New District 202 Superintendent Dr. Glenn Wood plans on enacting a strategic plan in order to guide the district. 

Wood wants to honor the district mission to “develop responsible, successful citizens.”  In order to prepare students for the future, Wood is investigating six areas for improvement as part of the plan.

“What this strategic plan does is it will outline five years worth of goals,” Wood said.

The five-year plan aims to better the district in the areas that  include: finance and facilities, curriculum and instruction, student outcomes/profile, human resources, public relations/community and  technology.

Wood believes getting all members of the community to participate  is the most important step to help students.

“We’re actually going to have kids involved,” Wood said, “There’s going to be parents, leaders in the community, teachers, staff, probably about a hundred people involved.”

While Wood hopes to make the district academically sound, he is also mindful of the budget. 

“We hope to be good stewards of our money,” Wood said.

Wood is proud of this district and how the students are persevering  through all of the trouble and hardships of the two years.

“Go after the day,” Wood said. “Every day is a new day and opportunity to create your future and you have to own it.” 

According to Woods, the only way that any of these goals can be accomplished is with a strong leadership to back it up. Without communication from the administration, the rest of the school district is closed off from plans and events. Dissemination of information is important to parents.

“What’s cool about that is they get the opportunity to give input because there’s limits every day as a parent,” North Principal Ross Draper said. “As a community member, maybe they’re business owners, a student in the trenches every day, that’s why [communication] is a good thing.”

Wood also indicated that allowing the teachers  to connect with their students’ parents or guardians creates a strong support system. 

“Parent/Teacher Communication, in my opinion, is absolutely key for not only the student but for the parents as well,” North business teacher Kim O’Connell said. “I always like to reach out to parents because, by speaking with them, it puts them at ease and helps us create a team dynamic with a goal for the child/student to be supported as well as succeed.”

Not just teachers and students feel this communication is necessary, parents also see the benefit of improved communication

“It allows parents to become more invested in their children’s education,” North parent Amanda Jaronik said, “Which has a positive side effect on students academically and socially.”

Wood, after working in the district for thirteen years as the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, assumed his spot as District 202 superintendent at the beginning of this school year. 

“The intent really was not to be a superintendent,” Wood said. “Things just kind of happened.” 

Before Wood took over the top spot, former Superintendent Dr. Lane Abrell, trained Wood to take his place at the district office.

“During the pandemic it was me and Dr. Abrell and Tom Hernandez in the office,” Wood said. “That was pretty much it for about a year.”

The years working closely with Abrell helped Wood learn to understand the district in a better way. Wood continues to stay in District 202 due to his dedication towards the district and the community of Plainfield.

“What really drew me to the community is that I like the K-12 piece, and just the generosity of Plainfield is really something,” Wood said, “You don’t see it anywhere else.”