STAFF BULLETIN
APRIL 2015
Dear District 64 Staff,
April marked yet another busy month in District 64. Thanks to those of you that were able to lunch with FGM and share some of your ideas on how to improve our facilities as we begin to create a comprehensive master facilities plan. Your in-depth knowledge of your buildings provided the architects with valuable insights into what would help make our schools 21st century learning centers. FGM has made two community presentations thus far via the March 23 and April 27 Board meetings. You may find it interesting to watch the videos of those talks.
We also are moving forward with our strategic planning work, and appreciate the input we received from staff and community at the April 15 preview meeting. The steering committee, comprised of representatives from all our stakeholder groups, is continuing to meet as we work toward a final plan to present to the Board in June. Feel free to contact any of us for more information, or check out our webpage.
I hope you had a chance to watch the Core Plus podcast and that you are considering throwing your hat in the ring to become a committee member.
April showers bring May flowers – what does May bring in District 64?
As you know, we had a Board election a few weeks ago. On Monday, May 4, we will say goodbye to John Heyde and Dan Collins and welcome Tom Sotos and Mark Eggemann to their four-year posts. Both Bob Johnson (two-year) and Tony Borrelli (four-year) will also be sworn in again as incumbents. I hope you all had a chance to sign thank you cards to Dan and John for their tireless volunteerism and dedication to make sound decisions on behalf of 4,500 students while helping to move the District forward as members of the Board.
I hope you are looking forward to being spoiled during Teacher Appreciation Week starting on Monday. I know the PTO/As are planning a nice week to say thank you for all you do for children. As a small token of appreciation, the Board of Education will send apple baskets to schools on Tuesday. I would like to send my sincere thanks to each and every one of you for your tireless commitment to the students of District 64. The impact you have on the lives of our students is great and I value your work on their behalf. We also will be celebrating School Nurse Day on Wednesday to recognize the work of our health assistants and nurses.
We are in the final stages of finding a new principal for Jefferson School. While we know we will never be able to replace a gem like Leslye Lapping, we are looking to find a warm, knowledgeable and supportive leader to help keep Jefferson so child-focused.
Initial screenings are underway for the Assistant Principal position at Washington School. We had many applicants for the position, so we are confident we will find a talented individual to help lead Washington School.
I am looking forward to honoring staff at the recognition evening on May 7 who have worked in District 64 for 25 years. Please join me in congratulating: Myra Berko, Sonja Dziedzic, Lisa Swain, Kimberly Bloom, Kathleen Hurley, Mary Jones, Mary Lally, Karin Mustari, Julie Majeski, Mary Ciccotelli, Christine Corlett, Brian Jacobi, Tony Clishem and Georg Luxton.
We are sad to be saying good-bye to: Paula Risk, Jill Benson, Marcia Kozelka, Charlene Boss, Marlene Willoughby-Petrie, Agnes Adamik, Janet Groll, Susan Jayne, Leslye Lapping, Susan Luif, Beverly Parypinski, Byron Rogers, Diane Abezetian, Eugenia Kotis and Becky Allard.
At the May 18 Board of Education meeting, we will be honoring teachers being granted tenure for the 2015-16 school year. Help congratulate Josephine Barzowski, Matt Bozeday, Erica Charous, Tiffany Costa, Caitlin McCarten, Erin McCoy, Katherine Milewski, Katie Moorman, Megan Philippsen, Kathryn Rohn, Shannon Ryan, Molly Staron, Melissa Superfine, Lisa Tinaglia, Kelly Velasco, and Jamie Zimniok.
ELF grants will also be awarded on May 18. Thank you to those that submitted proposals this time around. I know it was challenging for our ELF team to determine which grants they should honor. As a participant in conversations about submittals, I encourage more of you to consider submitting grant applications in the future. As you well know, ELF is a group of volunteers committed to helping champion innovation through raising and awarding funding for staff passion projects.
Thank you for making the EOY PARCC assessments run so smoothly. I appreciate your time and attention to round two. We expect results to be shared with us in June or July.
I hope you enjoy this beautiful spring weekend! Thanks for your partnership.
My best,
Laurie
ELL PROGRAM THROUGH NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
The number of students in District 64 who do not speak English as their first language in the home is increasing. As a result, I wanted to pass on information regarding an ELL cohort through Northern Illinois University. NIU is planning to start a cohort program in ELL in Fall 2015 at one of the schools in Buffalo Grove. The program will earn all participants an ELL and/or bilingual endorsement. After taking the coursework for the endorsement, participants can take additional courses to earn a Master’s degree.
The courses will be taught in a hybrid model, which means that during each 14-week semester the students will only meet face-to-face 4 times.
I have attached an information sheets under the HR section of the staff portal. Interested individuals should contact Gail Schumacher at NIU.... 815-753-7948.
Joel Martin
COMMITTEE CORNER UPDATE
Committee Corner Update: K-5 Math Steering Committee
The K-5 Math Steering Committee met on Thursday, April 23. The K-5 Math Steering Committee is focused on several goals including the revision of our K-5 Pacing Guides and the identification of supplemental materials to support differentiation. At our most recent committee meeting, we reviewed the Math Pacing Guides for each grade level. Committee members made adjustments to pacing based on feedback from the March 18th grade-level sharing and a review of the major/supporting/and additional clusters. Our goal is to ensure that our instruction is standards-based and that our resources support mastery of the major clusters.
At our next meeting in late May, committee members will review data from our math fluency pilot and make a recommendation for the implementation of either Rocket Math or XtraMath. You can expect to hear about this decision before the end of the school year. Thank you to everyone who is participating in this action research!
The K-5 Math Steering Committee will be recruiting volunteers to help us rewrite our Educational Ends assessments and identify supplemental materials for units. If you are interested in participating in this summer curriculum work, please contact Tracie Thomas.
More information about the Mastery Learning Committee and other District 64 committees can be found on the Staff Portal > Committee Corner.
Committee Corner Update: Mastery Learning Committee
The Mastery Learning Committee’s second meeting was held on April 17. The Mastery Learning Committee is researching three areas: 1) mastery learning, 2) assessment (formative, summative, and benchmark assessments), and 3) progress-reporting (including communication with both parents and students). At our April meeting, we reviewed the foundational elements of mastery learning and explored the impact of mindset, task, instructional practices, and feedback in a mastery learning setting. Our research included a number of resources:
- Formative & Summative Assessment (Rick Wormeli)
- Redos, Retakes, and Do-Overs: Part 1 (Rick Wormeli)
- Simple is Not Always Easy (Educational Leadership: December 2013/January 2014)
- How Good is Good Enough? (Educational Leadership: December 2013/January 2014)
- In Search of a Useful Definition of Mastery (Educational Leadership: December 2013/January 2014)
More information about the Math Steering Committee and other District 64 committees can be found on the Staff Portal > Committee Corner.
The Power of Mindset
Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck has conducted decades of research on motivation and productivity. Her most powerful finding for education is the idea that having a growth mindset can impact learning and achievement. Eduardo Briceno is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mindset Works, which he started with Carol Dweck. In this powerful TED Talk, he further describes the impact of mindset on success. The Mastery Learning Committee has included this concept and video in our research.PARCC Administration: Share your feedback with ISBE!
Thank you to all staff for your support with the PARCC assessment this school year. ISBE is actively seeking feedback from test administrators. After you have finished EOY administration, please take a few minutes to share your thoughts directly with Pearson on this survey. Thank you for your feedback!
OPEN ENROLLMENT 2015-2016
•Open enrollment will run from May 4-May 22, 2015 ( close of the business day 4pm)
•Open enrollment meetings will be held at ESC on the following dates:
Thursday May 7th 4:00-4:30 PM Room 2 lower level
Wednesday May 13th 7:00-7:30 AM Room 1 lower level
Tuesday May 19th 4:00-4:30 PM Room 1 lower level
Thursday May 21st 7:00-7:30 AM Room 1 lower level
*or by appointment
•The effective date for the coverage you are adding, dropping or changing will be effective on September 1, 2015
We look forward to seeing or hearing from you if interested!
MESSAGE FROM DISTRICT 64 WELLNESS COUNCIL
DON’T GIVE UP ON YOUR FITNESS GOALS!
The Staff Spring Fitness Challenge, which began right after spring break, continues until the end of May. Participants set fitness goals in early April, which were posted on the Goal Tracker. Participants enter weekly updates about progress towards their goals. Goals are set for personal gain, but tracked with peers to create incentive.
If you’ve been a part of the Challenge, don’t forget to post comments on your progress!
If you didn’t sign up in April, it’s not too late!
Here’s the Goal Tracker:
District 64 - Fitness Challenge Spring 2015 - Goal Tracker
Access your school’s tracker by using the tabs on the bottom of the Goal Tracker.
D64 TECH-CESS: May Is MYOB Month
The District 64 Technology Department is declaring May as “MYOB” Month -- Make Your Own Backup! With the “busy-ness’ of the end of the year approaching, it’s important to take a moment to MYOB. Your work from this school year is valuable. And as you celebrate another great year, it’s wise to take steps to protect and archive your information from sudden loss. Work can be redone, but the loss of cherished media and content is permanent. Your D64 Techs can guide you in developing this procedure. And once you have it, your MYOB procedure should be done on an on-going, routine basis.
The safest and most effective method of securing files is online backup.This means your Google Drive for your work files! Files stored online are safe from damage to your computer. And if something does goes wrong with your machine, you will still have remote access to your information from any computer with internet access. This means files can be quickly and easily restored to your computer from a secure online server.
So take a moment to review the steps to MYOB and rest assured that it will be smooth sailing to the end of the year.
CAN YOU HELP OUR KIDS THROUGH THE ARBETTER FUND THIS SPRING?
Sandy Arbetter was a social worker at Franklin School and the mother of Elisa Arbetter Sewell, a social worker at Jefferson. Since Sandy’s death in 1996, her memory and generous spirit have lived on through the Sandra Arbetter Memorial Fund at District 64. Through the years, this fund has provided money for children in need of appropriate clothing (especially in the winter), shoes for PE, and summer school tuition, among other necessities. According to Elisa, “Sandy believed that children and their families should have a place to go for help that would not require lots of paperwork and the sharing of personal financial information. If a family said they were in need, she wanted to help.” This fund has lasted 18 years, but it has almost run dry. If you are able to make a financial donation this year, please consider donating to the Sandra Arbetter Memorial Fund that directly benefits our students.
To help: Send a check payable to "School District 64" with ARBETTER FUND in the memo line. The checks should be sent to the attention of Jane Boyd (Director of Special Education/Pupil Services) at the ESC. Please include your name and address, so a charitable contribution receipt can be sent to you. Thank you for your consideration of this worthwhile cause.
PTO GIVING BACK COMMITTEE AND GREEN TEAM
The PTO Giving Back committee and Green Team are implementing a DVD drive at Lincoln Middle School!
Too old for Dora the Explorer? Too cool for Hannah Montana? Too young for Friends? Clean out your DVD collection and bring them all to Lincoln!! We are hosting a DVD drive and will be donating DVDs to two great organizations: DVDs4vets.org sends DVDs to veterans facilities, and children’s movies will go to kidflicks.org which distributes them to children's hospitals.
DVDs need to be in good condition and in cases or protective covers. Place them in the labeled bins which are near the office and the hallway recycling station. We are running our donation drive from Monday, May 11th until Friday, May 22nd. Lincoln is setting a goal of 718 DVDs -- if each student brings in only ONE then we will reach our goal!!
We are hoping that District 64 families and staff will be inspired to clean out their video libraries and bring generous donations to school in order to help others enjoy movies and shows on DVDs. If you want to share yours, please mark them “Lincoln DVD Drive” and send them over to Lincoln or drop them off anytime. Thanks for sharing!!
EARTH DAY
The Speech and Language Students at Field School were able to support the regular education curriculum by learning about Earth Day and decorating our speech room with truffala trees from the Lorax, by Dr. Suess. The students learned new vocabulary, together with having to follow many multi-step directions to complete our room make-over. It was a wonderful way to incorporate a general theme into our interventions!
LINCOLN'S SEED LIBRARY
Spring is here...more or less!
If you are a gardener, please consider growing some heirloom seeds from Lincoln's Seed Library. You can check out our selection at our Seed Library link. We have some unusual varieties this year (Purple Carrots), as well as some favorites (Amish Paste Tomatoes), and some new offerings (Rosemary). We'd be glad to fill your request via interoffice mail. Please contact Denise Reeder or Lauren Maloney for more information.
Happy growing!!!
HARRY O'BRIEN SPRING DASH
The 7th Annual Harry O'Brien Spring Dash takes place Sat. May 16th. Take part in a 5K run or 1.5 mile walk and bring family members along. Friendly dogs on leashes are welcome too!. All proceeds go to the Park Ridge Community Fund which will help over 25 local social service agencies. For more details and to register, go to prcommunityfund.org
RECOGNITION DINNER
FOR SALE
Contact sshub@d64.org if you are interested.
Rainbow Swingset with 3 swings, trapeze, tire swing, covered slide, climbing wall and more.
$850.00 or best offer (New sets sell for $4000+) Please call (847) 692-6256 or emaillbugai@d64.org if interested.
*Rainbow will take down, transport and reassemble at your house
Condo For Sale
11 S. Wille St., Unit 709, Mount Prospect, IL 60056 (photo available upon request)
Open House: Sunday, May 3rd, 11am until 4pm
Lovely, very private, two bedroom, two bath condo. 9ft ceilings, hardwood floors, ceramic tile kitchen and baths, cheerful eat-in kitchen, and stainless steel appliances. Master bedroom ensuite with a walk-in closet and a large beautiful bath. Spacious living room/dining room area. Second bedroom can accommodate a queen-size bed or a furniture arrangement for a den or office. Second bath features full tub/shower and generous sink area. One heated indoor parking space and enclosed storage unit included. Located just two blocks from Mount Prospect's Metro Station, Starbucks, and public library. Contact Gini Burns at 847-823-1950 or visit our website: www.11swilleunit709.com
FOR RENT
Condo
2 bedrooms, 1 and one-half baths, on the corner of Touhy and Lincoln in Park Ridge.
Available June 15th $1200.
Interested parties please call Candy Hancock at 847-698-2457 or ext 4215.
2014-2015 PAY DATES
5/07/15 and 5/21/15
6/04/15 and 6/18/15
7/02/15, 7/16/15 and 7/30/15