R.J. Gravel isn’t a stranger to Glenbrook High School District 225. But as the new school year begins, he’s graduated to a new role.
Gravel, who has spent 10 years with the district in various leadership roles, is District 225’s new superintendent. He’ll share duties with superintendent emeritus Charles Johns, who will remain with the district through June 2026 to oversee the completion of several larger projects, including a review of the special education program and updates to board policies, Gravel said.
For Gravel, who most recently served as deputy superintendent for two years, this academic year is about building upon the school district’s nearly eight decades of quality education and ensuring that the needs of the community are heard, he said.
“This year, we have a big focus on listening,” he said.
“We want to hear from our families and we want to hear from our staff and our students. What’s working well for them, where do we have areas for growth?
“And then we want to ensure, as we’re moving forward, that we’re connecting what we’re directly hearing from our constituents to our strategic plan and continuing to make good progress. That’s what I’m most looking forward to.”
Conversations will take place in-person, through Parents’ Associations, music and athletic boosters and organizations, the Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee, and more, Gravel said.
“We’re going to be showing up to a lot of those sessions and meetings, not necessarily with an agenda, but just to say ‘Hey. Here’s what’s going on right now. We’d love to hear your feedback,’” he said.
“And we hope from each of those interactions we’ll build some new connections and we’ll just keep building those connections over and over again with new folks.”
District leaders will also continue to build upon work that took place last year encouraging respectful dialogue and kind behavior among students, he added.
At Glenbrook North, Gravel said school officials relaunched Class Act, a values-based program centered around accepting, respecting and inspiring others. At Glenbrook South, a similar initiative, known as Titan Values, continues to be reinforced, he said.
In the spring of 2024, divisions occurred within the Glenbrook South community when a student quote about the war in Gaza, published in the yearbook, upset many who viewed the statement as antisemitic. In the wake of the controversy, district staff were required to undergo bigotry, hatred and discrimination training.
Gravel said the focus on values-based tenets at the schools was “not in response to any one situation or need, but is part of our ongoing efforts to support all the needs of our students.”
He noted that improving how students and staff feel connected to their school community is a goal this academic year.
“This year there are two really big initiatives that we’re focused on,” Gravel said. “One is that our staff and students have a strong sense of belonging, knowing that we’re all part of a family and we’re all here to support each other through good times and challenges, and that everyone knows they are valued and we want them here.”
The other initiative involves addressing chronic absenteeism by engaging more proactively with parents when issues arise, Gravel said. This will also allow school officials to assess whether families need additional support, he added.
The district will also continue to monitor any changes in federal funding that could have impacts on education, Gravel said.
Until recently, about $138,000 in federal funding owed to District 225 was among the more than $6 billion in educational aid frozen by the Trump Administration. It was announced on July 25 that these funds would be released.
Separately, the district receives nearly $1.4 million in federal funding for special education and through Title 1, a federal program assisting schools with high numbers of students from low-income families, Gravel said. These funds were not among those frozen, he said.
The bulk of District 225’s funding comes from local property taxes, not the federal government, Gravel explained.
“At this point, we are continuing to maintain awareness,” he said. “We are acutely aware of what’s happening in Washington and we’re regularly reporting to our board and our community.”
A significant addition to the district this year is the opening of the new Transitions Services School to help special education students ages 18 to 21 move from high school to adult life through vocational education.
The 8,000-square-foot facility, rented by the district and located at 1200 Shermer Road in Northbrook, welcomed approximately 80 students this year and includes a full teaching kitchen and laundry area for learning life skills, Gravel said. Previously, the program was housed in a smaller building, which limited how students could be served, he said.
Students at Glenbrook North are finding newly remodeled restrooms and additional spaces for students to gather, study and “recharge” within the building’s hallways, Gravel said.
At Glenbrook South, users of the field house found a newly installed floor surface.
Other classroom-related changes this year include new communication strategies with parents when students violate the district’s policy banning phone use in class and a requirement that students use their school-issued Chromebooks in the classroom rather than personal laptops, which cannot be monitored in the classroom, Gravel said.
Gravel joined District 225 in 2015 as director of technology services. He rose through the ranks to serve as assistant superintendent for business services, associate superintendent and then deputy superintendent before taking on the superintendent role on July 1.
He has also worked in higher education as an instructor at Waubonsee Community College and Northern Illinois University, and as co-coordinator of NIU’s School Business Management Program.
His message for students as the new year begins? Get involved and nudge others to do the same, he says.
“We want to see excitement and enthusiasm across what we call our four As, which is academics, activities, the arts and athletics,” Gravel said.