Lane’s Local School Council (LSC) held a meeting on June 15 to discuss its achievements from the past school year and Principal Tennison’s vision for the 2017-18 school year.

Council Resolutions

• The LSC acknowledged the following sports teams for their accomplishments over the past month: Women’s Varsity Lacrosse, Women’s Varsity Rugby, Women’s JV Softball, Women’s Varsity Soccer, Men’s Varsity Volleyball, Women’s Varsity Softball and Men’s Varsity Baseball.
• There are also several staff members retiring that were recognized during the meeting: teachers Peter Gagliano, Gabriela Gonzalez, Dianne Lebryk and Cynthia Smith; and security guard Terry O’Malley.
• The final acknowledgement was for the two LTAC history fair projects that made it to nationals. The participants who made the trip to Washington D.C. were Hank Stennes, Greta Gillmor, Karina Rog and Drina Agojci.

Reports led by Principal Tennison

Tennison expressed his goals for Lane for the upcoming school year.

“The official vision for the school will be that we are an inquiry driven instructional school with student centered learning where students express their learning through critical thinking, creative problem solving, collaboration with confidence,” Tennison said.

June was a busy month with senior prom, senior graduation and the Academic Center graduation, which had just ended before the LSC meeting started. Next year, there will be approximately 1,100 incoming freshmen compared to the about 800 outgoing seniors who recently graduated.

In addition, Tennison said 19 staff positions will have to be filled for the upcoming school year despite Lane not having a budget so far.

Friends of Lane led by Lisa Borelli

After one full year of being the president of Friends of Lane, Lisa Borelli said she has already made some strides towards success for the club and school. This year Friends of Lane raised $500,000. The money will be used to install lights in the parking lot and likely to improve the girls’ locker room. Borelli also said that there may also be an additional project that the rest of the money will be spent on.

PPLC Meeting led by Gerardo Gonzales

Due to busy schedules among teachers, the Professional Personnel Leadership Committee (PPLC) did not hold a meeting. According the Chicago Teachers Union’s website, The PPLC consists of two teacher representatives from the LSC and up to seven other elected members. Duties of the PPLC include reviewing the CIWP and giving recommendations regarding curriculum content to the principal.

With the Omega program completing its first year, Gonzales said the Omega team is continuing to meet and explore horizontal alignment for the upcoming school year.

“Horizontal alignment is when different subjects of the same grade level are connected one way or another,” Gonzalez said. “Ideally, what the Omega program does is if you’re taking AP World History, the book that you’re reading in your English class is going to help reinforce those concepts that you’re picking up in your AP World class.”

Gonzalez said he was able to witness Omega teachers from different apartments come together to develop a “solid four year plan” regarding horizontal alignment.

Announcements

Colman Adams attended his final LSC meeting as the Student Council Representative. For the past two years he played a role in the monthly meetings by voting on measures and listening to other members opinions.

“I’ve learned a lot about background decisions that are made and why decisions are made. And why decisions are made in collaboration with ten members and how people can disagree and agree and also move forward at the same time,” Adams said. He added that there was something he took away from the LSC meetings.

“Each person has a lot to say and whether you disagree with it or you don’t, it’s important that you listen to them and make sure they’re heard and say your voice as well,” Adams said.

After graduating with the senior class, Adams will be attending Columbia University this fall. In light of his departure the LSC recognized the many accomplishments Adams made as a student during his time at Lane.

An honor roll student, Adams participated as as secretary of the LSC, president of the Lane Tech Jewish Connections Club, manager of the Women’s Softball team, and member of the Lane Orchestra.

George Doherty, Div. 867, will officially take over as the new Student Council Representative in July. Doherty said Adams set a good example and helped him throughout the process by explaining terms that were new to him.

“My main responsibility is to have the student body be heard in a more professional environment,” Doherty said. “I’ve always wanted to give back to Lane Tech and its community so that’s what I’m excited for: to actually help the students that go here.”