The District 25 Dish

This edition of the District Dish features the following:

• Need 2 Know
  Calendar Updates
  2023-2024 Calendar (REVISED)
  Financial Assistance for Our Families
  Illinois School Report Card | Now Available
  Music For Youth | Portillo's Fundraiser
  D25's Parent Academy | Fall 2023
  Food & Nutrition Services | Seasonal Menus
  
• Superintendent Search | 23-24
• Celebrate With Us!
  Native-American Heritage Month
  Thanksgiving
• Community
  Arlington Heights Memorial Library | Give the Gift of Reading!
  Arlington Heights Police and Fire Departments | Toys for Tots and Coat Drive
  Arlington Heights Park District | Scholarship Program
  
• Feel Good Story
  D25 Features | South's Outdoor Classroom
• Help Needed
  Administrative Support
  Food Service Employee
  Classroom Teaching Assistants
  Substitute Positions
  and more!
• #Build25 Update | Ongoing Updates!
• Instagram | @ahsd25social
  Honoring Veterans Day in D25 | Photos
  
• Strategic Plan 21-25, Dashboard
• Board of Education
  Illinois Joint Annual Conference 2023 | Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 10:30 am
  School Board Meeting | Tuesday, December 12, 2023 at 7:00 pm
  
• #d25ItsPersonal

Thank you! Click around and enjoy!

Progress Reports Issued | Elementary School

• Friday, November 17, 2023

Non-Attendance Days | All Schools Closed

• Monday, November 20 - Friday, November 24, 2023

School Board Meeting

• Tuesday, December 12, 2023 at 7:00 pm

At the May 9th, 2023 Board meeting, a REVISED calendar for the 2023-2024 school year was approved. Please note the following changes. Please also note that the updated calendar has the word REVISED at the top in red:

1. Tuesday, March 19, 2024 is a Non-Attendance Day | Election Day

2. Monday, April 1, 2024 is a Staff Attendance Only | School Improvement (SIP) Day

3. Monday, April 1, 2024 is an Emergency Day 1

4. Friday, April 5, 2024 is a School Attendance Day

5. Monday, April 8, 2024 is a School Attendance Day

Please download and print this calendar linked here for your reference.

This calendar is also available on our website at www.sd25.org/Calendar.

District 25 is proud to offer so many opportunities for our students to find, nourish, and enhance their passions. Whether it be a school club, sport, or the arts like band, music, or performance, District 25 wants to ensure that all of these are accessible to every student. If any family needs financial assistance to help their child participate in a school event or extracurricular/club, please reach out to District 25's Executive Assistant to the Superintendent, Lana O'Brien (lobrien@sd25.org).

Each year in October, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) releases the Illinois Report Card, which provides school & district demographic Information, finances, student growth, and achievement. We are proud to report that all District 25 schools received Commendable or Exemplary designations.

Click here to view the district’s report card.

Individual school report cards can be viewed by using the search function or by visiting our schools' websites.

Join us at Portillo's for a fundraiser to support Music For Youth! 20% of the sales from the event will go directly towards the program! If ordering online or in the app, be sure to use the code PORTILLOS9. For drive thru, pickup, curbside, and in restaurant orders, please show the flyer linked here.

When: Thursday, November 16 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Where: Portillo's located at 806 W. Dundee Rd., Arlington Heights

A new Parent Academy Newsletter went out on Wednesday, November 15, on how to best Support Your Child Through Tragedy.

Parent Academy is a partnership between parents and District 25, in which parents are invited to join our community of learners. The goal of Parent Academy is to provide learning opportunities for parents to better understand ways to support their students’ academic success and personal well-being.

To visit the Parent Academy webpage, click here.

The Food & Nutrition Services Department is continually working to provide our students with lunch menu items that they enjoy, while providing a variety of nutritious options for our students. To achieve this, the department will be having seasonal menus this school year. All elementary and middle schools will have a Fall (8/17-11/17), Winter (11/27-2/14), Spring (2/20-5/31) Menu. Many of our favorite menu items will stay on the menu, however, this allows us to add some new products to our menus!

Our elementary and middle school students taste-tested a variety of new menu items this fall, and we have selected several of those items to be placed on the winter menu. We had quite a few items our students enjoyed, so some of the student-approved items will also be placed on the spring menu.

Updated menus will be posted on our website as well as on our app. Nutritional information can also be found on our website. We look forward to continuing to serve our students delicious and healthy lunch options.

District 25’s Superintendent, Dr. Lori Bein, will begin her well-deserved retirement at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. As such, the Board of Education has begun the search for the District’s next Superintendent. This search process is underway.

The community forums are completed and the online survey is now closed. Thank you to those who submitted feedback on our Superintendent Search.

Upcoming Timeline

NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 1, 2023

• District 25 Board of Education will have a series of three Special Closed Session Meetings regarding the Superintendent Search.

For more information as well as general updates on the Superintendent Search, please visit the Superintendent Search page on our website (https://www.sd25.org/SuptSearch).

November is Native American Heritage Month. This month remembers the contributions of Native Americans and Alaska Natives and honors the unique heritage of our continent’s first inhabitants.

Thanksgiving is a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. It is celebrated the fourth Thursday in November and is a federal holiday in all states.

Share the gift of reading this holiday season by donating new children's books to the Arlington Heights Memorial Library's annual Holiday Book Drive! All books will go to families in our area whose incomes are below the federal poverty threshold, and will be distributed through the Wheeling Township Adopt-a-Family program.

The library is accepting donations now until November 30. Please drop off your donation in the bin on the first floor of the library.

It is the season of giving! The Arlington Heights Police and Fire Departments are once again running Toys for Tots campaigns. They are accepting new, unwrapped toys until December 21.

The Arlington Heights Fire Department is also hosting its 12th Annual Coat Drive, which has collected nearly 6,000 coats for residents and students in need! Please bring in new and gently used coats for donations.

To find more information regarding where to drop off donations, click here.

The Arlington Heights Park District provides opportunities for fun for everyone!

Apply for a scholarship to help reduce certain fees & charges by calling 847-577-3009.

Did you know that South Middle School has an outdoor classroom? It’s TREEmendous!

South’s outdoor classroom was created by Erick Olson, who graduated South Middle School in 2022. As a former Cardinal, he couldn’t think of a better way to give back to his school than to build something he knew would bring students and staff so much joy!

• Administrative Assistant to the Food & Nutrition Services Department
• Administrative Assistant to the Building Principal | Greenbrier Elementary

• Food Service Employee | Thomas Middle School | Part Time

ALL TEACHING ASSISTANT POSITIONS LINKED HERE

• Special Education Teaching Assistants | Full & Part Time
• EL Teaching Assistant | Part Time

• Substitute Teacher
• Substitute Registered Nurse
• Substitute Teaching Assistant
• Substitute Clerical Assistant
• Substitute Food Service Employee
  
• Substitute Custodian/Substitute Building Attendant
  
• Substitute Crossing Guard

As always, you can visit www.sd25.org/Build25 to stay up to date on the #Build25 progress.

RENDERINGS: Check out the renderings of what our additions are anticipated to look like!

CONSTRUCTION UPDATES: As construction commences, you can follow along on our Build25 site for visual and written updates!

No news is good news as far as construction is concerned! Our projects are moving along with the dry and warmer weather!

LATEST PROGRESS:

Fall 2023

So much is happening in the #Build25 effort!

Dryden: Additional Classrooms & Expanded Gym

• Foundations are being installed for the gym and classroom expansion

Greenbrier: Additional Classrooms

• The construction fence has been installed.
• Site mobilization, construction, & excavation has begun for the foundation.
• Major construction will not start until the Spring of 2024.

Olive-Mary Stitt: Additional Classrooms

• Building addition is underway.
• Masonry is proceeding for the new interior and exterior walls.

Patton: Additional Classrooms & New Gym

• Site preparations are underway.
• Foundational work has begun for the gym and classroom expansion.

Westgate: Additional Classrooms & New Gym

• Site preparations are underway.
• Foundations will be installed for the gym and classroom expansion in the near future.

Windsor: Additional Classrooms

• The construction fence has been installed.
• Site mobilization and construction began in October for the foundation.
• Major construction will not start until the Spring of 2024.

For the full timeline of events, visit the Build25 page: www.sd25.org/Build25.

“So we bow our heads and we thank you, and we promise to never forget. We wave our flags with gusto, to our most honored, heroic Vets." - Poem by Antonella Parisi, Literacy Interventionist at Ivy Hill and Olive-Mary Stitt Elementary.

All across the district, our schools held special assemblies and celebrations to honor and remember our Veterans. From singing songs to holding Flag Ceremonies, our students showed their appreciation and gratitude to our Veterans for all their courage and dedication to our country.

#d25itspersonal

Follow along with our progress on the following goals within our Strategic Plan, 21-25:

• Student Achievement
• Family & Community
• Learning Environment
• High-Quality Staff
• Stewardship of Resources

You can stay up to date on the progress of our goals and strategies that guide us in our everyday work: www.sd25.org/StrategicPlan.

BOARD AGENDAS:

As a reminder, our board agendas are made public 48 hours before each board meeting and can be accessed via our BoardDocs online program. To access BoardDocs, visit our website: www.sd25.org/BoardAgenda or click here.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

Anyone who wishes to make a public comment can do so, in-person, at our Board of Education meetings. The Board hosts two public comment opportunities on their agenda: 1) at the beginning of the meeting, prior to any agenda items, 2) at the end of the meeting after the agenda items have been discussed/presented.

The Board can be reached outside of Board Meeting hours by emailing boardfeedback@sd25.org.

UPCOMING BOARD MEETINGS:

What: School Board Meeting

When: Tuesday, December 12, 2023 @ 7:00 pm

Where: Dunton Administration Building

The Board meetings will be livestreamed via YouTube. The links can be found on the Board Agenda page (www.sd25.org/BoardAgenda) the week of each meeting, but often are posted earlier than that. The recordings of the meetings will be posted the day following meetings at www.sd25.org/CatchUpOnMeetings.

Our teachers teach from a personal place. #d25ItsPersonal has become a way for our teachers and staff to share daily occurrences, and reasons why they do what they do for a living and why it's fulfilling, right here in District 25. Here is a look at a few tweets that show our staff's personal side!

Together Today 2 Transform Tomorrow

Website: www.sd25.org
Location: 1200 South Dunton Avenue
Phone: (847) 758.4900
Facebook: facebook.com/ahsd25
Twitter: @ahsd25

Instagram: @ahsd25social