Four hundred youth, representing several DuPage school districts, attended the third annual Amplify: Equity and Mental Health Student Leadership Conference at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. The theme was “Be Here. Be You. Be Heard. Belong.” Participating school districts included Glenbard District 87, DuPage District 88, Naperville Community School District 203, and Lyons Township District 204.

The conference focused on identity, belonging, and healing, according to Dr. Jennifer Rowe, director of Student Equity and Belonging at Lyons Township High School. Rowe, who also helped plan and organize the event, says it’s important for students to have a space and place to receive the support they need. “Marginalized youth can connect with one another [at this conference] and discover there are others like them,” said Rowe. 

Maggie Brennan, a junior at Willowbrook High School, was encouraged by the conference. “[It] gave the space and opportunity for so many unique people to share their experiences, listen to the experiences of others, and...

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Parents as Teachers program and DuPage Credit Union Team Up to Deliver Food, Supplies, and Gift Cards to DuPage Families

In the spirit of giving, DuPage Credit Union extended a helping hand to the Regional Office of Education's Home Visiting Program (Parents as Teachers) by donating essential supplies, food baskets, and gift cards to 125 underprivileged families in our program! This generous donation not only spread joy but also helped alleviate some of the challenges faced by ... >>READ MORE

Parenting is not for the faint of heart! It’s the most rewarding job, but it’s also one of the most stressful and difficult. Children aren’t born into the world with instruction manuals (wouldn’t that be helpful?!), and in our ever-changing world, knowing how to parent effectively and lovingly can be a challenge.

That’s why the DuPage County Regional Office of Education has partnered with the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago and their Strong Families program. Together, we will offer parenting support groups to DuPage County families. These groups will give a hand up to parents looking for additional services and resources to help build strong, healthy families. Parents can expect... >>READ MORE

School safety is an issue that is important to every resident of DuPage County--and for good reason. We all desire a community where every child can learn and grow without risk to their physical or emotional well-being.

While there are no quick solutions to the challenges of school safety, nor does the DuPage Regional Office of Education have the authority to make all the changes we’d like to see, there is so much we CAN do and ARE doing in DuPage County. In fact, our efforts have been lauded and duplicated by other counties in Illinois. We're proud to work in tandem with the DuPage County Health Department, Homeland Security, the DuPage Office of Emergency Management, the I Love U Guys Foundation, and local police, fire, and law enforcement.

Back in 1999, the DuPage ROE spearheaded Illinois’ first school safety taskforce after the Columbine High School massacre. Back then it was controversial to even consider locking school doors(!)—so consider how far we’ve come. Twenty-four years later... >>READ MORE

So much of school safety has to do with prevention, and that's why we teamed up with the DuPage County Health Department to offer a workshop that explored crisis services offered by the Health Department. On February 1, participating educators and administrators learned about ... >>READ MORE

While we hope prevention efforts will help avoid crises in our schools, no school is immune to emergencies. When such a situation occurs, recovery starts during the emergency, not after. Without a plan to reunite students with their parents or guardians, the potential stress and trauma of the incident is greatly increased ... >>READ MORE

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