Fremont Focus

At this time of year, we reaffirm our dedication to fostering a Safe, Healthy, and Connected Culture. Our diverse Fremont families represent a rich mosaic of languages, faiths, and backgrounds. With that, it is paramount that every member of our Fremont community experiences a genuine sense of belonging and connection. In alignment with this commitment, our schools are mindful that families celebrate various cultural and religious holidays. We are devoted to using inclusive language and practices that honor our community's diversity of backgrounds and faiths, encouraging learning from one another. In a world grappling with conflict, we aspire to be a model of inclusivity and belonging for ALL.

The District is embarking on the development of an education-based, 10-year Educational Long-range Facility Plan (ELFP) that encompasses enrollment forecasting, facility and systems assessments, grounds, traffic management, as well as other community-based considerations. This extensive process will take approximately one year to complete. A variety of stakeholders will have a voice to provide feedback and direction. Please mark your calendars to participate in a community launch event:

Global Perspectives

Monday, December 4 • 6:30 p.m.

Fremont Intermediate School (28754 N. Fremont Center Road)

Individuals interested in learning more about our ELFP process, including your potential involvement may complete an interest form available here.

Fremont Elementary and Intermediate Schools will be returning to a traditional administrative structure beginning with the 2024-2025 school year. Stefan Ladenburger will be the principal of Fremont Intermediate School, and the District is embarking on a search for the next principal of Fremont Elementary School. We anticipate finalizing the search for our next elementary school principal in January 2024.

This traditional model lowers the student/staff to principal ratio and is designed to address the following:

• Give students, staff, and families more access and time to build relationships with the building principal;

• Create a smaller, community-based feel;

• Provide the principal more time for instructional leadership, classroom observations, and recruiting/hiring;

• Enhance overall communication by reducing redundancies with administrative operations, improving the clarity on who to consult when needs arise;

• Move to a more sustainable approach with tremendous enrollment growth on the horizon.

We look forward to identifying a superb candidate to join our team.

Please read the following newsletter for detailed information, but here is a summary of key dates for quick access:

• November 29 - Early Release Schedule (MS dismissed at 2:13 p.m.; ES/IS dismissed at 3:08 p.m.)
• November 30 - Multilingual Family Night (event flyer), 6:30 p.m. (Fremont Elementary School)
• December 4 - Educational Long-range Facility Plan launch event - Global Perspectives, 6:30 p.m. (Fremont Intermediate School)
• December 6 - Early Release Schedule (MS dismissed at 2:13 p.m.; ES/IS dismissed at 3:08 p.m.)
• December 11-12 - NWEA MAP Testing (K-8)
• December 13 - Early Release Schedule (MS dismissed at 2:13 p.m.; ES/IS dismissed at 3:08 p.m.)
• December 18 - Board of Education meeting (live stream), 7:00 p.m. (Middle School Media Center)

Fremont School District 79 has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2023 honor by Chicago Tribune Top Workplaces. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner Energage LLC. The confidential survey uniquely measures 15 culture drivers that are critical to the success of any organization: including alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few.

FSD79 was the only school district to earn the distinction this year. For a complete list of recipients, click here.

Fremont Elementary School and Fremont Middle School hosted a series of Veterans Day assemblies on November 10 in order to recognize and honor all those who have served in the military.

In an effort to connect the FSD79 Board of Education and the community, the District offers a summary of monthly, regular Board meetings. To view a recap of the November 27 meeting, please click here.

As a District, we are entering year two of full District implementation of standards-based grading practices and we wanted to reshare and highlight the SBG principles that are core to our work in this area. Three of our principles follow. We will be sharing the second three principles in our next edition of the Fremont Focus.

Principle 1 - Grades and Reports Should Be Based on Clearly Specified Learning Goals and Performance Standards.

What does this mean for my child(ren)? All students in the same grade in the same course, no matter their instructor, will be graded using the same standards.

Principle 2 - Evidence Used for Grading Should Be Valid.

What does this mean for my child(ren)? Students are assessed on what they are taught. There are no trick questions and no surprises.

Principle 3 - Grading Should Be Based on Established Criteria, Not on Arbitrary Norms.

What does this mean for my child(ren)? Students are graded on the standards assessed, not on arbitrary norms such as poor handwriting or no name on their paper.

Our goal is for you to see these principles in action as we continue on our standards-based grading implementation journey together. Stay tuned for additional communications and feel free to visit our Standards-Based Grading webpage for further information.

With the winter season just about upon us, please review this page as a reminder of our winter weather school closing procedures.

FSD79 is committed to making well-informed decisions that are in the best interest of the safety of our entire school community. In general, if school will be closed, the District will notify families and staff by 5:30 a.m. the day of the closing. Even if the schools are open, the final decision about a child’s attendance remains with the parent.

In the event that schools will be closed due to winter weather, the District intends to utilize eLearning days in lieu of emergency days at the end of the school year.

Congratulations to our 6th and 7th grade band members on a terrific fall concert. Please watch the video below to see the concert in full.

FSD79 has immediate openings for the following positions:

District Office
Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and the Board of Education

Board Certified Behavior Analyst

Fremont Elementary School

Elementary School Principal (Grades K-2)
Special Education Teacher (Resource)

Fremont Intermediate School
Reading Specialist
Lunchroom Supervisor (Substitute)

Fremont Middle School
English Language Learner Paraprofessional (Spanish)
Special Education Teacher (Resource)

Transportation
Bus Driver

To learn more or for a complete listing of all current job openings throughout the District, please click here.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

The Fremont PTO would love to see you at our meetings this year! Meetings are on the third Wednesday of the month in the Middle School DEN at 6:00 p.m. Our next meeting is on December 20. Here is the list of all meeting dates for the 2023-2024 school year.

To stay in the know of what Fremont PTO is up to, follow and tag us on social media:

Instagram: @fremontpto

Facebook: Fremont PTO

Please visit the PTO webpage for the most up-to-date information.

The school lunch menus for the month of December are now available and can be found here.

FSD79 offers local groups and organizations the opportunity to advertise their upcoming events in the Virtual Backpack. To submit your group's event for consideration, please submit a PDF flyer to publicrelations@fsd79.org. Current offerings include:

• Mundelein Baseball & Softball Association
• Mundelein Soccer Club
• Stevenson HS Dance 1 Master Class for Incoming Freshmen
  

The next edition of the Fremont Focus will be distributed on Wednesday, December 13. This will be in addition to the weekly e-newsletters sent on Fridays from principals at the school level.

Address: 28855 North Fremont Center Road, Mundelein, IL

Phone: (847) 566-0169

Website: fsd79.org

Facebook: facebook.com/FremontSchoolDistrict79

Twitter: @FSD79

Instagram: @FSD79

YouTube: youtube.com/FSD79