Dear Cherokee Families,
What is Chinese Paper Cutting? What traditions occur during the Lunar New Year? There was a lot of new learning about these traditions at Cherokee this week with the Lunar New Year celebrations. Thank you to the Spirit of 67 and APT and to all of the volunteers who made the Parent Cutting Presentation possible. The students have enjoyed learning about different cultures and traditions this year. Also, thank you to all of the families who volunteered at Feed My Starving Children last night. What a great way to teach our children about helping those who are less fortunate.
We have so many wonderful events planned in the coming weeks. Here are some of the upcoming dates:
Kindergarten Field Trip to Lake Forest Municipal Services- February 1st
Third Grade Olympics- February 3rd
Incoming Kindergarten Parent Information Night- February 8th
4th Grade Playmakers Presentations @ Everett- February 6th
4th Grade Field Trip to the Chicago Wolves Game- February 15th
Have a wonderful weekend!
~Dr. Cavanaugh
A couple of highlights for special attention:
Review the schedule for Wellness Week
Review the information about the upcoming Lockdown Drill
Reminder about use of IPads and Air Dropping
Review the change in notification about COVID-19
Review the Spring Break Calendar Reminder
Wellness Week
In partnership with the Cherokee APT, we will be having a Wellness Week January 30th-February 3rd. Join us in beating the winter blues with a week of motivation, calming reflection, gratitude and fun! Please see the flier with all of the great events planned for that week. All of our Cherokee Community is encouraged to wear comfy/ athletic clothing all week!
Lockdown Letter
Please read the following letter with information about our upcoming lockdown drill to address a school shooting incident. Schools must provide sufficient information and notification to parents and guardians in advance of any walk-through lockdown drill that involves the participation of students. Schools must also provide parents and guardians an opportunity to exempt their child for any reason from participating in the walk-through lockdown drill. If you wish your student to be exempted from the law enforcement lockdown drill, please contact me, Kate Cavanaugh, to let me know.
Responsible Use of IPads
We have had some issues across the school and on buses with students air dropping pictures on their IPads that are not educationally relevant. Please remind your child that the devices are owned by the district and they should be used for schoolwork only. In addition, for any students that ride the buses, the IPads should remain in your child’s backpack for the entire bus ride. Air dropping should only be used if a teacher directs the students to share documents via air dropping. Otherwise, air dropping should not be used to send pictures to one another at school. The staff have encouraged students to decline any pictures that are airdropped to them at school. Thank you for your support and collaboration to make sure that all students are using their technology responsibly.
COVID-19 Notifications
The district will no longer send notifications about positive COVID-19 cases to staff or parents/guardians. The number of cases will be monitored, and procedures adjusted as needed.
Spring Break 2023 Calendar Reminder - March 27-31
You may recall that last year Districts 65, 67, and 115 assessed parent, guardian, and staff interest in moving Spring Break 2023 (previously scheduled for March 20-24) later by one week. The survey was done in response to community feedback that our Districts had fallen out of sync with the dates of Spring Break in most of our neighboring communities. Survey results for staff and families in Districts 65, 67, and 115 indicated a preference for moving Spring Break one week later this year.
With this in mind, each District’s Board of Education approved moving Spring Break 2023 to March 27-31. Students missing school before or after this window in March will be considered absent. We realize some families have made travel arrangements for the earlier week that they cannot change. We will try to work with those families. Parents and guardians whose children will be out the week before our scheduled Spring Break are asked to reach out directly to their students' homeroom teacher to make a plan for the week of school they will miss.
Attendance matters. Even when an absence is excused, it is still legally considered an absence by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). To move our ISBE summative designation from Commendable to Exemplary, we must continue to focus on academics - and make sure absenteeism stays low. Attendance directly before and after Spring Break is strongly encouraged.
