Wilmette families now have a look at what's guiding their kids' education for the next five years.

District 39's Board of Education approved the new 2026-31 Strategic Plan at its Monday, June 15 meeting at the Mikaelian Education Center. The full document went live on the district website Thursday, June 18. Implementation begins with the 2026-27 school year across the district's six schools: Central, Harper, McKenzie, Romona, Highcrest, and Wilmette Junior High.

The plan, titled "Engage, Empower, Inspire," lays out five strategic priorities: student learning and growth, student experience and community, family experience and partnership, professional experience and community, and stewardship of resources.

The first priority puts differentiated instruction and advanced learning front and center, committing to ensure "all students are appropriately challenged and growing." The second focuses on social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health. The fourth, on professional community, reflects recommendations from the district's Community Review Committee, which presented a report on "Supporting Educator Well-Being" to the board in May 2026.

Compared to the outgoing 2021-26 plan, the new version reframes and renames several goals. "Student Achievement and Growth" becomes "Student Learning and Growth." "Supportive Community" splits into separate student experience and family experience priorities. "Professional Community" is elevated with explicit language about employee care.

The planning process stretched back to August 2025, when Superintendent Dr. Kari Cremascoli told the board the district would "strengthen feedback loops and expand opportunities for engagement" as it began envisioning the next plan. Community focus groups followed in February 2026, and a three-question survey went out to families in April through consulting firm Studer Education.

The district has not published participation numbers for either the focus groups or the survey.

Board President Anne Hart and the rest of the seven-member board approved the plan June 15, the same night they approved tentative fiscal year 2027 budgets for District 39 and the Wilmette Community Special Education Agreement and heard a year-end report on the outgoing plan.

The full PDF is available on the District 39 website. The posted document does not include specific implementation benchmarks or measurable targets for each priority.