Background pic: Students in Ms. McGee's STEAM class at Walden got to try out Ozobots this week!

Resuming school after a break is never easy, but especially right now with everything going on! We can't say thanks enough to our DPS 109 nursing staff for everything they do every day to keep our students and staff safe.

Per Mr. Simeck's email yesterday, all extracurricular activities are on a temporary pause in DPS 109. Before and after care programs (run by the Deerfield Park District and located at our buildings) are still running.

If you look at our dashboard below, you will clearly see that we are dealing with a significantly increased number of cases over the past week. There will be an update at the end of this week, when we have a clearer picture of the impact of COVID cases in our community through SHIELD testing and other reporting, about activities moving forward. We are in consultation with the Deerfield Park District about enrichment activities, which are scheduled to resume next week, and will include any updates in our end of week message.

Additionally, all students who are going to participate in extracurricular activities, including those who are already active on clubs or teams, will need have a completed consent form (click below) on file and consent to weekly SHIELD testing when activities resume. Families that have already filled out the general SHIELD testing consent form still need to complete this form. Please make sure to do this by Friday so your child may continue participating in extracurriculars as soon as they resume.

Again, this is only for DPS 109 extracurricular activity participants. This does not include park district programming. Testing is also not required for daily school attendance.

You can complete an optional form in Family Access to let DPS 109 know that your child is vaccinated. This is the same form that was made available to students ages 12 and older earlier this year. Please click below to log into Family Access.

Why are we asking for this information?

A major benefit of completing the form is that if your child is deemed to be a close contact to a positive case, either in school or outside of it, our contact tracing team will quickly be able to potentially rule out quarantine for those that have voluntarily disclosed their child’s vaccination status or minimize the number of additional tests required to participate in the test to stay program.

Again, filing out this form is entirely optional. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to communications@dps109.org and we will put you in touch with the appropriate department.

The Board of Education held several meetings in December, tackling regular agenda items and approving the Caruso auditorium renovation project to move forward. More information will be shared about that project in the coming weeks. You can read the Briefs below and watch recordings of our meetings on our YouTube channel.