Dear District 70 Families and Community:

There is a spirit of anticipation and excitement in the air lately at our District 70 administrative offices. And it’s not the countdown to winter break. As we near the end of the first trimester, we are also nearing the culmination of our strategic plan work! It is nearly time to wrap it up and package it with a bow.

Creating and refining the strategic plan process is important for high-performing districts like ours. Our aim with embarking on a new phase of strategic planning is to be purposeful about our goals and the action steps we will take to achieve them.

Throughout the process, we have benefitted from the engagement, involvement, and feedback from many in our community. Together, we have sorted through to find our areas of focus and we have applied research and best practices to create a plan of action to guide us as a district and a community to reach our shared goals.

I am very much looking forward to the final steps of this plan, knowing that our roadmap to success was built with the voices of our parents/guardians, community, staff, and students. The photos below are from our recent weekend strategic plan that included parents, guardians, community and business leaders, staff, and students.

In January we will be sharing the details of the plan with our staff at our Jan. 17th Institute Day. (Students will not attend school that day.) Following that, we will share the plan in detail at our Feb. 27th board meeting and then in even more detail in our March newsletters.

The most important part of this plan, just like giving or receiving a gift, is the enjoyment of it. This plan will be the gift that keeps on giving as it masterfully guides and leads us and our students on a journey of Learning Together - just as our new vision statement says - and it will help us navigate there on purpose.

Shine Bright,

Rebecca

Rebecca A. Jenkins

Superintendent of Schools

Libertyville School District 70

rjenkins@d70schools.org

Rebecca's Twitter

Rebecca's Instagram

Responding to parent/guardian suggestions on the Safety Committee, the District 70 website now hosts a special Safety button on the front of the district and all the schools' website pages. You can find the new Safety button on the top right-hand corner of the D70 home website pages. The button will guide people to the:

• D70 Bullying/Harassment Form

• See Something, Say Something/Safe2Help

• D70 Safety Information

The Village of Libertyville Police Department has an opening for a school crossing guard at the corner of Rockland Road and Stewart Avenue for this school year. This is a paid position with the department.

The position is for about 2.5 hours on school days from 7:35 to 8:50 a.m. and from 2:40 to 3:55 p.m. on Monday through Friday.

For more information, contact police Lt. Ed Swider at eswider@libertyville.com

Apply now!

District 70 is looking for a few good partners!

Almost 100 local and national businesses and companies have partnered with District 70 over the last 25 years to enhance education through innovative and creative new programs in the classrooms.

Many businesses are drawn to be part of the partners' Mini-Grant Awards where D70 teachers and staff members are awarded grant monies to fund creative programs and projects. Teachers and staff develop new programs and then apply for funding through partners, with business leaders selecting the programs and projects to be funded. The program has been on hold for the last two years during the pandemic.

This will be the 25th year for the partnership's "Mini-Grant Awards" program, which has awarded more than $200,000 over the years for direct use in the classrooms.

Mini-Grants can receive as much as $500. Monies have funded such programs as creating STEM activities for students, math and language support materials, literary works related to the study of immigration, collecting additional supplies to help teach math skills, incorporating handheld sensory materials to help students focus, and the design, creation, and implementation of a butterfly garden.

Apply now!

1. Instead of sending fliers home in student backpacks, Libertyville School District 70’s Virtual Backpack is a place for families to find important fliers and information from community groups, schools, and the district.
2. The D70 website is your official guide to preK-8 public schools in Libertyville.
3. You can also "like" District 70 on:

• Facebook and follow us on
• Twitter and
• Instagram to keep up with the latest photos, video clips, and news from across the district!