Olivia Maple and Lori Wilcox have volunteered to lead a broad-based community engagement effort to take the Mundelein High School District Long Range Plan (LRP) to the next level. Maple and Wilcox, along with an 11- member team, will help facilitate the process to build upon the LRP and improve education in the District. The entire community is invited to participate in M-PACT: Mundelein Parents And Community Together. The group’s first meeting is set for Thursday, October 25. The program will continue through May 2008.

“A high school is only as strong and vibrant as the involvement and support it receives from the very community it serves,” according to Olivia Maple, one of the community co-chairs for M-PACT. Maple has lived in and supported Mundelein for 13 years. Her two daughters attend MHS and a son goes to Fremont Middle School.

Serving the District comes naturally for her. Maple previously co-chaired the Long Range Planning Oversight Committee. She is currently President of the 8-Count Club, a not-for-profit parent support and fundraising group supporting the Mundelein High School Dance Teams.

According to Maple, the engagement process “is a perfect way to involve the community in a closer look at what has been developed in the Long Range Plan, and what will be needed to fully implement that plan for the continued improvement of our high school. Often the (behind-the-scenes) work in a school district is misunderstood by the general public. This engagement process not only gives our community members a chance to get a behind-the-scenes view, but to participate in some of the decisions being made for the future.”

A former teacher, Maple and her husband, Rob, own Discovery Learning Institute, a tutoring center which services children from Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Community Co-chair Lori Wilcox has strong ties to education and Mundelein. She attended Mechanics Grove, Carl Sandburg, and graduated from MHS. Her father, Neil McLoughlin, was a member of the MHS science department for 38 years. Wilcox has worked in education for the past 17 years, first as a teacher and now as an administrator. She has three children; two attend Carl Sandburg and a younger child is in preschool.

Wilcox is excited for the community engagement process to begin. “Giving people the opportunity to collaborate and problem solve is how effective change happens. Implementation of the long range plan will be, in large part, based on the priorities of the community.”

In addition to the co-chairs, two other members of the community will serve on the M-PACT Facilitating Team: Rick Breeden and Eileen LeFevre. Representatives from the District make up the remainder of the team.

According to Linda Hanson, co-interim superintendent, “All of these individuals, each with strong ties to MHS, bring their knowledge and experience to M-PACT. Their strong leadership skills will help guide the community group in making recommendations to our Board for the future of the District.”

Seven M-PACT meetings are scheduled from 7 to 9 pm on the following dates: October 25, November 29, January 24, February 21, March 13, April 17 and May 8. All meetings will be held at Mundelein High School. To participate in M-PACT, or for more information, call (847) 949-2200, Extension 1210,