By Madhu Mayer

Emphasis on helping every student they can reach; Joliet Township High School District 204 is asking the community to join in a partnership with the Joliet Region Education Community Connectors.

The mission of Joliet Region Education Community Connectors is to work in partnership with students and families to promote and encourage the use of community and school resources; embrace diversity; support the JTHS strategic plan; and maximize every student’s potential through a supportive, equitable, personalized, and rigorous education that prepares them to compete in their future, according to Kristine Schlismann, director of community and alumni relations.

Joliet Township High School’s (JTHS) strategic plan includes decreasing the chronic absentee rate, closing the achievement gap, increasing the graduation rate, and ensuring each student has a post-secondary plan that ensures success after high school, she added.

Meetings to discuss the initiative have been scheduled from 7 to 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 14, Dec. 9, Feb. 10, and April 28 in the JTHS Administrative Center, 300 Caterpillar Drive, Joliet. Breakfast/networking will start at 7 a.m., with the meeting to follow. Spanish interpretation will be provided.

“During the meetings, we will determine the initiatives,” she said, adding no framework has been completed prior to the exploratory meetings where definitive plans will be made. Once the initiatives are established, the group will then determine how it will directly impact the students.

Schlishmann said JTHS established the Joliet Region Interfaith Education Council in 2009 to work with faith-based leaders to promote and encourage the use of school and community resources. After the long unplanned break due to the pandemic, JTHS decided to expand the interfaith education council by involving all community partners through the newly established community connectors group. So far, the connectors group has instituted programs like the Practice Problem Solving Circles to resolve conflicts and the Martin Luther King Day of Service.

Parent Kathy Millar of Joliet hopes the cooperative will be more than just talk.

“I hope they come up with exact ideas that will help the students,” said Millar. “I like the idea of this partnership because so many of the parents do not know all the resources that are available to them.”

District 204 was established in 1899 and founded in 1901. It is considered one of the area’s oldest school districts.