Fremont Focus

Dear Fremont Staff, Parents, & Community,

Fremont School District 79 is committed to the growth and achievement of every single student. This ambitious goal was propelled by a decision in 2017 to commit to a personalized learning approach, backed by research and supported by high-quality staff professional learning. The District was on a path to fully embed personalized learning into every classroom — and then the spring of 2020 pandemic halted progress.

By listening to our staff, students, and parents this fall, we have learned that the values of personalized learning remain important, but we must work toward building a renewed, shared vision of what this means in our schools. As the Superintendent Entry Plan shifts into strategic planning this winter, our community will have an opportunity to help prioritize our values and recommit to a renewed definition of personalized learning for all students.

The following are some of the most frequent themes that emerged with our community related to this topic:

• Staff agreed that student voice and choice was far and away the most common value. Additionally, individualizing the learning process in order to meet students where they are and give them what they need to continue growing was a priority.

• Parents identified the following elements: students learning at their own pace, student goal-setting, student leadership, and meeting students where they are in order to promote their growth. For parents, it was clear that we as a District can do more to communicate how personalized learning is integrated into our learning environment.

• Students discussed the importance of voice and choice, hands-on learning, field trips and peer collaboration. Students want to be heard and engage in learning that is relevant and meaningful.

As we chart our future path, we want to identify, embrace, and integrate the values that we have identified as most important to us. Future opportunities for feedback from our students, parents, and staff will help bring those values to light. Specifically, we will be sending out a survey in January and following up with focus groups. The priorities of our educators, students, families, and community members will grow into the District’s next strategic plan, fostering a renewed focus on our shared vision for learning in Fremont School District 79.

Sincerely,

Dr. Trisha Kocanda

Superintendent of Schools

Dr. Brian Bullis

Assistant Superintendent of Learning

• December 13-14 - NWEA/MAP Testing
• December 19 - Board of Education Meeting (live stream); 7 p.m. (Middle School DEN)
• December 21 - PTO Meeting; 6 p.m. (Middle School DEN)
• December 23 - January 6 - Winter Break (No School)
• January 9 - Teacher Institute Day (No School)

In an effort to connect the FSD79 Board of Education and the community, the District is creating a summary of monthly, regular Board meetings. To view a recap of the November 28 meeting, please click here.

The next meeting of the FSD79 Board of Education will be held Monday, December 19 at 7 p.m. at the Fremont Middle School DEN. Prior to the start of the regular meeting, public hearings will be held for the 2022 Final Levy and an Interfund Transfer. It is anticipated that this particular regular meeting will be brief in length. Board recognitions and presentations will resume in January.

A live video stream of the meeting can be accessed here. The Board meeting agenda and materials can be accessed here. Board materials are available by noon on December 19.

Early plans are in the works for a potential new 500+ acre residential and industrial development within FSD79 boundaries currently referred to as “Ivanhoe Farms.” District leaders will be joining other local leaders at the December 12 Village of Mundelein meeting to learn more about this project. To read the complete communication that was sent from the District to families and staff on December 2, please click here.

As security is a top priority for Fremont School District 79, it is regular practice for the District to contract with an outside vendor to audit our District’s safety and security efforts. In September, the District engaged with Facility Engineering Associates to conduct a security audit of the District’s buildings and behaviors. The administration has reviewed the findings and are working with staff and contractors to implement the recommendations outlined in the reports. Safety and security is a continuous operation and the District is constantly evaluating ways to improve.

On Friday, December 2, 2022, the District met with representatives from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Regional Office of Education. We are working with these agencies to create a template crisis plan for Lake County. We are excited to partner with them to continue to keep our schools safe and secure.

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.

This is an installment to accompany a series of communications regarding our implementation of standards-based grading across the district. Our District website has prior communications and additional resources posted.

We highlight our final two SBG principles in this edition:

Principle 5 - Avoid Grading Based on (Mean) Averages.

What does this mean for my child(ren)? A student should not be penalized for their early attempts to demonstrate learning and a teacher should not be limited in their ability to communicate student growth and attainment of learning targets. When reporting student progress on a standard, teachers can use any and all evidence to gauge a student’s progress. Averaging and algorithms are unnecessary in reporting whether or not a student has mastered a standard.

Principle 6 - Focus on Achievement, and Report Other Factors Separately.

What does this mean for my child(ren)? A student’s academic achievement should be the only aspect included in their academic grade. For example, a student’s math grades should reflect their math achievement. Other important behaviors, such as completing tasks on time and organizational skills, during math should be reported separately. These behaviors are of the utmost importance to their success and should be explicitly, and separately, communicated in their habits of success category.

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.

The winter sports have kicked off at Fremont Middle School. The eighth-grade boys basketball teams were in action last week with the poms team performing at halftime and the cheer squad rooting them all on. Check out a photo gallery of all the action below.

Fremont Middle School celebrated a great first trimester with a PAWS assembly last Friday. Congratulations to our first trimester PAWS award recipients. They were selected based upon consistently demonstrating the expectations of:

Practicing safety,

Accepting responsibility,

Working for success, and

Showing respect.

Members of the Fremont choir were on hand to perform and spread holiday cheer at last Friday's Mundelein tree-lighting ceremony.

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 6:00 pm. Our next meeting is on December 21.
• Here is the list of all meeting dates for the 2022-2023 school year.
• Casino Night is back on January 21 from 6-10 p.m. See details below.

WINTER CLASS PARTY HOSTS

Party Hosts for the Winter 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 been notified, have not been assigned to host a party will not be invited to attend the party.

ART AWARENESS VOLUNTEERS

It's not too late to be an Art Awareness volunteer! If you enjoy putting together projects for kids, we could use your help in the K-5 classrooms. As an art awareness volunteer, you simply put a project together that can be tied to an artist, schedule a time with the teacher to go in and present the lesson to the kids. The students absolutely love it and it only requires about 2 hours a month of your time. We have plenty of resources and supplies available for you to use. The classroom teacher is always there to assure you have a positive experience. You don't need to have a background in teaching or art. Contact Lauren Rollinger at lauren.rollinger@gmail.com

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

CASINO NIGHT

Looking for a fun night away? Join us Saturday, January 21 for Casino Night at Hawthorn Woods Country Club from 6-10 p.m. for games, food, music, silent auction, and raffles. Tickets are LIMITED so register now! Registration QR code and additional details 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:

• Mundelein HS Incoming Ninth-Grade Information (English)

• Mundelein HS Incoming Ninth-Grade Information (Spanish)

• Stevenson HS Dance 1 Master Class

• Metra Safety Poster & Essay Contest

• Mundelein Baseball & Softball

• English Tutoring

The next edition of the Fremont Focus will be distributed on Wednesday, December 21. 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