18227 LM Nov-Dec 2018

Roselle SD #12 Introduces NewDigital Magazine: D12 Path to Excellence

By Mary Schaefer IASA Director of Communications & Marketing

Roselle SD #12 successfully secured passage of a voter referendum in March of 2016 allowing for a .60 percent property tax rate increase to help resolve a structural deficit the district had incurred for over 30 years, according to Dr. Melissa Kaczkowski, superintendent of the district. To showcase some of the achievements made possible as a result of the referendum, the school district created a full-color, quarterly digital magazine, D12 Path to Excellence , in May of this year. The first edition of the 46-page digital magazine included feature stories of plans underway at the district for the upcoming school year, insight into how the district changed financially and academically, facility upgrades, special student programs underway, as well as bios on administrators, teachers and staff in the district. “The digital magazine allowed us to talk about the district turnaround that was made possible as a result of the property tax referendum. Not only are we keeping the promises made in the referendum campaign, we are exceeding them,” said Kaczkowski, who is in her fifth year as superintendent at Roselle. “Just the impact of being a district that didn’t have the financial resources to do what we needed to do, we have changed the picture of the district financially, academically and from a facility standpoint. We had buildings that were 52 years old and were crumbling and major facility work that needed upgraded.” Kaczkowski placed priority in sharing with stakeholders through the digital magazine all the progressive work that was being made possible as a result of the tax increase the voters approved. “We were excited to tell our story, and we have tackled all the work that we identified needed to be done when we talked about what could be possible through the referendum. We are now in a place where we are not just talking about what we had planned to do with the new funds, but we have the data and product in place to show people we have exceeded every promise we made,” said Kackowski. “We knew what we wanted to accomplish could not be done through state funding, and we had major facility work that needed to be done, which we completed this past summer.”

The May issue of D12 Path To Excellence promoted how the district is coming full circle in addressing a long-term structural deficit in the district’s finances, including significant investments and improvements in teaching, learning, curriculum and instruction and how the district was prepared to tackle construction projects in the summer, including $8.8 million in facility upgrades. Kaczkowski is proud the district was able to install new floors in schools, purchase new furniture for students, paint the school buildings and add new LED lighting and security enhancements this past summer. To illustrate the overall district turnaround, the magazine showcases the upward trajectory of the district from the first balanced budget in more than 25 years and an almost unheard of two credit rating upgrade in the past year, to three curriculum upgrades and rising test scores. Kaczkowski says the district plans to keep producing a quarterly magazine in order to have a source of accurate and positive information about the district within the community. “When we started on the road to secure successful passage of the referendum, we knew communication was going to be essential with voters on why the referendum was necessary,” adds Kaczkowski. “We were up against some huge challenges, and we want to continue to share our success story out there to keep promoting the power of communicating what has been made possible as a result of the new funds.”

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