Latest news with #District200
Chicago Tribune
4 days ago
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Northbrook's Greenbriar School gets new principal Danielle Moran
During the pandemic, Danielle Moran coordinated virtual learning for 1,300 students from 13 elementary schools in Wheaton-Warrenville Community Unit School District 200. Moran served in District 200 as director of elementary instruction for the last five years, but longed to return to her days as a principal in Yorkville Community Unit School District 115. 'I was ready to become a principal again,' she said of taking the helm of Greenbriar School in Northbrook on July 1. 'I loved being an elementary school principal. I loved what I was doing. I was passionate about curriculum work.' Moran found that she learned a great deal from working with teachers and staff from 13 elementary schools. 'It was a great experience. I wanted to take everything I learned and bring it back to a principal role,' she said. 'I was excited when I heard this position was available. It seemed like the school and the district and the initiatives they're working on were a good fit.' Moran said her most important goal in her first year will be getting to know the community, including staff, students, families and the Greenbriar culture. 'I'm learning what their experiences are and what are the important goals for their kids,' she said. 'From there, the district has a wonderful structure of teams of committees and instructional leadership. I'm excited to get started with those teams and working on school goals of impacting academic achievement and the learning experience.' Moran said she has been thrilled to meet students enrolled in Greenbriar's summer program during her first few weeks on the job. 'I also want to get to know kids, even a little bit in the hallways during the summer program,' she said. 'I'm excited to see them and get to know them and be in classrooms with them every day.' Greenbriar has already accomplished much in social-emotional learning and making sure kids feel like they belong and are connected to the school and at least one adult at the school, Moran said. 'That's huge,' she said. 'That has been a really important goal for the school. Next we are continuing that work and bringing in some social-emotional experiences embedded in what they do.' Northbrook School District 28 plans to provide resources, including the social-emotional program Wayfinder, to help students with task management throughout each day, Moran said. Staff will begin training on the program later this summer, she said. 'The idea is to make the day more cohesive for students, so they feel engaged and motivated to learn and so they feel really in charge of their own behavior,' Moran said. 'It's embedded in routines and things they do throughout the day. It makes the day smoother with less interruptions. The goal is to increase student motivation and engagement.' Another goal for Moran is making sure students are growing in academic achievement and reaching their full potential. Among proposed curriculum changes is the slow rollout of the Into Reading program, a resource literacy program that incorporates foundational skills in learning and includes all major pillars of reading instruction, Moran said. 'Other changes are more to provide a multi-tiered system of supports,' she said. 'It's not so much a program or curriculum. It's more developing something school-wide or district-wide to make sure students have a solid foundation in core instruction.' Moran explained how principals work with a school's budget. 'I'm able to allocate what accounts we'll be spending it on,' she said. 'I have a lot of say and freedom as to what gets purchased for the school. That is with teacher and staff input – for furniture, materials needed, or professional learning and making sure we have teachers that belong to professional organizations.'
Saba Yemen
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Tribal stand in Dhamar: Al-Hadaa tribe declares readiness to confront aggression & Support Gaza
Dhamar - Saba: The sons of District 200 in Al-Hadaa directorate, Dhamar province, organized an armed tribal stand on Wednesday, declaring their readiness to confront the American-Zionist aggression and in solidarity with the Palestinians. During the event, Dhamar Governor Mohammed Al-Bukhaity praised the massive turnout, describing it as a message from Al-Hadaa tribe and all Yemeni tribes that the Yemeni people are prepared to engage in battle against their enemies. He noted that "signs of victory have begun to emerge with America's withdrawal from its entanglement in the aggression against Yemen, a sudden exit resulting from its heavy losses—especially in morale—as Yemen has shattered America's prestige." Governor Al-Bukhaity urged unity and heightened readiness for the decisive battle, commending Al-Hadaa tribe's sacrifices in defense of religion and homeland. Participants in the stand affirmed their full preparedness to confront any enemy escalation and their readiness to engage in the "promised conquest and sacred jihad," reinforcing training camps with fighters and firmly confronting anyone attempting to undermine Yemen's security and stability. They condemned the Zionist enemy's crimes against their brothers in Palestine and Lebanon, as well as the forced displacement attempts in Gaza, reiterating Yemen's steadfast support for the Palestinian people and their just cause as a religious, moral, and humanitarian duty. A statement issued during the stand declared a general mobilization, tribal solidarity, and full readiness for jihad in the path of God to confront the aggression against Yemen and Gaza. It also announced the dispatch of thousands of fighters to general mobilization training camps as part of the 11th first-level batch. The statement hailed the Yemeni Armed Forces' military operations in blocking Israeli ships, targeting the depths of the Zionist entity, and the qualitative advancements in air defense, calling for more devastating strikes against the enemies. It reaffirmed full support for the decisions and choices of the Revolutionary Leadership and the Supreme Political Council, as well as the deterrent escalation measures and legitimate military operations against the aggression on Yemen and Gaza. The statement condemned the Zionist enemy's crimes in Palestine and Lebanon, the displacement attempts in Gaza, the aggression's targeting of civilian and economic facilities in Yemen. It disavowed all traitors and collaborators, criminalizing any cooperation with the American-Zionist enemy or espionage with foreign forces, and withdrew tribal protection from anyone aiding the enemy or destabilizing Yemen, demanding strict penalties under Sharia, law, and tribal norms. Additionally, the statement announced a general reconciliation, unity, and the preservation of internal cohesion, stressing that the aggression against Yemen will not deter its people from supporting Gaza. It called on all Yemeni and Arab tribes to uphold their moral, religious, national responsibility toward the Palestinian people facing genocide and the Yemeni people enduring blatant aggression. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
Chicago Tribune
25-03-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
John Swanson, former OPRF superintendent, dies at 96
John Swanson was superintendent of Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 from 1974 until 1987, and worked to maintain the traditions of the school while taking an empathetic approach to student discipline, according to colleagues. Swanson, 96, died of kidney disease Feb. 21 at the Johnson Health Care Center at the Covenant Living at Windsor Park retirement community in Carol Stream, said his daughter, Kathryn Soneson. John Charles Swanson was born and raised in Rockford, and graduated from East High School in Rockford. He received a bachelor's degree from Wheaton College in 1949 and subsequently a master's and a Ph.D. in education from Northwestern University. From 1952 until 1957, Swanson taught and was a dean at Wheaton Academy in West Chicago, where he also coached basketball. He then returned to his alma mater, East High School in Rockford, where he was a counselor and an assistant principal, before becoming principal of the newly opened Guilford High School in Rockford. In 1969, became an assistant superintendent for curriculum in the Deerfield Highland Park High School District, a post he held until taking over as superintendent of the Oak Park and River Forest High School District. As Swanson saw the school district's student body becoming more diverse, he hired the district's first-ever African American administrator, Larry Walker, in 1982. Walker's title was associate superintendent, but he essentially functioned as Oak Park and River Forest High School's principal. 'Jack was the most caring administrator that I've ever known or even the most caring human being I've ever known. He was just good at everything, and he was so sensitive and down-to-earth with everything,' said Walker, who now is based near Las Vegas. 'He pushed me to be the best I could be.' Swanson created a variety of initiatives as superintendent, including, at Walker's urging, a student assembly to recognize Martin Luther King. Swanson also created human relations awards for students based on their kindness toward others, complete with a recognition breakfast. Swanson also brought all staff — not just teachers but custodians and cafeteria workers — to a conference on the day before school started, to place everyone on the same page, Walker said. Don Vogel, the district's former media coordinator, recalled Swanson's organizational skills as well as his penchant for a personal touch, such as sending staff handwritten notes for accomplishments. David Hanson, a District 200 board member during the latter part of Swanson's tenure, remembered Swanson as an empathetic leader. 'In student punishment issues, students would come and appear before the board, and we, including Jack, had the feeling in so many cases that we're sorry we have to punish the students — we wish we could punish the parents,' Hanson said. 'It's a perspective that comes from viewing people as human beings and analyzing them and developing your feelings that way.' In 1982, District 200 learned that its chief custodian, 23-year district employee Reinhold Kulle, had been a Nazi who worked at the Gross-Rosen concentration camp during World War II. Kulle had covered up that fact on his visa application to come to the U.S., The situation drew headlines, and the District 200 board in January 1984 dismissed Kulle, who had been an exemplary employee, under a deal in which he agreed to take early retirement from the district that summer. Three years later, he was deported to Germany. 'Jack would always recognize the best features in any other human being, and when we dealt with the Reinhold Kulle situation, there was only one way to go — to dismiss him,' Hanson said. 'But Jack had sympathies with Reinhold, as did many of the faculty members, because he was looking at it from the human side, not from the board side, in that analysis.' After retiring as superintendent in 1987, Swanson was an interim school superintendent for districts in River Forest and Rockford, and he also volunteered for Circle Urban Ministries, Lawndale Community Development Corp. and Lawndale Christian Health Center on the West Side. He also worked with the group World Relief to help refugees acclimate to the U.S., and he and his first wife spent a year on a Christian mission in Manila. Swanson's first wife, Ellie, died in 2004 after 54 years of marriage. His second wife, retired Wheaton College professor Zondra Lindblade, died in 2022. In addition to his daughter, Swanson is survived by a son, Robert; a brother, Armour; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. A visitation will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday,at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 29W260 Batavia Road in Warrenville, with a memorial service to follow at 11 a.m. Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
