Principal, Ms Careda Taylor
We expect a banner year for Percy L. Julian High School. We expect that each member of the Julian community will approach this school year with one goal in mind. That goal is for all of our students to graduate prepared to enter college or to enter a strong career pathway – and finish. This school year Julian will have a peaceful culture and climate where all of our students will grow academically, socially and emotionally. In order for this to happen, Julian must be a place where our families and the community can come together to support our students 100%. There is too much at stake to get caught up in distractions, losing sight of our real business – that is to make sure our students are learning, everyday in every class.
Our faculty collaborated all summer to align our curriculum with our students at the center of all of the decisions around teaching and learning. Our parents have organized and we now have parents in strategic positions throughout the school. We have lost some teachers and we have lost some programs, but Julian remains a strong school which has made it through similar circumstances in the past. As principal I am asking you to have faith in the leadership which includes teacher, parent and student leaders. We are also committed to identifying and working with community leaders who want to work in a positive way to move Julian forward. And we thank those community members who have already made a tremendous contribution to our Culture of Calm plan.
Let me share some of the changes for this school year.
- Freshman Academy located on the first floor
- Expanded opportunities for students to take on line classes - Aventa
- Care Team and Grade Level Academic Intervention teams to support students in crisis or who are struggling academically
- New electives including Public Art, Film Study, Zoology, Piano, and more Advanced Placement classes
- Expanded tutorial services with Supplemental Educational Services (SES) and the new Julian University Tutorial Program
- Adopted seven strong principles to improve our curriculum and instruction overall and joined eight other high schools in partnership with the University of Illinois Curriculum Alignment Project
- Clearer discipline protocols and a new protocol for students to register complaints
- PRIDE School-wide Expectations for all students and Jaguar Social Skills for ADVISORY
- Peer Jury, Student Senate and expanded student activities offerings
- A plan to increase parental involvement in the school this school year with four new parent groups – Common Sense Parenting Workshops, Parent Cafes, Parent Involvement Team (PIT) and Proud Parents of Percy L. Julian (PPJ)
- Safe Passage Plan instituted on day one
- 100 additional mentorships in addition to our existing mentoring and intervention services
Last school year we saw an increase in our attendance rate, a decrease in behavioral incidents and an increase in almost every content area assessed on the PSAE exam. Our graduates are in colleges and universities all over the country . Join us to continue to build on these changes and this progress to make this the best school year ever for Percy L. Julian High School.
Careda Taylor
Principal