Grass Lake School News
April 18, 2024
D117 Art Festival on April 24
A Note From Mr. Wollberg
What a great week to be a BRAVE! The school is still buzzing about the amazing job of all those involved in last week's musical. On Friday, when I first saw the production, I was speechless. For those of you who know me, that does not happen very often! The performers did an amazing job hitting all the right notes and reciting all their lines. Meanwhile, our stage crew was behind the scenes making sure the music was timed correctly, microphones were adjusted, and our performers had everything they needed to be as successful as they were. I want to give a big shout-out to Mrs. Neihengen, Mrs. Renna, and Mrs. Modica for all their hard work and due diligence in making the musical a success; they have set the bar high, and I am already looking forward to next year's performance!
Tomorrow, registration for summer sports camps will close. Enrollment for our sports camps will run from June 3 through June 21 (excluding June 19, as we will be off in observance of Juneteenth). The camps are held this year, Monday through Friday, from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm daily. Please follow the links below to sign up today, as the window for sign-ups will close on Friday, April 19.
This week will continue to be busy at GLS. Lakes Community High School is hosting an Art Festival on April 24th. The Middle School students will have artwork on display, and the awards will be given at 7:30. Mrs. Moe will be handing out raffle tickets to any GLS students who come to the show for a chance to win a fun art basket. The Grass Lake School band and choir will also be performing.
I also look forward to our PTO-sponsored "Scoopie Night" on April 23 from 5-8 pm. This event will be held at the Antioch Culvers, and staff from GLS will also serve some of the food that evening too! I know it will be a fun night with great food, and as a bonus, the PTO will receive a portion of the night's sales as well, which will go right back to our students and school. We hope to see you there!
Thank you, as always, for your help and support. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and we look forward to seeing everyone next week!
Sincerely,
Ryan Wollberg
Principal/Grass Lake School
Specials in the Spotlight
Specials Updates
Last Wednesday, Ms. Boliaux and Ms. Juszczyk took 7th and 8th grade students to the annual Future Quest trip at the College of Lake County. The students enjoyed learning about potential courses at the tech campus that could lead to future career opportunities. Classes offered included biomedical studies, cosmetology, culinary skills, welding, woodworking, early education, and auto services. Students were excited to tour the classrooms and try their hands at several different activities- they even got to take home many of their final projects!
Student Athlete Newsletter
Varsity Tutors
Thanks to an investment by the Lake County Regional Office of Education through June 30, 2027, every student in Grass Lake School now has access to the Varsity Tutors for Schools platform. This access includes:
24/7 On-Demand Chat Tutoring
On-Demand Essay Review
100+ Weekly Live Classes
Recorded Enrichment Classes
Self-Study & Practice Resources
Here is a pamphlet and a video that provides an overview of the platform's features. Students can go to their Clever Dashboard and select the Varsity Tutors icon to log in to the platform. Any chat sessions students participate in are recorded and posted on their dashboard for future reference. We hope you find this new tool useful and if you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Attendance Matters
I continue to have conversations with families about when to send their children to school and when to keep them home. Grass Lake encourages you to send your child to school every day, unless they are exhibiting one or more of the following symptoms:
- The student has a temperature consistently above 100 even when taking medication in the last 24 hours.
- The student is throwing up or experiencing diarrhea in the last 24 hours.
- The student has pink eyes that are crusty and not receiving medication for them for 24 hours.
While this list is not all-inclusive your help is appreciated as even missing 2 days a month equates to missing almost 10% of the school year. Also, as a reminder, any absence due to illness which lasts for more than three consecutive days may be verified by a medical note, which must be produced within two days of the student’s return for the absence to be considered excused. Thank you for your help!
Virtual Suggestion Box
"No school can work well for children if parents and teachers do not act in partnership on behalf of the children's best interests" - Dorothy H. Cohen
School Breakfast/Lunch
Student Absences
Grass Lake School hours of attendance are 7:45 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. on regular schedule days and 7:45 a.m. until 1:15 p.m. on early release late-start days. An answering machine will take messages during the hours when the school office is closed. When reporting an absence please indicate the reason for the absence and if it is due to illness, please report symptoms including if your child has a fever, cough, or sore throat. This will assist the district in assessing when a student will return and whether it must comply with any reporting or notice requirements.
The telephone number to report absences is: (847) 395-1550 or via email attendance@gls36.org.
We have created an email address to allow you to "email" attendance information. This is an alternative to using the Attendance Hotline phone number or using the Infinite Campus portal. We wanted to create yet another option to allow busy parents the opportunity to report absences. Please email all pertinent information to attendance@gls36.org. If you choose to use this option, pertinent information would include your child's name, date, grade, and reason for the absence, late-arrival or early-dismissal. Please choose the option that works best for you, whether that be email, phone or IC portal.
If the school has not heard from you and your child is absent, you will receive a call to verify the absence. School code provides that parents/guardians/other persons having legal custody of a child provide telephone numbers at the time of enrollment to enable the school to notify the parent/guardian/other person with legal custody of the child’s absence from school. Accordingly, this verification of absence call will be made to the numbers provided at registration and not necessarily the parents’ places of employment.
Parent Drop Off and Pick Up Procedures
Below you will find a map for your convenience as it relates to our drop-off and pick-up procedures. If you plan on picking your child up early from school, we kindly ask you to email your child's teacher as well as Cristina Monroy, our administrative assistant. When you enter the building for early pick or late drop off this should all be done through our main entrance. Make sure to have your ID when picking your child up as we want to make sure we are sending your child home with an approved individual.
When your child is dropped off they will enter through our gymnasium doors and in the afternoon they will exit through those same doors (yellow box below). Please wait in your car and we will release students to you as fast as we can. Again, I do ask for your patience at the beginning of the year but I promise you, it will continue to get faster and faster. Also, please do not drop off your child until the gymnasium doors open at 7:30 am.
Grass Lake School District #36
GRASS LAKE SCHOOL
26177 W. Grass Lake Rd. Antioch, IL 60002
Phone: (847) 395-1550 | Fax: (847) 395-8632
Email: rwollberg@gls36.org
Website: www.gls36.org
Location: Grass Lake School District 36, West Grass Lake Road, Antioch, IL, USA
Phone: 847-395-1550