From the Desk of the President of the Harrington Park Board of Education
Greetings HP!
Our spring meetings have occurred in quick succession since school break, each one packed with administrative and operations items to be completed by the conclusion of our school year. In addition, the Board in conjunction with Superintendent Conlon recently completed the last in a trio of Strategic Planning community input sessions.
May 6th was our yearly budget meeting, and the numbers for our 2024-2025 school year were presented to the public in a slide show and discussed. As this was Mr. Conlon’s first HP budget, he and the Board had previously spent extra time in discussions on this document in deep detail. The Board provided a history of past traditions in spending to Mr. Conlon, as well as our dedication to abiding by our tiny margins and avoiding waste. The group studied our numbers line-by-line, making sure even the smallest funds were not being put to ineffective use, after which we entered into more broad ideas of how we can creatively achieve more as a district with what we have. Mr. Conlon then shared a variety of ideas on what areas of focus he felt would produce the best “bang for the buck” results in producing higher and more consistent achievement outcomes for students and staff alike.
Aside from our regular BOE meetings, Mr. Conlon, the administrative team, and the Board have been working hard to build a 3-Year Strategic Plan for our district. We recently held our third and final Strategic Planning Community Session, and the input from these events, as well as that from said administrative meetings and surveys, has produced an enormous amount of data that will play a key part in the finished document. The Board and Mr. Conlon were delighted by the enthusiastic participation of community members and teachers at these input meetings! We all remarked afterward how it felt as if something very special had happened: Our town, our teachers, the BOE and Mr. Conlon came together and talked face-to-face, carefully and respectfully listening to one another. Ideas, observations, fears, and thoughts of all kinds were shared. We were amazed by the enthusiastic desire to participate brought by our small community, as well as the clear desire to all work together and create something we can all be proud of. Feedback from the community was similarly positive, and many voiced a desire to continue this collaborative tradition during our 3-year plan and beyond.
All of the data from these meetings will be disseminated through the summer as the Strategic Plan is finalized, but clear patterns have already emerged and one thing is certain: Harrington Park does not want to be idle. Residents and staff alike are hungry to move forward in many areas such as more effective learning through improved curriculum, student emotional well-being and connectedness, and exploring a multitude of new ways to experience and thereby enhance learning in real-time.
As we move through our final weeks of school and enjoy our traditions, concerts, AAPI activities, sports, class fundraisers, and all the things that make end-of-year in HP such a busy time, I feel an even greater enthusiasm for things yet to come. Harrington Park is a community we all share and love, and our school is its heart - a place in which we take enormous pride. As our town, our teachers, Mr. Conlon and the Board continue striving to make what is good even better, more can always be achieved by working together.
