Dupage Policy Journal

The Fenton High school district prepares for the incoming class of freshmen.

“Well, what it means is obviously the pandemic hit hard in our communities,” Samuel Bentsen, assistant superintendent for Human Resources and Operations, said during the meeting. “And I want to make the point that this is these lingering effects that we're seeing here this year are going to be ongoing. So that's why it's important that we program to make sure we meet our kids where they're at to for the learning loss that occurred and also the social emotional issues that have become apparent along the way. And so and we know that there was some interrupted learning for sixth and seventh graders in particular. The needs are greater. But I think here at Fenton, as long as we focus on growing our kids - and that's something that we can do over time with this baseline group of 2027 kids. Here's where we're at. What kind of growth do we see over time? Some of the programming that we have, the interventions that we have, — we're confident that our kids are going to thrive here.”

The board uploaded a livestream of its public meeting to the district’s YouTube channel.

At their February 22nd board meeting, the school district of Fenton High school examined the incoming class of 2027 that will be freshmen next school year. The district recently completed its enrollment and registration process, and so it presented some data on the incoming high schoolers to the board and community to better predict their needs. The incoming class is set to have 347 students, 58% of which qualify for free and reduced lunch. This statistic is fairly average and in line with the past several grades in the district. 10.4% of the class of 27 qualify for EL services, 6.2% qualify for the special education program, and 2.7% qualify for both the EL and special education services.

The board did various recognitions for students.

The school report card data from the feeder district show the incoming classes’ recent academic performance. Students from District 2 showed 26.2% meeting or exceeding expectations in ELA, while district 7 students showed a 33.8% rate of meeting or exceeding. Both districts show a decline in performance since the onset of the pandemic, though district 2’s decreases are more severe. In math, district 2 students have a 22.2% meeting or exceeding rate, down from 31% three years ago, and district 7 only has a 12.8% rate, down from 26% before covid. The sample of PSAT scores they received from these students showed a higher rate of meeting standards in ELA than in math skills.

The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on March 22 at the Academic Resource Center at 1000 West Green Street.

Some of the supports they have created for their incoming students and students affected by learning loss from the pandemic include a three-week intensive math course over the summer. It will be open to students going into 4th-8th graders and will be taught by teachers from several districts. For incoming freshmen, they have also created a one-period class that has both a math and English teacher for extra support, and a foundations of math 1 course which has around 120 students enrolled already.