District 15 Newsletter
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McHenry School District 15 Today's Learners... Tomorrow's Leaders
Not displaying correctly? View in browser Winter Update - Superintendent's Message
Dear District 15 Families and Staff,
Today marks the final day of our second trimester. The 2023-2024 school year seems to be flying by!
Last year at this time, I shared the exciting news of our district formally adopting a comprehensive strategic plan. Our plan pledges a daily mission to innovate, support, and engage our learning community so that we empower all learners to achieve their ultimate success. It also identifies core values held dear in District 15 that align with attitudes and behaviors that support our mission. More specifically, out strategic plan focuses around five overarching goals statements and twelve general strategies that correspond with the five areas of:
- Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
- Safety and Well-Being
- Innovation and Technology
- Finances and Facilities
- Community and Staff Engagement
We have shared this before, but as a reminder, we invite you to take a minute to view the video below that provides a high-level overview the plan.
We are proud of the contents of our plan as we believe they collectively represent a thorough and comprehensive accounting of the elements of an effective school system. More so, we are proud of the process we have committed to following in its implementation plan which we believed would allow it to live meaningfully and genuinely in our classrooms amongst our treasured students.
One year later, I’m excited to share that our strategic plan is indeed living authentically in our buildings and being attended to expertly and diligently by the talented and dedicated staff of District 15. In each school, Action Steps corresponding to the five focus areas have been created that specifically reflect their unique "fingerprint." This individualization allows schools to implement and realize the district's mission and vision in true ways that benefit their students, families and staff. Below are some pictures and a video of our plan "living" in our schools.
We will continue to share updates on the outcomes of our strategic plan and take appropriate opportunities to celebrate the many successes that District 15 has to showcase. Your feedback is essential to this as well. To that end, please note information about the Illinois 5Essentials survey later on in this newsletter as well as a wealth of other information about the remainder of the year.
I wish you a great final trimester of school!
Josh Reitz, Ed. D.
Superintendent
In This Issue
- Important Dates
- Curriculum & Assessment
- Progress Reports
- Care Solace Information
- Additional Support Resources
- Updating Information in Skyward
- Online Registration for Next School Year
- Food Services
- District 15 App
- Good News
- In Memoriam
Important Dates
February 19, 2024 - Presidents' Day - NO SCHOOL
February 23, 2024 - Progress Reports Available
March 18, 2024 - April 1, 2024 - LANDMARK ONLY - Spring Intersession - NO SCHOOL
March 25, 2024 - April 1, 2024 - Spring Recess - NO SCHOOL
April 2, 2024 - Classes Resume
April 26, 2024 - Early Release Day
May 27, 2024 - Memorial Day - NO SCHOOL
May 29, 2024 - Last Day of Attendance - Early Release Day
June 3, 2024 - LANDMARK ONLY - Last day of Attendance - Early Release Day
Every year, students (4th - 8th grade) and teachers have the opportunity to participate in the statewide Illinois 5Essentials survey. Parents have the opportunity to take this survey too. The survey is designed to generate a detailed picture of the inner workings of Illinois schools from the student, staff, and parent perspective.
This report will help us understand parent perceptions of the conditions at each school and help guide improvement.
To take the survey, visit http://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/ and select the appropriate survey to begin. One survey may be completed and submitted for each child by either parent/guardian.
District 15 students in grades 3-8 will take the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) in the areas of English Language Arts and Mathematics. Additionally, students in grades 5 and 8 will take the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA). The assessment window for the Illinois Science Assessment will be open in early March and the assessment window for the Illinois Assessment of Readiness will open in early April.
Teachers have been taking the appropriate steps to prepare your children for these assessments. However, if you are interested in learning about additional ways that you can support your child for the upcoming assessments or would simply like to learn more about what they entail, please refer to the following links.
Illinois Assessment of Readiness Resources
IAR Practice Tests
Should you have further questions about the IAR and/or ISA assessments, please do not hesitate to contact Assistant Superintendent, Fred Laudadio via email at flaudadio@d15.org or by phone at 779-244-1000. As always, thank you for your involvement and support in your child’s education and growth.
As the testing window gets closer additional information will be sent out to families.
Progress reports will be available through Skyward Family Access at 4pm on Friday, February 23rd. It is important to check your student's progress reports to see how they are doing throughout the school year.
If you are unable to access these reports online, please contact your child’s school office to inquire about a hard copy.
To access progress reports online, visit Skyward Family Access.
Log into Skyward Family Access and click on the Progress Report tab.
District 15 is committed to the well-being of our students, staff and families to create a safe and healthy learning environment. In support of this ongoing commitment, District 15 has partnered with Care Solace to provide an additional layer of care for our community.
More than ever, we recognize the importance of having accessible mental health resources for both our staff members and the students and families we serve. Care Solace helps individuals get connected with a Care Companion to call providers and find the right fit and availability of care on their behalf. Their Care Companion team is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 365 days per year to quickly connect you to carefully verified providers in your community.
Students, staff and their families may access Care Solace services in two ways:
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Call (888) 515-0595 at any time. Support is available in 200+ languages. A dedicated Care Companion will help you every step of the way to research options, secure appointments and follow up to make sure it is a good fit.
Care Solace is now available for use for you and your family at no cost to you. They will connect you with providers accepting all medical insurances including Medicaid, Medicare and sliding scale options for those without insurance. All information entered on the Care Solace tool is completely confidential and securely stored. While this is not intended to replace any of the support we already provide students, it is another valuable tool that we can leverage to connect our community with the support they may struggle to find on their own.
Please note, this service is an optional resource available by choice and is not mandatory to use. Care Solace is not an emergency response service or mental health services provider. In the event of a life threatening emergency, please call 9-1-1 or the National Suicide Hotline 9-8-8.
McHenry County Helping Numbers For ALL district 15 students, returning and new (except for brand new PreK students), online registration will be available starting on March 11th at 12:00pm. Additional information will be communicated when the registration window officially opens.School Calendar for 2024-2025 Parents have the ability to update and edit certain information in Skyward under Student Info. When logged in to your Skyward Family Access account, click on "Student Info." From here, simply click on "Request Changes for [Student Name]." You can then update your email address, emergency information and family contact information. Keeping your contact information up-to-date is very important and is the only way to guarantee you receive communication that we send regarding emergency closings, district-wide information and school specific information.We encourage anyone who is eligible to fill out a free/reduced meal application to see if you qualify for this benefit. Free/reduced meal applications are available on the district website.
Northern Illinois Food Bank launched a new mobile-friendly map aimed at helping those experiencing food insecurity connect with food resources in their community and surrounding areas.
Northern Illinois Food Bank works with a network of 900 food pantries and feeding programs to provide 78 million meals a year to neighbors across 13 counties in suburban and rural northern Illinois.
This resource includes an interactive Food Finder map with a searchable directory of food distributions sites with up to date schedules, times, directions and programs.
Mr. Jacob Burr - Star 105.5 Teacher of the Month for November
Congratulations to Landmark Teacher, Mr. Jacob Burr, for being named Star 105.5's November Teacher of the Month.Riverwood PTO Community Engagement Initiatives
At a Board of Education meeting earlier this year, we learned about the many community engagement initiatives that Riverwood has been implementing with their PTO. They held their first Trunk or Treat event in October, have students engage in activities to earn Rocky Cash and then PTO members rewards students with different items they can purchase with their cash.Edgebrook's Special Olympics Annual Track Meet
At a January Board of Education meeting, we heard from Edgebrook School about their annual Special Olympics track meet that they host and were introduced to a few of the athletes who participated, Mason Lynd, Aiden Lucius, Isabel Zarazua, and Franklin Iacobellis. This event will occur later this year in March.
Congratulations to Parkland's Assistant Principal, Mrs. Kristina Shay, for being named the Illinois Principals Association Kishwaukee Region 2023-2024 Assistant Principal of the Year!In January, District 15 lost a beloved educator, Emily Schilf, who was the Learning Media Center Director at Duker School. Mrs. Emily Schilf meant so much to Duker School and our entire learning community and will be greatly missed. Thank you to the Northwest Herald for this wonderful tribute to an incredible teacher but an even better person.Contact Us
Email: info@d15.org
Website: www.d15.org
Location: 420 N. Front St., McHenry, IL 60050
Phone: 779-244-1000
Facebook: facebook.com/McHenryD15
Twitter: @School_D15McHenry School District 15McHenry is using Smore to create beautiful newsletters