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LZHS Principal's Newsletter
September 29, 2023
Principal's Message
Good afternoon!! We are super excited for Homecoming Week next week. We have many activities planned: spirit days, the girl's football game on Wednesday night, the Homecoming Assembly, the Varsity takes on Lake Forest Friday night, and then the culminating activity...the Homecoming Dance. It is going to be a busy week! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out! Have a great weekend!
New Topics
-Upcoming Important Dates
-Lake Zurich High School Parent/Teacher Conference Information
-Commended and Semifinalist Students for National Merit Scholarship
-SAT Informational Night
-Calendar Survey
-Individual Meetings With Counselors
-Red Ribbon Week Information
-Double-Entry Communication
-Submitting Attendance Through Synergy
Previous Topics
-Morning Drop Off
-SchooLinks Information
-Spiritwear Volunteer Opportunities
-Spiritwear Sales
-Attendance Information
Upcoming Important Dates
-October 4-Girls Football Game
-October 7-Homecoming Dance
-October 10-SAT Informational Night
-October 12-Senior Picture Retake Day
-October 17-Band O'Rama
-October 19-District Choral Festival
Lake Zurich High School Parent/Teacher Conferences
Parent teacher conferences for Lake Zurich High School will be held on three dates beginning October 27th. Conferences on Friday, October 27th will be online only, while those on the 1st and 9th of November will be hybrid with opportunities for both in-person and video conferences.
10/27 - 1:45 PM to 3:35 PM (online only)
11/1 - 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM (in-person or online)
11/9 - 1:45 PM to 7:00 PM (in-person or online)
While it is preferable to conference with our parents in person, virtual options remain available for your convenience.
Conferences will be scheduled using Meet the Teacher, our scheduling and conferencing system. The system will allow parents to select either an in-person or video meeting.
Parents who select the remote video conference will receive an emailed link to the conference following registration. On the day of the meeting, parents/guardians will return to the Meet the Teacher conference website to open the video window. Please review this informational page to ensure the technology needed for conferencing is in place.
Parents and Guardians who elect to meet in-person will select the in-person meeting option during registration, appointments will automatically include a 10 minute gap between meetings for travel time. In-person conference attendees should arrive at the meeting room at least 5 minutes prior to the time that the meeting is scheduled.
On Monday, October 16th, each guardian will receive an invitation to sign up for a conference with their student’s teachers, including a unique login code for Lake Zurich’s Meet the Teacher portal. Parent sign-up will open at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, October 18th and will be available through October 25th at 8:00 AM.
Commended and Semifinalist Students for National Merit Scholarship
Commended
-Dillon Bathery
-Ethan Charo
-Justin Charo
-Aidan Flannery
-Emma Harper
-Dalton Leitz
-Jiexun Li
-Joshua Middlebrook
-Courtney Morrison
-Sanjay Mothkur
-Sashrika Shyam
-Anushree Sudhakar
-Treyton Yelverton
Semifinalists
-Lia Carroll
-Kyle Chua
-Matthew Chung
SAT Informational Night
The SAT Suite of tests is now in a digital format. To support our learning community with this change, the district will be hosting an SAT Night. The event will focus on understanding the makeup of the new Digital SAT Suite from eighth grade - eleventh grade, reading and responding to astudent’s results, and the next steps the district is taking in response to both the digital change and data.
The SAT Night will take place on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. in the Lake Zurich High School Performing Arts Center (PAC). The event will also be available via livestream which can be accessed here or from our website (lz95.org, click on School Board, click on Meeting Broadcasts). During the event, there will be a time for questions. Please use this google form if you would like to submit a question in advance.
Calendar Survey
On Wednesday, September 20th, Dr. Gallt sent an email with a survey link asking for stakeholder feedback on behalf of the district calendar committee. The committee sets dates for the school calendar including start-of-year, end-of-year, holidays beyond those required at the federal or state level, institute days, and more. Last year the committee developed a number of questions that we have used as the basis for a survey, and we would like your feedback to further inform our decision-making for the 2024-25 school year and beyond. Please note that when building a school calendar there are several competing interests and not all options may be viable together - at the end of the survey there is an opportunity to rank questions which will help us prioritize.
Individual Meetings with Counselors
As a new initiative this year, counselors are meeting with each of their students individually to plan for life after high school! Senior meetings are wrapping up and students were able to get help with finalizing their plan, finding new opportunities, and working through their applications. All freshmen will receive an email and a pass to meet with their counselor in October, and sophomores will do the same in November. Juniors will have their meetings in the spring. Check in with your student after their meeting to see how it went!
Red Ribbon Week
Double Entry Communication
Submitting Attendance Through Synergy
Access the Synergy Parent Portal from the District 95 website (under Parents, called ParentVUE) or through the App on your smartphone to submit an attendance report when your child will miss school.
Login to ParentVUE.
Select the child for whom you will report the absence.
Navigate to the "Attendance" tab
Within the "Attendance" section, select “Report Absence”. Provide detailed information, including the reason for the absence and the anticipated duration.
Save and Confirm: You will only receive a confirmation email after the request is processed.
Morning Drop-Off
Lake Zurich High School is asking for your support during the morning drop-off. Some drivers are creating safety issues for our students as they drive through the upper lot. Please note the two issues we need to address.
-When dropping off students in the morning, please make sure you are using the student drop-off lane only. The drive-thru lane and driveway from the lower lot up to the tennis courts are not available to drop off students.
-Also, please make sure that you are not parking in numbered spots during drop-off because these spots are assigned to specific students, and they wouldn't have any other place to park. If you must park during drop-off time, please use a visitor spot and only stay as long as it takes to complete your business at the school and then vacate the spot so other visitors may use it.
Thank you for your cooperation and support!
SchooLinks Information
Welcome to SchooLinks, our new College and Career Readiness platform. We wanted to send out some information that will help you navigate SchooLinks alongside your student.
- To login please click “Forgot my password” and enter the email address that you use for your ParentVue login. From there you will be able to access your guardian account
- You and your student(s) will be automatically connected within the platform alongside your student's counselor and other faculty members who will take part in your student's journey toward College and Career Readiness
- We are always looking for additional industry partners to help bring work based learning experiences to all students. To learn more about how you can help, please email our Director of College and Career Readiness, Ali Finn
- SchooLinks provides extensive support for navigating all it has to offer. You can locate the help center here
- For any additional questions, please reach out to Ali Finn
Thank you for your continued support throughout your student's journey to life after District 95!
Dr. John Walsh and Ms. Ali Finn
Spiritwear Volunteer Opportunities
Would you like to meet new parents? Make great connections while selling the NEW Bear Spirit Wear Line?
Join us in raising money for the High School! Please contact us at lzhsboosterstore@gmail.com
You can also sign up for to volunteer at the school store and/or football games.
School Store Volunteer Sign up Genius link:
https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/20f0c4daca62fabf49-lzhs
Football Game Volunteer SignUp Genius Link:
https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/20F0C4DACA62FABF49-football
Spiritwear Sales
The Bear Booster store has gone LIVE! We are so excited to showcase our NEW line! Start the new school year sporting your trendy LZ Bear Spirit Wear! GO BEARS!!!
SHOP: https://lake-zurich-high-school-bear-booster-club.square.site/
Questions: Lzhsboosterstore@gmail.com
Attendance Information
As we prepare to start the school year, it is important that students and families establish regular routines to maximize student attendance to school. Students are expected to be at school daily, and with enough time to navigate to their first period class on time.
Please note that for students who struggle to maintain regular attendance, parents/families will receive additional communication, conference requests, and other interventions to support regular school attendance - in accordance with state law. At the high school level, this may involve one or more of the following:
- having students attend Office Hours to make up work missed due to tardy behaviors or unexcused absences,
- assignment to after school interventions (i.e., staying for a period of time after Office Hours), and
- not being able to make up formative work missed for credit due to attendance concerns.
Parents/guardians and students can find more information regarding attendance in the Parent-Student Handbook.