Family Newsletter

September 13, 2022

Dear District 15 Families,

I hope your family is enjoying this gorgeous weather. Everything seems better when the sun is shining. It is hard to believe we’re in the fourth week of school. We have had such a great time connecting and learning with and from our students. It’s good to be back to a sense of normalcy.

Thank you for your support and partnership during the opening weeks of a new school year. Speaking of partnerships …

I would like to thank Mike's Bike Shop for again donating a bike to one of our exchange teachers this year! We truly appreciate their support of our teachers and love it when our community comes together to help one another.

One of our new Cultural Exchange Teachers, Frolian, can now bike to and from Lake Louise each day–thanks to Mike's Bike Shop!

As a reminder, the Board of Education unanimously voted to adopt a resolution to place a bond referendum on the November 8, 2022, ballot.

This plan was designed to benefit every student, school, and community while addressing long-standing educational and facility needs. The plan would also bring Full-Day Kindergarten to our elementary schools, restore and repair our schools, update libraries and learning spaces, and provide a linear feeder pattern from elementary, to junior high, and high school, as well as much more.

We hope you feel informed about the goals of Moving 15 Forward. To learn more about the plan please visit the designated Moving 15 Forward website.

Additional Information Sessions Scheduled:

I will be conducting additional information sharing meetings to be held at each of our current junior high schools as well as one at Thomas Jefferson. This is due to the fact that, should this ballot measure pass, Thomas Jefferson will become our fifth middle school. In addition, there will be one virtual session for anyone who is unable to attend a session in person.

• September 28 - Virtual Meeting (link will be available on the Moving 15 Forward website) from 6-7 pm

• October 6 - Thomas Jefferson from 6-7:30 pm

• October 11 - Winston Campus Junior High from 6-7:30 pm

• October 13 - Plum Grove Junior High from 6-7:30 pm

• October 20 - Carl Sandburg Junior High from 6-7:30 pm

• October 25 - Walter R. Sundling from 6-7:30 pm

Parents and community members can attend the junior high/proposed middle school that our elementary schools will feed into. The proposed feeder patterns can be found on our Moving 15 Forward website.

Our next Board meeting is on Wednesday, September 14. As a reminder, you are welcome to join us at Walter R. Sundling or you can tune in via our livestream to Youtube.

The 2022-23 Parent/Student Handbook is now available online! You can view the Parent/Student Handbook here.

Being intentional about our safety plans is one way we can ensure everyone knows what to do in the event of an emergency. On an annual basis, students practice bus evacuation drills, fire drills, a relocation drill, as well as a lockdown drill.

If you prefer your child does not participate in the annual and required lockdown drill, please complete this School Safety Drill Opt-Out form. Please submit one form for each of your children—this will help teachers know which students to excuse from the drill on the day it is planned. Do not hesitate to contact your child’s principal with any additional questions.

As always, I very much appreciate your continued support of all things D15.

Your Partner in Education,

Laurie Heinz

To all families that ride our buses—thank you for your patience and understanding as we work out the kinks that every new school year brings.

Even after moving to a three-tiered system, which drastically cut the number of drivers down by nearly 40, we are still experiencing difficulty covering all routes daily. This is due to driver absences and leave requests. We apologize for late buses, but we have been forced to double up some of our routes to cover routes where we do not have an assigned driver. We are constantly trying to recruit, train, and hire additional drivers to address the shortage.

We were only able to grant paid transportation requests on a very limited basis. We evaluated each request on a case-by-case basis, as to whether or not we had an open seat on a current route to be able to approve the request.

If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to Claire Kowalczyk at kowalczc@ccsd15.net.

School District 15 charges a book rental, material, and technology fee to help defray the cost of educating over 11,000 students. Fees are to be paid at the time of registration and are payable at the time of online enrollment.

Students who enroll late may pay the fees in the school office when they register. See below for more information regarding student fee payment procedures.

2022-23 School Year:

• Kindergarten (book/material fees): $90/student/year

• Grades 1-6 (book/material/technology fees): $150/student/year

• Grades 7-8 (book/material/technology fees): $165/student/year

• Grade 8 Graduation Fee: $15.75/student/year

Student fees were due June 1, 2022, for the 2022-23 school year. An invoice is no longer sent home. Please see below for ways to pay by cash, check, credit card, or e-check.

• Cash payments should be made by the parent in the office of the child's attendance school, where a payment receipt will be issued.
  
  

• Check payments should be made payable to "CCSD15," and can be mailed to the District Office, Community Consolidated School District 15, 580 N. 1st Bank Drive, Palatine IL 60067-8110. Please note the student's name, amount paid, and parent's name in the payment envelope. Returned check fee charge is $25 per check.
  
  

• Credit card or e-check payments may also be submitted through Infinite Campus: https://ic.ccsd15.net/campus/portal/parents/palatine.jsp. You will need your Campus Parent portal email address and a valid credit card number. If you need assistance with your Campus Parent Portal email address, please call your child’s school for assistance. Parents who do not have Internet access may come to their child's school to process their credit card payments. A small convenience fee is added for credit card processing.

If your family applied and is approved for the Free & Reduced-Price Lunch Program, student fees will be waived. All Applications should be sent to the Nutrition Service Dept.

Thank you to all of the families who have completed an Application for Free & Reduced-Price Lunch or the Application for Student Fee Waiver. Our staff is working on processing applications daily.

Please note that money can be sent to the school that your student attends to be put on their breakfast/lunch account. Please make checks out to Nutrition Services and add the students name in the note.

Mental Health Awareness programming will begin in grades 5th-8th grade starting later this month. Your building principal will be sending out a separate communication which will outline the details of this program.

The Department of Teaching and Learning will be hosting the first Parent University on September 29th! Please join us virtually for our first event of the year through Facebook Live.

Parent University is a series of virtual and live events for families and guardians of D15 students. Topics will vary throughout the year and aim to share important curriculum updates and discuss how to support your child’s learning at home.

Have a specific question? Please submit questions here so we can address them during the Live Parent University event.

We warmly welcome all multilingual families that are new to District 15! We are a community that values and embraces diversity and are glad you have joined us for the 2022-23 school year. For more information about parenting in the US school system, we invite you to explore the Bilingual Parents’ Video Library on our website. Resources are available in many different languages.

Come out and meet our human resources team at one of our upcoming Job Fairs at the Palatine Library! For a list of our open positions and to apply, please visit ccsd15.net/hiring.

Mark your calendar for upcoming CCSD15 Job Fairs!

• September 22, 2022

• September 26, 2022

• October 18, 2022

Time: 12-3 p.m.

Location: Palatine Library, 700 N. North Court, Palatine IL 60067

For more information, contact Lori Thum, Director of Human Resources, thuml@ccsd15.net, 847-963-3020.

Join the one-five Foundation for its first ever Family Fun Run/Walk on October 15 at Winston Campus Junior High! The event begins at 9:15 am on October 15. Registration is $15 per person or $60 for a family.

All proceeds from this event will support initiatives of the one-five Foundation that serve the students, staff, and community of CCSD15. Visit one-five.org to learn more.

Register today!

• September 14 - Board of Education Meeting

• September 19 - SPARK Meeting

• September 22 - D15 Job Fair

• September 26 - D15 Job Fair

• September 28 - Virtual Moving 15 Forward Information Session

• September 29 - Parent University

• October 6 - Thomas Jefferson Moving 15 Forward Information Session

• October 11 - Winston Campus Junior High Moving 15 Forward Information Session

• October 10-11 - No Student Attendance

• October 12 - Board of Education Meeting

• October 13 - Plum Grove Junior High Moving 15 Forward Information Session

• October 20 - Carl Sandburg Junior High Moving 15 Forward Information Session

• October 25 - Walter R. Sundling Moving 15 Forward Information Session