When Palatine High School launches Crew Connect on Wednesday, the school won’t be stepping into the unknown.
At Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, a similar 30-minute academic support block has been built into the school week for nearly eight years and has become embedded in the school’s routine.
PalatineAssistant Principal Kimberly Glaser described Crew Connect as “our name at Palatine High School for what is essentially a weekly tier one academic support block.”
“It is really a system that is built in to the regular school day that is designed to give every single student access to additional academic support and possibly potentially some enrichment opportunities across their class schedule,” Glaser said.
Under the proposed system, the 33-minute block will take place between second and third period once a week. Teachers may request students for reteaching, reassessments or conferences. Students who are not requested will log into a scheduling platform called “Securly Flex” to select where they need support. Those who do not make a selection will be automatically placed.
Unlike a traditional study hall, Glaser said the block is designed to be proactive rather than reactive.
“This is really more of a learning accelerator, and it’s focused on being proactive,” Glaser said.
At Waubonsie, the block, known as “Tribe Time,” follows a similar structure. Teachers can request students for targeted support, while those who are not requested may sign up for sessions on their own. Students who do neither are automatically assigned.
WVHS Assistant Principal Montrine Johnson said the program began as a pilot in 2018 but has since become a staple of the school week.
“All of our teachers absolutely love it and demand it,” Johnson said.
Two years ago, when Johnson considered canceling Tribe Time during AP testing due to space constraints, staff strongly objected.
“I tried to cancel tribe time and the place — they were in an uproar. People were like absolutely not,” Johnson said.
Some Palatine teachers have expressed concern that students may misuse Crew Connect time instead of focusing on academics. Johnson acknowledged that it can be difficult to measure specific academic outcomes tied directly to the program, but said concerns about productivity are addressed through clear building-wide expectations.
“When we step together and we set the expectations for kids, for the most part kids do try to adhere to that,” Johnson said.
Johnson added that the school had to reconsider what productivity looks like during the block.
“We had to really evaluate what does being productive mean, and sometimes kids just need a break,” Johnson said.
Glaser said Palatine’s goal is to avoid what she described as “delayed remediation,” where students must rely on matching lunch periods, before-school time or after-school availability to receive help.
“This is really about creating accessibility and kind of personalization around that support in a more proactive fashion,” Glaser said.
Because the block requires slight adjustments to the bell schedule, class periods will be shortened. Glaser framed the tradeoff as worthwhile.
“The idea is kind of slowing down a little bit to boost forward,” Glaser said.
To ensure students remain in their assigned locations, administrators plan to build in a seven-minute passing period before Crew Connect begins. Administrators and support staff will monitor the building to ensure students are where they are scheduled.
“We want kiddos in that crew connect period for that full block,” Glaser said.
Looking back, Johnson said one thing Johnson would change at Waubonsie is incorporating student voice earlier in the process.
“One of the things we didn’t do that we probably should have is probably have had a student advisory board of some sort,” Johnson said.
The school later brought students more directly into the program’s development, including communication efforts and schoolwide messaging.
“We had our students create a Tribe Time jingle,” Johnson said. “We didn’t ask for that.”
The jingle is now played weekly, reinforcing the program’s presence in the school culture.
At Palatine, Crew Connect will run as a six- to eight-week pilot before administrators determine whether to continue or make adjustments.
“The purpose of the pilot would be to examine, you know, is this working the way we hoped it would work?” Glaser said. “Are there adjustments that we want to make?”
Glaser acknowledged that the concept may require adjustment.
“There’s definitely a mindset shift here,” Glaser said. “I think you actually have to get into it to understand it.”
“This has been ground up from Palatine High School,” Glaser said.
