About Us

The St. Charles Education Association (SCEA) is a professional organization of over 1,000 teachers in Community Unit School District 303 serving the St Charles, South Elgin, Campton Hills, Wasco, and West Chicago areas. Our collective mission is to make our schools a place of hope, academic success and growth for all students. Our mission centers around the core values of solidarity, collaboration, advocacy, and engagement.

SCEA is part of the Illinois Education Association and National Education Association. Together with more than 135,000 IEA members statewide and over 3 million NEA members nationally, we strive to achieve a common goal: to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world.

We are members of a committed group of educators who have joined together to fight for the rights of students, teachers and school personnel to learn and work in a safe environment, be fairly compensated, and provide a first class education for every student we get the privilege to teach. We are here to support our core belief that ALL students deserve a great public education.

The roots for St. Charles public schools are rich in history, building the first public school (West Side School) in the state of Illinois in 1854, and consequently East Side School in 1856. In the 1880’s, after residents grew concerned about the rivalry between the two schools that led to regular fighting on the Main Street Bridge, Charles Haines provided the land and money to build a new school to house the older students (middle school and high school) in a single building. The oldest public school buildings still erected in St. Charles are Shelby School (1911, now a converted office building), Thompson Middle School (originally St. Charles High School in 1926), and Lincoln School (1928).

In 1949, St. Charles combined their high school district (150) with Elementary Districts 87 and 79. The formation of the St Charles Education Association (SCEA) began in 1963. When collective bargaining was made law in Illinois in 1983, the St Charles Education Association applied for a charter with the National Education Association, NEA. At the time, District 303 was comprised of 11 schools, less than 500 staff members and roughly 8000 students. During the last 20 years, District 303 experienced exponential growth, and we are now the 18th largest district in the state.

Since that time, District 303 has grown from a small district into a large suburban District with almost 12,000 students attending classes in 17 buildings:

Elementary: Anderson, Bell-Graham, Corron, Davis, Ferson Creek, Fox Ridge, Munhall, Norton Creek, Richmond, Wasco, Wild Rose

Elementary: Anderson, Bell-Graham, Corron, Davis, Ferson Creek, Fox Ridge, Munhall, Norton Creek, Richmond, Wasco, Wild Rose

Middle Schools: Thompson, Wredling

High Schools: St Charles East, St Charles North

Our Haines Campus houses Compass Academy, which serves high school students and the D303 Early Childhood Program.

Our Lincoln School houses the D303 Transition Program, serving students ages 18-22.