Weekly Communique

Welcome Back

Welcome to the 2022-23 school year! It has been a wonderful start to a new school year with beautiful weather, rested teachers and staff, and students that seem so happy to be back! This summer we returned all of the furniture to our classrooms and encouraged our teachers to bring back their small group instruction and learning spaces. While visiting our sites this week, there were smiling faces, lots of waves, and kids being kids. It has been both refreshing and a relief. We continue to provide opportunities for frequent sanitation, use of bottle fillers, and the additional air filters in our learning environments. But the building of classroom communities and instruction returns to the front.

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Staff Shortages

As I am sure most of you know, schools continue to suffer from a shortage of employees in what I would refer to as a very unstable work environment. During this summer, D56 was directly impacted by the teacher shortage. Many teachers across the country opted to walk away from their teaching careers, which created openings for existing teachers to take positions closer to home (and save on gas) or for better compensation. This year, we hired more than double the number of teachers than usual, to replace staff. Most of last school year we operated with a shortage of custodians and bus drivers. This week we experienced two unexpected resignations from school bus drivers. While we have located short-term subs for these routes, it may be necessary to consolidate routes when these substitute drivers return to their regular employers. As in last school year, if another driver calls in sick it may be necessary to cancel a route. We will do our best to avoid this, and if it is necessary will rotate routes being cancelled.

If you know of anyone looking for a position, we have openings for drivers and custodians. Please encourage them to contact our district at (847) 336-0800.

When visiting our buildings, you will encounter a video and audio check-in system at the front of the building. When you ring the buzzer, be prepared to say who you are and what is the purpose of your visit. During this encounter, stay in line of sight of the camera so the secretary can see you. This is an integral part of allowing only purposeful visitors into our schools.

All four schools have the Raptor System installed in the office area. This system is designed to scan visitor ID information and to screen it against the sex offender registry and custom databases. The system will automatically alert staff if the person checking in is a security risk. It also allows us to know when/if there are visitors in the buildings. If there were to be an emergency, we can run a report to make sure all visitors have safely exited the building.

When you visit one of our schools, if you are going further than the office area and into the interior of the school, you will be asked to show identification. The school secretary will run the ID through the system and a badge will be created. You are to wear the badge in a visible location on your person. This helps staff to identify you as someone who is allowed in the school.

Thank you for your cooperation with our first line of defense.

Please click on the link below to view information about the lunch program that was emailed to families on August 15, 2022.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EORTVi_t0VOlDyTSRpkFyq8GBB6iTPlPz0mpIz0xYfE/edit?usp=sharing