001Tonight we mark a milestone for Dr. Melissa Hirsch. At the end of this month, Melissa will retire after 24 dedicated years of service to North Brook Glen View School District 30. When you consider a 24year tenure in one district, the sure volume of commitment that represents is remarkable. Melissa's journey with us spans over two decades during which she served as principal of Willow Grove School before stepping into her current role as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. By a conservative estimate, Melissa has prepared for and attended nearly 300 board of education meetings. Wow. >> She has stood at or near this podium to deliver countless presentations, always ensuring that this board and our community remained informed. When evaluating a career of this length, the most meaningful metric is the lasting infrastructure and admin an administrator
002leaves behind. for district 30. One of Melissa's most significant contributions and the envy of every single school district around has been the facilitation and the development of the common planning time at our elementary level. This may not seem like much to those of you who aren't in education, but it is remarkable. By establishing ELA and math focused professional learning teams, or PLTS as we call them here, because we have to have something special in district 30. She provided our educators with a structure and a space to collaborate and refine their craft. The framework created under your leadership will continue to serve our staff and educators far far beyond Melissa's retirement. And through her leadership and tenure, District 30 has consistently maintained its high academic performance as a destination district that educates the whole child. On
003a personal note, over the three years we have worked together, a defining success of your recent leadership was the comprehensive ELA adoption. Nothing like going out with a bang. As you know, this was an incredibly complex multi-year undertaking. Melissa, you focused on ensuring our teachers had the exact resources, training, and systematic support needed to execute the change flawlessly. Because of that rigorous framework, our students are beautifully equipped with the tools they need to further their reading, writing, and speaking skills, ensuring a strong foundation for a lifelong learning and success. Melissa 24 years of service to a single community is a profound achievement. Your contributions leave a clear clear footprint on District 30's history. We thank you for your decades of hard work, your institutional knowledge, and your dedication to the success of District 30. We
004wish you the absolute best as you conclude this chapter and step into a long, healthy, hopefully travelfilled and fun, welldeserved retirement. Congratulations, Melissa. I know what you want. Words cannot express truly what an honor it has been to serve this community and really what a privilege it has been to have my family alongside me with you. and it has made a huge difference um in my life. This work has defined um who I am. But what I really really want you to just know and understand one of the greatest opportunities I've had in this position is to support teachers and to help students grow and achieve. And that really has been such a privilege and honor. I can't I can't thank you enough for the time, the opportunity, and even the 300 board meetings that
005I to um present to. truly anytime anybody has ever asked me. It's been a true privilege and um I am just really grateful that I had this as a part of my life and um the work has been incredible with my administrative colleagues, with teachers and just seeing those smiles every single day of kids. And anybody who knows me would say my favorite part of this work was being at school with kids. Um, second to none. There hasn't been anything better. So truly thank you for that. I'm most grateful and