D158 Supt. Rowe reflects on D158 success
HUNTLEY — On the eve of his final Huntley Community School District (D158) Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Dr. Scott Rowe reflected on his parents’ influences in his start as an educator, 12 years of service here and the district’s two significant honors in recent weeks.
Dr. Rowe is the son of educators parents, Margaret and the late Terry Rowe.
“Growing up in a family of educators, school was always a topic of discussion at the dinner table,” Rowe recalled. “My parents set the perfect example of what a strong work ethic looks like while holding family at the forefront of our priorities.”
Rowe, who began in education as a social studies teacher, came to D158 as principal of Marlowe Middle School in 2011. He served as Huntley High School principal for five years and as superintendent since 2018. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Missouri State University and a masters and doctoral degrees from Aurora University.
Rowe will hand the reigns of the district leadership to Dr. Jessica Lombard, Interim Superintendent for 2023-24 on June 30. He begins as Arlington Heights-based District 214 superintendent on July 1.
“As I graduated college and began teaching I had a tremendous sounding board at home through my early challenges as a young educator trying to figure out this new world of work. It was not until I entered administration though that the phone calls and advice sessions really picked up. I was able to talk through complicated challenges I was facing with my father who was able to relate to what I was dealing with and the decisions I was charged to make. My mother was able to offer the impact those decisions could have on the classroom and regularly reminded me of the importance of being visible to teachers in the buildings. I am certain that plays a large role in why being engaged at every level of the district was such a priority of mine and why I prioritize being visible and active as much as I do.”
One of Rowe’s final acts as Huntley superintendent will be to receive the district’s Lighthouse District Designation honor at the American Association of School Superintendent’s (AASA) meeting in Washington, D.C. June 26-28.
This spring D158 was also was selected as a Department of Education Green Ribbon School District Sustainability Awardee.
“I am so proud of these two national designations because they have been in the works for over a decade,” Rowe said. “As I reflect on what we have accomplished together as a school district in the last several years, we have so much to be proud of because our kids have the very best opportunities at their disposal. I am confident in saying Huntley 158 students have more opportunities to engage in unique and high quality learning experiences than anyone in McHenry County and almost anyone in the Chicago area.”
Rowe praised the successful district approach of offering Academies to fit the students’ interests. These Academies include Medical, Engineering, Fine Arts and Global Academies.
“These academies offer students the opportunity to immerse themselves in a high interest area of learning and build their high school experience around that interest,” Rowe said.
“The innovations such as Blended Learning, which has been recognized as the No. 1 Blended Learning Program in the nation by Study.com and Vanguard Vision, a district competency based education model and have begun offering online coursework to students at HHS. These three pathways in addition to the traditional learning model are important because they offer our students the chance to tailor their learning experience to their learning style in an a la carte model by subject to maximize their opportunity to be successful and build flexibility in their day,” Rowe commented.
He added, “all of those opportunities feed into the validation of our Lighthouse District status with the AASA as a district to look toward because of our intentional focus on personalized learning and successful structures and pathways we have built in support of that goal.”
Rowe also explained the history behind the Department of Education Green Ribbon School District Sustainability Awardee effort, which began in 2011.
“The 12-year journey led us to the belief we were the greenest district in the state and when we applied for the state level award, we were surprised to learn that the State of Illinois elected to pass our application to the federal government for consideration at the national level,” Rowe said
Rowe stated that the D158 Board of Education charged the administration to find additional dollars in our budget by reducing our energy consumption. “Through energy efficiency efforts such as guaranteed energy savings contracts to control the HVAC and lighting use when rooms are vacant and shifting to online controls of the HVAC systems and controlling the fresh air intakes gave us greater control of our buildings and contributed to a $1.5 million dollar reduction in energy use.”
The solar project’s start began in 2018 when Forefront Power was contracted and established “our solar array plans which guarantees the district will save $220,000 per year in energy consumption by locking in a reduced rate due to 80 % of our energy being generated by solar. The district will save $4.2 million guaranteed over the 20-year agreement with Forefront Power. In the first two years we have realized more savings than we anticipated, which is a great start.”
Recent efforts include purchase of propane buses due to a longer life, and they account to one-third of the fleet. A 2022 grant of about $1 million went to the purchase of four electric buses.
Accomplishments during Rowe’s tenure as HHS Principal included: implementing the school’s nationally recognized Blended Learning Program and 1:1 learning initiative and led the core planning team for the school’s recent $35-million and addition project.
As of July 1, Rowe will begin his as superintendent at District 214, one of the largest school districts in Illinois. The advice at the dinner table will stay with him there.
