.
“We have some really good data being shared here this evening, upward trends,” Stauder said. “In school year 2024 our overall index score was 64.60% and then we moved to 72.47% for school year 2025, which is almost an 8-point gain in one year.”
Tax levy
During the Dec 18 meeting, the board unanimously approved District 91’s
property tax levy request. The total property taxes extended or abated for 2024 were
$19,777,650 and the estimated total property taxes to be levied for 2025 are $20,748,248. This represents a 4.91% increase over the previous year.
“I just want to reiterate that our levy is our ask. That’s what we are going to ask the county for. It is not what we receive,” said Robert Hubbird, District 91’s interim superintendent.
According to Hubbird, the amount estimated to actually be received for tax year 2025 is difficult to estimate due to a high CPI, but the district’s annual increase is typically closer to only 1.4-1.8% higher.
The purpose of requesting this higher amount, he said, is to ensure that the district captures property tax revenue from any possible appreciation in the district’s base EAV as well as any new revenue from new EAV.
“I also want to reiterate that we have to ask for our maximum amount because if we don’t ask for it, we lose that amount forever,” Hubbird said. “So through our calculation team, we determined that this is the maximum amount that we can get.”
Hubbird said the district has never received what they asked for and instead is always allocated less than what was requested.
The levy will next go to the Cook County Clerk for approval.
