Highland Happenings
April 5th, 2024
IAR Testing Continues Next Week!
I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing spring break! It was wonderful to welcome all of our Huskies back to Highland this week and kick-off the final 42 school days of the 2023-2024 school year. IAR testing began this week and everyone did a great job putting their best effort forward and persevering on this important assessment. IAR testing continues next week, with make-up testing taking place the week after. Next week our 6th graders are headed to Lorado Taft for their yearly outdoor education trip. With the variability in the weather this time of year, please make sure that your Husky comes to school dressed for the weather each day. Please feel free to reach out to me at zcraft@dg58.org, or our main office at 630-719-5835 if you have any questions or need any assistance. Take care and have a wonderful weekend!
My Best,
Zac Craft
Principal, Highland School
Weekly Preview
- 04/02: IAR Testing Begins (full testing schedule below)
- 04/03: Student Council Meeting
- 04/03: Board Game Club
- 04/04: Art Club
- 04/04: 6th Grade Intramurals
- 04/04: Scoop Meeting
- 04/05: Treat Day
Later On
- 04/08: 6th grade class picture and club pictures
- 04/10: 6th grade outdoor ed. field trip
- 04/11: Art club
- 04/12: Fun lunch
Construction begins in District 58
Construction began at many District 58 schools over spring break, including work at our school. To keep parents apprised of construction progress, updates will be provided on the District website, including progress dashboards of our middle schools.
In addition to the middle schools, over spring break on Saturday, March 23, the District began preliminary construction work at the Phase I Elementary Schools (Henry Puffer, Highland, Hillcrest, and Whittier). In small areas at each of these four schools, asbestos was abated using a licensed and trained Asbestos Abatement Contractor utilizing workers trained, accredited, and licensed to perform asbestos abatement in Illinois public school buildings. In addition, the project was monitored at all times by TEM Environmental, Inc.
This limited work allowed us to get a jump start on larger projects. Since the District needs to begin work immediately after we end school in late May, we want to use every opportunity we have to be ready to go. If we put off abatement until June, regular construction work would be delayed by two more weeks. The following areas were abated over Spring Break:
Henry Puffer – Abatement will occur above the primary hallway ceiling
Highland – Abatement will occur in ceilings above two classroom bathrooms
Hillcrest – Abatement will occur in ceilings and walls of primary bathrooms
Whittier – Abatement will occur in ceilings above the primary bathrooms
All schools will underwent environmental air testing following the work. Contractors covered any masonry units or holes created from the abatement work before school resumed.
2024 Solar Eclipse
On Monday, April 8, 2024, District 58 will be along the path of a solar eclipse. Locally, this will be experienced as a partial eclipse, occurring during our regular school dismissal time, 2:00 pm for elementary schools and 2:10 pm for middle schools. There will be no changes to the regularly scheduled instructional day.
While this is a rare and exciting phenomenon, it presents a risk of eye injury to everyone, including children who may not understand the dangers of looking directly in the direction of the sun. The timing of the eclipse, when children are transitioning home, requires coordination in explaining to students they should not at any time be looking at the sun without appropriate eye protection. As students are dismissed staff will be reminding students about the importance of not looking directly into the sun.
If you choose to send properly certified protective eyewear to school with your child(ren), we will allow them to put on the glasses when they exit the building.
Due to the timing of the partial eclipse occurring at dismissal, there will be no viewing events at any of the schools. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) Information
In April, students in grades 3-8 will complete the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR). This assessment is a state-mandated assessments. In the coming weeks, your child will see sample test items and review online assessment tools, which allow them to familiarize themselves with the structure, format and questioning style of the test. Our curriculum and instruction are robust and complete and aligned with the standards measured on the assessments, therefore we do not “teach to the test.” The Highland IAR testing schedule can be found below.
How you can support your child
These tests are important and as with any other assessment, we ask students to give their genuine best efforts as we know they are strong, persistent and capable. In fact, our approach to these tests continues to be “can-do” rather than “must endure.” We continue to ask for your support in encouraging your children to approach these tests with the same rigor and investment as they would with any other test. Please read this letter from Assistant Superintendent Liz Ehrhart about these tests and ways to help support your student. As always, thank you for your support and partnership.
Very important to register your child by April 8!
Before we can count classrooms, teachers and supplies, we need to count students! Please register your student for the coming school year by Monday, April 8.
To date, we have 46 percent of current families registered, a good start, but we would like close to 100% registered by next week.
Click here to register, and click on “Returning Student Application” and follow the prompts in the step-by-step instructions. District 58 is encouraging families to register their student(s) promptly, as early registration helps the District determine its hiring, staffing, classroom, and transportation needs for the upcoming school year. While registration is occurring now, an invoice won’t be sent until after May 1 and fees will not be due until school begins. If you have technical questions during the registration process, please get in touch with District 58’s Technology Help Desk by filling out a Technology Help Ticket or calling 630-719-2768. For general registration questions, please contact your school office. Thank you for your help in supporting a smooth transition to the next school year!
New this year, all registration will be conducted online. If families cannot complete the process online, they can call or visit their child’s school and the process can be completed there. District 58’s preschool registration is also open and is accepting applications at www.dg58.org/preschool.
Varsity Tutors!
Did you know that the Downers Grove Grade School District has partnered with the DuPage County ROE to offer all students free homework assistance? This support is already available on your child's device. Simply navigate to Clever and select the Varsity Tutor app. It's that simple!
Special Education Information Session!
The Highland Scoop!
PTA All Day
#OnePackOfPackersReadyToPack
As you all know, Highland’s Teachers and Staff are entering their “Packing Era” and we’d love your help! We recognize that each teacher and staff may be on a different schedule when it comes to packing. The PTA would like to get a list of volunteers who are willing to be “on call” or available in/when a teacher/staff may need packing assistance. When you sign up, you are simply signing up to be on the list of potential helpers. We know schedules vary daily but we are compiling a list of potential helpers! Sign up here!
If you’d like to help but don’t have time- no problem! We are planning to keep the staff and volunteers fed with snacks and drinks. Feel free to donate via MemberHub as a general donation and we’ll put it to good use for motivation to get the entire school packed!
If you have questions please contact Monica Zycinski @ monica.zycinski@gmail.com
Dining for Dollars
Join the PTA for a dine out night at Oberweis and That Burger Joint on 4/18! Note this is the same day as the 5th grade Northside Band concert, so make sure to mention the PTA if you're going out for a celebratory ice cream and spread the word to you non-Highland friends.
Please also RSVP here so that the restaurant knows to expect a large group!
https://www.groupraise.com/events/259662
Book Swap
Doing some spring cleaning!? Looking to clean out bedrooms and bookshelves!? Start saving those used books for Highland’s Book Swap on Wednesday April 17. Donate any and all that you can, but please no board books. We love the Book Swap and love that each student, no matter if they donated a book or not, will get to choose several “new-to-them” books. Please send in your donations from Tuesday April 9 - Tuesday April 16. Boxes will be set up around the office for book donations.
Attention 6th Grade Parents/Guardians!
Herrick Parents Night Out
for current and incoming parents
Wednesday, April 24th, 6-9:30pm
Goldfinger Brewing, $30
Join us for an evening of fun, friends, brews, and raffle prizes!
https://herrickpta.memberhub.com/store/items/998813
Herrick Rock the Block- CANCELED! This event has been canceled due to Herrick’s construction.
Always Here!
Item's that can be found in every edition of the Highland Happenings, such as the Highland Playbook and our student attendance form can be found below. We want to ensure that these resources are always available to our families while also making each week's Happenings as reader-friendly as possible!
School Health Requirements
Please click below to see the most up to date school health requirements. If you have any questions regarding health requirements for your student, please reach out to one of the members of our school nursing team.
Community Resources
New service on mental health resources
District 58 strives to create a culture of well-being for students, parents, staff and community. To further support this endeavor, the District has invested in an additional support service through ReferralGPS.
ReferralGPS is a service providing assistance to our community in finding local mental health and substance use-related treatment resources. The service compliments the District’s existing systems of support as a tool for student service teams and families to connect with treatment. Along with a searchable database of treatment options, ReferralGPS assists families in triage and appointment setting.
School district staff and families may access ReferralGPS in two ways:
Contact Student Services (social workers, psychologists, counselors) to seek out treatment options
Visit this link at https://referralgps.com/find-help/DG58 to search for treatment resources or connect with a Care Navigator anonymously
The platform has the ability to filter by mental health concern, clinician gender/specialty, location, and insurance acceptance. The service is available for all types of private and public insurance options including PPO, HMO, Medicaid, and families that are uninsured or underinsured.
ReferralGPS is available for use by district students, staff, and families at no cost. All information entered on the ReferralGPS tool is completely confidential and securely stored.
Personal Electronic/Technology Devices Policy in DG58
It is amazing how far technology has come over the last decade and continues to advance. We recognize the value technology has not just in education, but our world. However, we hope that we can work together to remind students that during the school day, personal electronic devices should be turned off or silenced and out of sight. This includes wearable devices if they become distracting to the learning environment. Students should not be using phones, Apple Watches, or other devices to send or receive text messages or phone calls during the school day.
The 2023-2024 Highland Playbook
The Highland Playbook is your destination for all things Highland. The Playbook includes information about arrival and dismissal procedures, our lunch schedule, and much more! If you have any questions about any information in the Playbook, or have suggestions for additional information that should be included in the Playbook, please reach out to the main office.
Click below to read the 2023-2024 Highland Playbook! You can also find the Highland Playbook on our website: https://www.dg58.org/hg/the-2022-2023-highland-playbook
Keep In Touch
Email: zcraft@dg58.org
Website: DG58.org/HG
Location: 3935 Highland Avenue, Downers Grove, IL, USA
Phone: (630)-719-5835
Facebook: facebook.com/HGHuskies
Twitter: @HGHuskies