Superintendent's Message - March 18, 2022

Superintendent's Message - March 18, 2022

Dear Butler D53 Families and Staff,

On Monday evening, the Board of Education held its Regular Meeting for the month. At this meeting the Board of Education awarded group #2 bids for the Phase I: Capital Improvements Vision projects, approved building class sizes and staff projections, as well as the hiring of new staff members for 2022-2023 school year.

The district is busy preparing for our Phase I: Capital Improvements Vision projects that will be underway in the coming weeks. We will be regularly updating the District's Construction Corner with relevant information, communication, and progress photos. Building principals will communicate specific changes and modifications to processes or protocols directly as part of their weekly message. Thank you for your patience and flexibility as we're getting underway; our goal is to be as least disruptive to teaching and learning as possible.

Moreover, the Board of Education voted to return to an in-person format for Regular Board of Education Meetings through August 2022. Meetings will be held in the district's boardroom as they were pre-pandemic. All those who wish to attend the meeting or provide public comment or both must do so in-person moving forward. Please note: The format for Committee Meetings will remain in the same virtual format through August 2022. The district will continue to promptly post audio recordings of Board of Education and Committee Meetings to the district's website. 

Furthermore, the Board of Education approved the Summer School Catalog for summer 2022. All summer school courses will be administered virtually due to the ongoing building construction projects at both schools. I highly encourage you to peruse the course catalog with your children to see the wide array of offerings available this summer. Registration will open on April 22, 2022. 

The district has been following through with the expectations set forth by the Pandemic Awareness Committee with a focus on school positivity rate, zip code and county transmission rate, as well as practices of area K-12 schools. Over the last several weeks, the district has experienced no positivity within school buildings. That being said, we will continue to look for ways for a return to normalcy while maintaining a strategic layered mitigation approach. 

Stay well, be safe!

Dr. Paul O’Malley
Superintendent of Schools