As of today, more than 45% of District 34 employees report that they are fully vaccinated. That is great news for the health of our school community, especially as we move to Adapted In Person on April 7.

As you learned recently, the District is requiring staff to have begun the COVID vaccination process by April 30, 2021. As we move to Adapted In Person, having all adults fully vaccinated, when none of our students can be, and when many of our parents have not yet had an opportunity to be vaccinated, is the most effective health and safety tool we have.

Experts suggest that the United States will reach "herd immunity" when 71% of the population is fully vaccinated or has immunity through having had the virus. While we don't measure herd immunity in individual organizations, it is a positive indication that D34 will be at our near that percentage in our school environment by the April 7 shift.

Once you have started, or completed, your vaccinations, use this form to upload an image of your Vaccination Record. Save a photo or scanned image of your documentation to your computer, iPad or phone and you can easily upload it in the form. Only HR will have access to this documentation and it will be treated with the utmost confidentiality by your HR Team.

• BEST BET: Walgreens tends to release many appointments daily at 6:00am. Spots open up throughout the day as well. To find open spots, check http://vaxxmax.com/walgreens. It will show (in pretty much real time), the zip codes where there are open appointments. Have your Walgreens account open and log in. When you see a nearby zip code with availability on Vaxxmax, copy that zip code into the search bar at the Walgreens site, and go through the process. Or, enter "Cook County, IL" or "Lake County, IL" to see a wider area.
• Vaccine Hunters Facebook group
• Cook County (if you've already registered, use the link in the email they sent you when you registered)
• Illinois State Fairgrounds Vaccination Site (Springfield)
• If you are a patient of Northwest Community Hospital (which now is part of NorthShore University HealthSystem), you can log into your account to schedule an appointment
• Walmart online (or call individual stores)
• Comprehensive search engine Zocdoc
• Rush
• University of Illinois Health
• Innovative Express Care
• Mariano's
• JewelOsco
• If you're a resident of Lake County, register with AllVax. They currently are contacting educators to schedule their vaccines.

The federal government is providing the COVID-19 vaccine free of charge to all residents of the United States. Vaccine providers are charging fees to administer the vaccines, but if you're providing your insurance information, or are uninsured, you are not responsible for the administration fees when you receive the vaccine.

If you have been charged an administration fee and are covered on D34's BCBS Medical plan, you should submit your receipt, along with the attached claim form to Kellee Janus, she can assist in expediting your reimbursement from BCBS.

Some of you being charged a fee that is promised to be reimbursed by the provider within the next several weeks - please do not "double-dip" by receiving reimbursement from the provider AND also submitting a claim to BCBS for reimbursement - BCBS will eventually catch it and you'll have to pay them back.

If you have any questions about reimbursement, please contact Benefits Manager Kellee Janus, (847) 998-5065.

Please don't unsubscribe, or you may not get future issues of D34 What's News! (Wait. Shoot. Bad example. That might lead to many unsubscriptions.) How's this: please don't unsubscribe or you won't get your awesome "You've Been Paid" email from the fabulous Elle Karagianes! (That's actually not true, you can't unsubscribe from Elle's emails.) Anyway, don't unsubscribe.

April 2: No school (previously designated non-attendance day on approved calendar)

April 5: ALL STAFF (including associates) Planning Day: No Student Attendance - No Asynchronous Learning

• Morning: Doug Bolton Workshop (Virtual): Resilience
• Afternoon: Staff Room/Program Setup and Planning Time
• Evening: (Tentative Date) Doug Bolton Parent Presentation

April 6: ALL STAFF (including associates) Planning Day: No Student Attendance - No Asynchronous Learning -- Staff Room/Program Setup and Planning Time
April 7: (Late start) First Day of Adapted In-Person, District-wide “SELabration”
April 7, 8, 9: Transition activities, adapting to new routines and demands, building classroom community, SEL focus -- this is our “soft start” to this new environment

This past week (March 17), was the one year referendum anniversary, the day voters in Glenview approved a capital referendum for District 34 schools. The $119M in funds raised from this successful referendum will allow us to repair and update our buildings.

The following work has happened behind the scenes over the last few months:

• Development and ongoing refinement of detailed plans for construction

• Community meetings to share plans and gather feedback

• Presentations to and approval by the Glenview Village Planning Commission and Village Board

• Review of financial projections by the Citizens Finance Advisory Council

• Issuance of approximately $60M in bonds at highly favorable rates, allowing a reduction in the maturity of the referendum plan by one year and a $10M reduction in interest.

• Bids for construction

Next Steps: The Board will approve construction bids at a special meeting on Monday, March 29. We expect to break ground in May at Springman Middle School, and at Henking, Lyon and Westbrook, our primary schools that will be able to welcome full-day kindergarten in August 2022. Look for information about groundbreaking celebrations at those buildings in May!

If you are interested in being considered for an open position in a building other than your current setting, you must express that interest by contacting HR Director Heather Hopkins.

To help you best understand the process for a voluntary transfer, please read this document, which also covers a change of roles within your current building. The deadline to place your name on the Voluntary Transfer Interest List for a potential change in role/building for the 2021-2022 school year is May 1, 2021. Please note that transfer interest does NOT “roll over” from the previous year. This means you must express your interest in a transfer each and every year you would like to be considered for a change. Placing your name on the Transfer Interest List will NOT automatically require you to transfer. Rather, it alerts principals that current staff have interest in an open position and will therefore be considered for these roles.

Visit Frontline to learn more or apply for any of the positions listed:

2020-21

Certified Positions

• Job 1642: Bilingual Speech Language Pathologist

• Job 1659: Long-Term Sub: 3rd Grade Teacher

• Job 1661: Long-Term Sub: Instructional Innovation Specialist

• Job 1663: Long-Term Sub: Music Teacher (K-2)

• Job 1665: Summer School Certified Staff

Support Positions

• Job 1615: Educational Associate

• Job 1621: Bilingual Spanish Associate

• Job 1657: Cook

• Job 1666: Summer School Support Staff

• Job 1668: Custodian

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

2021-22

Administrator Positions

• Job 1658: Student Success Coordinator (6-8)

Certified Positions

• Job 1644: LRC Director (6-8)

• Job 1645: Music Teacher (3-5)

• Job 1646: 3rd Grade Teacher

• Job 1647: 2nd Grade Teacher

• Job 1648: Kindergarten Teacher

• Job 1649: Early Childhood Teacher

• Job 1651: Title III Multilingual Instructional Coach

• Job 1664: Speech Language Pathologist (EC)

• Job 1672: LBS1 Teacher (6-8)

• Job 1673: LBS1 Teacher (3-5)

• Job 1674: Orchestra Teacher (3-5)

• Job 1675: Spanish Bilingual Interventionist (K-5)

• Job 1676: LBS1 Teacher (K-2)

• Job 1677: Social Worker (K-2)

Support Positions

• Job 1669: Administrative Assistant (3-5)

• Job 1670: Administrative Assistant (6-8)

• Job 1671: Senior Secretary

The EDI Lead Learners have been meeting monthly to grow in our understanding of equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-bias. At your April Building Council meetings, you will hear an update on our work including book studies, interest groups, and plans for future learning. We will also use this guiding question: What can each of us do to help create an equitable and inclusive district-wide learning environment?

A goal of the presentation is to clarify where we are as a district in the long EDI journey ahead, and address any mixed messages about this work. EDI work is a priority for D34, and also part of a complex context. We will unpack this and talk about how the strategic plan, standards, and board policies provide guidance for what we CAN do now, and how this work will build in years to come. The presentations will include specific ideas that you can do to further your own learning, and suggestions for how you can bring this work to students.

We acknowledge this process will move slower than many of us hope, but also assure you that the work is ongoing, and will continue to build over the coming years. We have a lot of learning and growth to do, and invite each member of the D34 community to engage in this learning together.

Thanks for reading this Building Council commercial and please reach out with any questions to any member of the EDI Lead Learners, your building administrators, or our EDI Leadership Team (Casey Coker, Kevin Dorken, Alison Dauernheim, Megan Freeley, Sarah Gebhardt, Cathy Kedjidjian, Alison Keller, Raquel Kim, Matt Silverman, Carly Spina, & Emily Tribbett).

This article can be found on the Illinois Alliance of Administrators of Special Education (IAASE) Blog

For those of us in leadership positions during 2008-2010, we remember the uncertainty of our budgets, hiring practices, and all the lessons learned. At the time, I was Assistant Superintendent and a National Education Consultant working with districts on auditing SEL and Academic curriculum and reshaping culture and climate. Those of us in the field of special education saw a large increase in the number of students diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and other social-emotional needs. We spent our resources on additional social workers, who at the time in some states were a high-vacancy area and other mental health professionals. We watched our curriculum and programming include a stronger focus on character education, lessons on wellness, and attention to an individual’s mental health. Professional development in these areas began to spike. Families were exhibiting hardships that none of us could have predicted.

Now in 2021, in the midst of a pandemic, we are working on scenarios and planning for what the fall may look like. Leadership is critical to the success and sustainability of our districts, and all the work we are doing with our teams to plan is being done with great hope but also great uncertainty. It looks different in every state, but one thing remains constant..our ability to collaborate and plan what is best for our students and staff. We pull from our experiences a decade ago to help us move forward.

Reflecting on the leadership during 2008 on and now in 2021 and beyond, we look at all of the shifts that have occurred and how we can provide continued high-quality education for all of our students, moving forward on plans to create opportunity in challenge, and building classroom connected communities during remote learning. At the heart of this emerges resiliency and reviewing climate and culture. Leading with questions from superintendent’s on whether we have the climate and culture we want to have. One of the toughest and hardest questions we can ask ourselves. How we can become even more involved in our classrooms? How can we become facilitators during a time where school social workers and psychologists are in high demand? Do we have the staff members in place to sustain the level of support needed over the next few years?

If there is ever a time to rebuild or strengthen our climate and culture in our schools and districts…. now is our golden opportunity. We have adjusted, modified, adapted…and our students and staff have done the same thing. Engaging in critical conversations about resiliency and how we can build up our ability to “SnapbackTM”. When I facilitate lessons in our unit district, I talk to students and staff about a rubber band and its ability to “snapback” under intense pressure. We use specific examples and then let the students discuss issues they are facing and how we can show resilience in our response. We talk about the future and challenges they may encounter and keep this at the forefront so it can be continually talked about. Helping our students and staff members insulate themselves from stress is a powerful and on-going life lesson.

These conversations set the table for expectations of gratitude, a positive mindset, and kindness across the district. It is a unified effort among our educators, support staff, and specialists in achieving an environment we are proud of. There are so many unknowns in our world right now, opening discussions about resilience is a foundation that will reap many benefits in combating and overcoming concerns about motivation and achievement. These conversations have catapulted our use of Mindset and Mindfulness as an important supplement to our curriculum and we have set the stage in our community asking them to partner with us in these efforts. There have been so many benefits to the work in these areas and they certainly prepared us for what we never could have seen coming this year. I did not see the importance of combining resilience, mindset, and reflecting on climate and culture when I began my career in education.

Building our resilience is a life skill and one that can change the trajectory for our students and staff, helping to insulate all of us from all the stressors in our lives. My hope is that by seeing the importance of this topic and reflecting on our climate and culture, we will be more prepared for 2021 and beyond. For those of us that are reading this and have worked to obtain the climate and culture we worked so hard on, I hope we can be mentors and collaborate with those who may reach out for the beginning steps. Every decision based on what is best for students is why we are all here.

Here's to celebrations over challenges!

Lisa M. Harrod is the Superintendent of Manteno CUSD No. 5 in Manteno, Illinois, and the CEO of Leveraging Excellence, A professional development company.

• Cathy provided an update and addressed questions around distancing, supply sharing and communication of protocols as we head into Adapted In Person.

• There will be a survey for staff and parents to gather information around the change from a Friday to a Monday conference day.
• We checked in on the Wellness Challenge. There will be a survey to gather feedback from the staff in preparation for next year’s Wellness Challenge.
• An update was provided about the transition to Adapted In Person (AIP) regarding decision making conversations, communication with parents, parent volunteers and Food Services

We know you are busy getting ready for adaptive in-person learning, so we are extending the grant deadline to allow more time to develop grants that can help your classrooms next year. This has been a highly unusual year and we know you have been working very hard. We want to make it as easy as possible to award you with grant money. Let us know if you have questions or need help with the process.

GEF accepts grant applications from District 34 teachers and administrators for innovative ideas they would like to implement in their classrooms and schools. Each school even has a designated GEF Grants Liaison to help make the grant application process seamless and easy every step of the way.

Find out who your grant liaison is and learn more about the grant process at:

http://www.gef34.org/grants

Some examples of past grants include:

All schools

• 2020 Summer School CAMP Supply Kits

• Computer Access and iPad funding

• Educator Discovery & Development: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

K-5 Schools

• “Maker Modules” - Construction, Circuitry, Robotics/Coding

• Redesigning Classroom Learning Spaces

• Every Child Can Ride Biking Unit

• D34 Writing Workshop Cohort

• Jolly Phonics and Heggerty Phonemic Awareness

• STEM Family Events

• Lyon Library Redesign

• Ride and Ride for 50 English language learner students

• Henking Family Literacy Program

Middle School

• Science Olympiad

• 15th Annual GEF Recital night

• Middle School Makers: After School STEAM

• Engineering Field Trip and Enrichment Program

• Video Studio In The Science Classroom

• Financial Literacy Club Grades 6-8

• Entrepreneur Makerspaces

• Virtual and Augmented Reality in Middle School

Below are the confirmed PD dates. It is the same presentation at each session. We just want to offer a variety of dates & times:
Wed., April 28 (4:00 - 5:00 PM)
Fri., April 30 (3:00 - 4:00 PM)
Wed., May 12 (4:00 - 5:00 PM)

Presented by Esther Park:
Esther has taught in both the private and public school setting for 15 years, and has worked with students from all around the world with different language proficiency levels. She is currently working as an instructional designer, educational consultant, and online adjunct instructor, delivering professional development and technology integration training and peer coaching.

Session Description:
Our multilingual learners are capable of meeting grade-level standards with the right digital scaffold and support. In this session, you will learn about engagement strategies, online teaching techniques, gamification ideas, and tech tools to help students use the four language domains (read, write, speaking, listen) in a virtual, hybrid, or blended learning environment. You will walk out of this session with ready-to-go templates and resources to use right away in your own classroom.

Mrs. Park's website: https://www.mrspark.org

Maine Township has formed a partnership with Concordia University Chicago to bring seven top-quality graduate-level educational leadership cohort programs to northern Cook County educators beginning in Fall 2021. These programs will be offered with a 20% tuition reduction.

Any D34 staff members who enroll in these programs will receive the reduced tuition rate. The seven programs offer a variety of hybrid, online, and face-to-face formats. All face-to-face sessions will be held at District 207.

If you have interest and/or questions related to any of these programs, please contact Dr. Glenn Schlichting, Concordia University Associate Professor at Glenn.Schlichting@cuchicago.edu.

Then, click below to let us know who you are and enter the raffle.

The winner's swag bag will be delivered by your Cabinet alter-ego!

Look for the next D34 What's News in your inbox on April 9, 2021. Have something to share?

Drop it in here!