DuPage District 88 presents strategic‑plan update to Addison SD 4 board, highlights college credits and career pathways

Jean Barbanete, superintendent of DuPage High School District 88, presented District 88’s updated strategic plan to the Addison School District 4 board on April 24, emphasizing collaboration, equity, and measurable goals.

Barbanete said the board adopted a new vision and mission and organized the plan around three goal areas with a total of nine specific goals. Each goal will be tracked on a publicly available dashboard that will be updated annually. She highlighted the district’s diversity — "We have over 51 languages spoken across the district" — and said the plan intentionally centers interventions to meet students where they are.

Barbanete called out college-credit opportunities and career programming as a central strategy. She said students at District 88 earned more than 3,000 college credits last year through AP and dual-credit courses, an accomplishment she estimated at about $1,400,000 in avoided tuition costs for families. The district maintains roughly 30 AP classes and about 50 dual-credit or college-credit courses, and Barbanete said those offerings are expanding.

The presentation also emphasized career-pathway expansion (about 17 distinct pathways) and industry credentials tied to programs (examples cited included NATEF certification in automotive and OSHA and food‑sanitation credentials). Barbanete noted growth in extracurricular options — including girls flag football, girls wrestling and competitive esports — and said District 88 has increased mental‑health supports and staffing to address student well‑being.

Barbanete described ongoing collaboration with feeder districts (Districts 445 and 48) and regular meetings among superintendents, principals and central-office staff to align curriculum, scheduling and extracurricular participation. She invited feedback on the draft plan and said the district will soon solicit public input on the dashboard and goals.

Board members asked about the collaboration and about facility implications (including whether a new pool might be feasible; Barbanete estimated a new indoor pool would cost in the $20–25 million range and noted land constraints at Addison Trail).