Fremont Focus

Dear Fremont Staff, Parents, & Community,

Over these first two months of the school year, it has been inspiring to observe the incredible effort that our teachers and students have put forth at school. While focused on welcoming and supportive learning environments, our teachers have prioritized getting to know each and every learner. We are committed to ensuring all students grow and learn while building the skills to become a lifelong learner. With that commitment, we have some positive student performance news to share with our community.

NWEA Fall MAP Growth

Our fall MAP growth scores are indicating encouraging trends for the new school year. In both math and ELA, 7 out of the 8 grades met or exceeded their fall MAP growth projections. Over half of the grades increased their performance from the spring to the fall, which is a remarkable accomplishment as the national trend typically reflects a “summer dip” from spring to fall.

ISBE Summative Designation Status

The Illinois State Board of Education is scheduled to announce school designation status on October 27. Early indications are that our schools are in line to earn positive marks once again. Consistent with the national trends, we were impacted by the pandemic more significantly in math, but we significantly rebounded this past year and returned to expected growth levels, including some of our most impacted student groups, which include our students with IEPs, our low income students, our English Learners, and our black and hispanic students. Our Language Arts performance across the District also improved over the past year, meeting expected growth.

These results not only highlight our academic achievement, but also reflect our strong emphasis on social-emotional health and well-being. We cannot applaud our students, families, and staff enough for their perseverance and remarkable dedication to promoting a positive learning environment. We look forward to sharing more about our social-emotional learning programming in November.

Sincerely,

Dr. Trisha Kocanda

Superintendent of Schools

Dr. Brian Bullis

Assistant Superintendent of Learning

• October 18-20 - Sixth-Grade Field Trip (Camp MacLean)
• October 19 - PTO Meeting, 6 p.m. (Middle School DEN)
  
• October 21 - School Improvement Planning Day (Half-Day Schedule; no PM Kindergarten; no school for Pre-K/Early Childhood)
• October 21 - Pre-K/Early Childhood Parent Involvement, 10 a.m. (Lincoln Early Learning Center)
• October 24 - Board of Education Meeting, 7 p.m. (Middle School DEN)
• October 26 - Parent Focus Group (RSVP), 7 p.m. (Middle School DEN)
• October 27 - Parent Outreach Night: Health & Nutrition (RSVP), 6:30 p.m. (Intermediate School; see below for more information)
• November 3 - Preschool Screening (Lincoln Early Learning Center)

Parents, we invite you to join us in shaping the future of Fremont School District 79. Our new Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Trisha Kocanda, is hosting one final parent focus group meeting. Participants will be asked to reflect and share ideas to inform the District’s next Strategic Plan. Make plans to join us at this next session:

Wednesday, Oct. 26 – 7:00-8:00 p.m., Fremont Middle School DEN (Spanish and Polish interpretation services provided)

Childcare for individuals ages 3+ will be provided by Fremont Middle School students.

To RSVP, please visit: https://forms.gle/XUmqegmnYwPzsGoCA

Padres, los invitamos a unirse a nosotros para dar forma al futuro del Distrito Escolar 79 de Fremont. Nuestra nueva Superintendente de Escuelas, la Dra. Trisha Kocanda, está organizando una reunión final del grupo de enfoque de padres. Se les pedirá a los participantes que reflexionen y compartan ideas para informar el próximo Plan Estratégico del Distrito. Haga planes para unirse a nosotros en esta próxima sesión:

Miércoles, 26 de octubre – 7:00-8:00 p.m., Fremont Middle School DEN (se brindan servicios de interpretación en español y polaco)

Los estudiantes de Fremont Middle School proporcionarán cuidado de niños para personas mayores de 3 años.

Para confirmar su asistencia, visite: https://forms.gle/XUmqegmnYwPzsGoCA

The next meeting of the FSD79 Board of Education will be held Monday, October 24 at 7 p.m. at the Fremont Middle School DEN. This meeting will include the following presentations:

• Student Growth and Achievement Update

• Tentative 2022 Levy

New for this month, live video streaming of Monday's meeting will be available via the District's YouTube page. The stream will go live shortly before the start of the meeting.

Recaps of previous Board meetings can be found here. The Board meeting agenda and materials can be accessed here. Board materials are available by noon on October 24.

A common topic that has come up in the District's parent focus group meetings this fall has been standards-based grading. As a District, we recognize that standards-based grading is a shift from the traditional letter grading, so it is important for us to regularly communicate the guiding principles that ultimately impact student outcomes. These reminders are important, whether you are a parent who has been in the District for a number of years or if you are relatively new to FSD79. We highlight two SBG principles in this month’s 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.

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

Outreach Night Registration Link

October 16-22 is Principal Appreciation Week. Fremont School District 79 is so grateful for all of our wonderful principals and the amazing job that they do each and every day to ensure that our schools are running smoothly. We cannot thank them enough! Please join us in honoring (pictured, from left) Nick Atchley, Emily Loerakker, Andrea Wiklund, Cathy Park, Krista Winkelman, Stefan Ladenburger, and Carol Bennett.

Fremont Elementary School kindergarten students had a terrific time at the annual Pumpkin Festival field trip to Country Bumpkin Garden Center.

October 17-21 is National School Bus Safety Week. Please familiarize yourself with some helpful tips for keeping everyone safe when in the presence of a school bus. Thank you for your cooperation, and thank you to all of our amazing bus drivers for all they do on a daily basis in order to keep everyone safe.

It was an honor to welcome home FSD79 and Mundelein High alum Trey Baker to Fremont Middle School last week. Currently a student at DePaul University, Trey has made all of us proud with his activism and his all-around efforts to make the world a better place. He was kind enough to share some of his time imparting some advice and wisdom upon a large group of middle school students.

Fremont Elementary School students were treated to an informative presentation on the history of Mundelein from Shawn Killackey of the Mundelein Historical Commission. The students learned so much, including all the different names of the village prior to its current name.

Our Fremont District 79 transportation department does a phenomenal job transporting our students to and from school - and they do this with a lean team of drivers. Like many organizations, we are impacted by the staffing shortages and have been unable to fill all of our open bus driver positions. To accommodate the driver shortage, our bus loads are larger due to reducing the number of routes. You can help! If your middle school student participates in after school activities and your family is not dependent on the bus for transportation, it would be extremely helpful if you are able to pick-up your child from the after-school activity. This would reduce the bus capacity on our K-5 p.m. routes and alleviate pressure on our bus drivers. We appreciate any and all support you may be able to provide! The pick-up time for middle school after school clubs and activities is 3:29 p.m.

For all the most up-to-date news and notes regarding the Fremont PTO, please be sure to visit the organization's webpage.

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 p.m. Our next meeting is on October 19. Here is the list of all meeting dates for the 2022-2023 school year.
• Reading Rally & Pajama Party is Friday, November 11. See flyer for details.
• Our Holiday Boutique is back on Saturday, November 12. See flyer for details!

FREMONT FAMILY FOOD BOOK

The PTO needs YOU! We are looking for family favorite recipes to include in the first Fremont Family Food Book. Recipes submitted will be included in a print copy of the book to be sold at our Holiday Boutique on November 12. We are also looking for talented young artists to submit cover art for the book! Please email recipe & cover art submissions to Bari Dacks at eventsandfundraising79@gmail.com no later than October 28.

HAPPY LITTLE FLAME

We are excited to be partnering up with Happy Little Flame this year with clean, non-toxic candles!! Perfect for gifting or filling your home with delicious scents around the holidays or just because! The fundraiser runs from October 19-November 2!

TRUNK OR TREAT

Mark your calendars! Our Trunk or Treat event is THIS Saturday, October 22 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. See flyer for more info!

Would you like to decorate your trunk for this event? There's still time to sign up! Please fill out this form no later than 10/20! Questions? Contact Elisabeth at fsdvpes@gmail.com

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

The middle school is running its annual Fall Scholastic book fair on November 14-18 & during Parent-Teacher conferences on November 21. They are looking for volunteers to run the register and organize books. If interested, please use the following to sign up. Parents can sign up for multiple spots and days. Everyone is welcome!

HALLOWEEN CLASSROOM PARTIES - Monday, October 31

Party Hosts for the Halloween Classroom Parties have been assigned and notified. Each class party is designated 3 Party Hosts. If more than 3 parents signed up for a classroom party, volunteers were chosen at random. Please note: All remaining parents who have not already been notified have not been assigned to host a party and will, unfortunately, not be invited to attend the party.

YEARBOOK INFO -- 10% DISCOUNT HAS BEEN EXTENDED!

Order your student's 2022-2023 yearbook before October 31 and get 10% off. Use the correct school code from our flyer when you order!

CHARLESTON WRAP

It’s easy to support our fundraiser! Our organization receives profit for every item purchased using our Organization ID through November 4. With your help, we’ll be one step closer to reaching our very important goal! See our flyer for all of the important details.

SILENT AUCTION

We are looking for donations for a silent auction and need your help! See our flyer for a list of ideas we are looking for by January 10, 2023. Contact Elisabeth fsdvpes@gmail.com or Danielle daniweg29@gmail.com

School lunch menus for the month of November 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. Check back regularly for upcoming offerings. Events that are upcoming include:

• Lake County STEM for Girls

• Middle School Halloween Dance

• Free Boys Tennis Lesson

The next edition of the Fremont Focus will be distributed on Wednesday, November 2. This will be in addition to the weekly e-newsletters sent on Sundays 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