school district
A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations.
North America United States
In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...
located in
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...
, and is the largest high school district in Illinois. District 211 serves the communities of
Hoffman Estates
Hoffman Estates is a village (Illinois), village in Illinois, United States. The village is located primarily in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, with a small section in Kane County, Illinois, Kane County. It is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2 ...
,
Inverness
Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
,
Palatine
A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.
, and
Schaumburg
Schaumburg is a district (''Landkreis'') of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (clockwise from the north) the districts of Nienburg, Hanover and Hamelin-Pyrmont, and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (districts of Lippe and Minden-Lübbe ...
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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.
Schools
High schools
Special education
Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
schools
* District 211 North Campus
* Higgins Education Center
Academics
Each school is accredited by the
North Central Association
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It w ...
and has earned full recognition status by the
Illinois Superintendent of Public Instruction
The Illinois State Superintendent of Education, often shortened to State Superintendent, is a statewide government office in the U.S. state of Illinois.
The State Superintendent is nominated by the Governor of Illinois and serves at the pleasure o ...
. All five high schools have received the
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
’s
Blue Ribbon School of Excellence
The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...
Award, while Palatine and Fremd High Schools have each been recognized twice.
Palatine High School was one of only 10 schools nationally to be named a “New American High School” by the U.S. Department of Education in 2000. Three schools – Palatine, William Fremd, and Schaumburg High Schools – were named among the “Top 99” high schools in the country by U.S. News & World Report.
D211 carries a curriculum of more than 390 courses, a six-week summer school, and
Advanced Placement
Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...
opportunities in 34 subjects. The District also offers 66 dual credit courses with local colleges, including
Harper College
William Rainey Harper College is a public community college in Palatine, Illinois. It was established by referendum in 1965 and opened in September 1967. It is named for William Rainey Harper, a pioneer in the junior college movement in the ...
,
Triton College
Triton College is a public community college in River Grove, Illinois.
History
Junior College District 300 was voted into existence in a referendum in March 1964. In March 1965, a second referendum was passed approving the purchase of an campus ...
, and
College of DuPage
College of DuPage is a public community college with its main campus in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The college also owns and operates facilities in the Illinois communities of Addison, Carol Stream, Naperville and Westmont. With more than 20,000 s ...
, as well as with the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
.
History
High School District 211 was named among the elite school districts in Illinois by Expansion Management magazine, a publication for corporate re-location, in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, and again in 2007.
On November 2, 2015, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported that the federal government determined that District 211 violated anti-discrimination laws because "it did not allow a transgender student who identifies as a girl and participates on a girls’ sports team to change and shower in the girls’ locker room without restrictions." ''The New York Times'' added that the student in question "identifies as female but was born male."
Board of Education
Township High School District 211 is governed by a seven-member Board of Education. Board members are elected to four year terms in non-partisan, at-large elections with three seats up for election in odd years after presidential election years (most recently in 2021) and four seats up for election in odd years after midterm election years (most recently in 2019). As of June 2021, the membership of the Board of Education is:
* Anna Klimkowicz (board president)
* Steven Rosenblum (board vice president)
* Kimberly Cavill (board secretary)
* Curtis Bradley
* Mark Cramer
* Peter Dombrowski
* Timothy Mc Gowan
2021 election
In the April 6, 2021 race, the seats of board members Robert LeFevre, Ed Yung, and Anna Klimkowicz were up for election. Nine candidates ran for the three seats; Klimkowicz ran for reelection, while LeFevre and Yung did not. Curtis Bradley, Klimkowicz, and Timothy Mc Gowan—the winners of the election—ran as a slate. Jessica Hinkle, Kristen Steel, Robi Vollkommer, and Denise Wilson—the next highest vote-getters—were all supported by board member Mark Cramer. The four generally emphasized the importance of in-person learning over remote learning during the
Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
and the need for fiscal discipline within the district. Roxanne Wittkamp received the least votes; she was the only candidate not to coordinate with another. Amy Nelson announced on March 18, 2021 that she was suspending her campaign due to an employment conflict; although she was out of the race, she announced that it was too late to have her name removed from the ballot. Despite imploring supporters to not vote for her, she received 3,453 votes.
Following the 2020 protests over the
murder of George Floyd
On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...
and the district's subsequent establishment of an equity team,
equity
Equity may refer to:
Finance, accounting and ownership
* Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them
** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business
** Home equity, the dif ...
concerns played a notable role in the race. In particular, Bradley and Mc Gowan, who are both black, made social justice a central issue of their campaigns. Their ultimate election to the board was described by ''The Daily Herald'' as a success for equity voices in the district and was featured in ''The Herald's'' analysis of the impact of George Floyd's murder on the Chicago suburbs. Bradley told ''The Herald'' that he thought the voters' acknowledgement of equity issues within the district was partially responsible for his election; Mc Gowan said that he saw his ascendance to the board as a direct response to the previous summer's protests.
Prior to his run for the board, Mc Gowan was an activist who led Palatine's first
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...
demonstration in June 2020 and openly supported equitable changes to professional development, employment, and curriculum within the district. After Palatine High School teacher Jeanne Hedgepeth made a
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
post that was critical of the Black Lives Matter movement and compared the term "white privilege" to a racial slur, Mc Gowan described the post as "unacceptable" coming from a teacher and called for her termination. Hedgepeth was placed under investigation for her remarks and was later terminated. Three weeks before the election, Hedgepeth sued Mc Gowan for defamation, alleging that he had made false statements about her on Facebook that had led to her firing. Mc Gowan's attorney disputed Hedgepeth's allegation, suggesting that the lawsuit's proximity to the election might be for political purposes.
After the election, on April 29, 2021, the board selected its officers: Klimkowicz was selected as president, Steven Rosenblum was selected as vice president, and Kimberly Cavill was selected as secretary.