Grayslake Early Childhood Center earns Accelerate Illinois Gold Circle; Park Campus students honored

The Grayslake Early Childhood Center received a top-quality designation from the state’s quality-improvement system and the district publicly recognized student-athletes at the Dec. 17 board meeting.

Dr. Lorenzo read results from an Illinois State Board of Education compliance monitoring visit and announced that the Grayslake Early Childhood Center had achieved Accelerate Illinois’ Gold Circle quality rating, the program’s highest designation. Dr. Lorenzo said the rating reflects meeting or exceeding benchmarks for learning environment, instructional quality, administrative standards, group size and ratios, staff qualifications and professional development. "It is an honor to present this certificate to you as evidence of the incredibly talented professionals in our early childhood program," Dr. Lorenzo said.

Earlier in the meeting, the board recognized the Park Campus eighth-grade volleyball team (undefeated; conference and tournament champions, per a note read by Krista Nelson) and the Park Campus girls cross country team. Cross country coach Jordan Kalta listed student standouts who represented the school at the state meet: Lisonbee Tijanko, Ratanjala Freeman, Blakely Domier, McKenna Ryan and Paige Kania.

Board members and administrators thanked staff and students for their efforts; administrators said the recognitions reflect both extracurricular achievement and instructional quality across the district.

What happens next: the district will retain the ISBE monitoring documentation and the early childhood center’s Gold Circle recognition will remain part of the program record and quality-improvement planning.