Superintendent's Welcome 2023
Dear Avoca Community Member or Visitor,
My name is Kaine Osburn and I am proud to serve as the Superintendent for Avoca District 37. I grew up in Wilmette, attended New Trier (married a New Trier classmate), and now live in Wilmette where my wife and I are raising two sons. I grew up knowing about Avoca, being friends with students from District 37, and understanding it is a special place. As a career educator and educational leader, I have long been aware of Avoca's reputation for nurturing rigorous learning.
During the heart of the pandemic, we listened to expert medical and health consultants and to the feedback from our families and staff so we could support learning in the safest and most effective way possible. Nonetheless, I am glad we are past the worst of the pandemic. That does not mean its effects do not linger. We still have much work to do, and already, in 2021-2022 and this year, student learning and the well-being of students and staff have improved. I look forward to doing more.
One important accomplishment in the last year was the development of our new mission, Portrait of a Graduate, and strategic plan. Born of extensive community engagement and feedback, these pillars express our values, our mission - to inspire curiosity, cultivate academic growth, and nurture diversity - and our plan for advancing our mission and values over the long term. Please click here to see our Portrait of a Graduate and Strategic Plan.
Our community is the most diverse among those that send students to New Trier High School, and nurturing diversity is a pillar of what our community values. We cannot successfully nurture diversity unless we are committed to educational justice, most commonly understood as equity. Our strategic plan lays out in key places what that commitment looks like (see objectives 1B, 1C, 2B, and 3B particularly), and as we march toward achieving those objectives, we know our teachers will become more effective, our students will be more engaged, and our community will be healthier. Equity is the real driver of growth, both social and economic, and it is part of what will make Avoca continue to be a destination district.
Another urgent and essential part of our strategic plan is making sure our financial resources and facilities can sustain our mission and other objectives. A committee of parents, guardians, staff, and community members is currently reviewing the state of our facilities and finances and will make a recommendation to the Board of Education in June of 2023. Our schools cannot thrive if our physical environments do not support learning in the best way possible.
Finally, I am scheduled to retire in June of 2024. I look forward to spending the next 18 months focused on our mission, Portrait, and strategic objectives, as they collectively speak to what our community values in its schools and what the plan is to make sure we fulfill our mission in the future.
Sincerely,
January 2023
And follow me on Twitter @OsburnSupt