Highland Happenings

Good Afternoon Highland Families,

I hope you had a great day and are looking forward to two weeks off to celebrate the holidays! This week was full of holiday cheer as we read holiday stories, held our December All-School Meeting, participated in our annual all-school sing, and had our class holiday parties. Thank you so much for all of the volunteers who made our parties possible! Thank you so much to all of the families that donated items to this years Holiday Husky Huddle. We have an amazing Highland community and it is always so moving to see our Highland community come together to support one another. Winter MAP testing will begin after Winter Break. More information about MAP testing, including the Highland testing schedule, can be found below. I hope you can take the next two weeks to relax and enjoy time with the ones that you love. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at 630-719-5835. Take care and see you in 2025!

My Best,

Zac Craft

Principal, Highland School

• 01/06/25: First Day Back From Winter Break
• 01/07/25: 6th Grade Intramurals
• 01/08/25: MAP Testing Begins
• 01/10/25: Treat Day

• 01/13/25: Roller Skating in P.E. begins
• 01/14/25: PTA Meeting at 7:00 P.M. in the Highland Library
• 01/17/25: Fun Lunch - Chicken Quesadilla

If winter weather requires schools to close, District 58 will promptly email and call all families and staff. The District will also post school closure information on the website, www.dg58.org, and social media channels.

District 58 has the option to use an e-learning day or an emergency day (also called snow day) during bad weather.

This year, District 58 will likely use e-learning days. E-learning days do not need to be made up at the end of the school year. District 58 needs to maximize the summer for referendum construction, so e-learning days would allow District 58 to keep on its construction schedule.

Learn more about District 58's winter weather procedures.

Read District 58's e-learning plan.

The Education Foundation of Downers Grove District 58 invites SCHOOL NAME to its Harlem Wizards fundraiser game on Sunday, Jan. 19 from 6-8 p.m. at Downers Grove South High School.

Buy tickets online at www.58foundation.org/events/Wizards. All event proceeds will be donated to the Education Foundation, a non-profit that raises money to support District 58 students.

Learn more here!

After winter break, District 58's elementary schools will join the National School Lunch Program and partner with a new elementary food service provider, Open Kitchens.

To help with the transition, District 58 will automatically provide meals to all students who currently receive boxed lunches during the week of Jan. 6. Families do not need to pre-order meals for this week.

Starting with the week of Jan. 13, all families who would like their child to receive a boxed lunch will be required to pre-order it online through the MyMealOrder system. Lunch orders for the week of Jan. 13 are due on Monday, Jan. 6 at the end of the day.

Click here to learn more information about ordering elementary boxed lunches.

Our Winter MAP benchmark testing will begin the week after Winter Break. This is an exciting opportunity for our students to demonstrate their knowledge, as well as for our teachers to collect data to inform their instruction. Below is the MAP testing schedule. We would appreciate it if you remind your student to try their best on the test, get a good night sleep before the test, (and everyday), and eat healthy breakfast!

llnesses such as flu, RSV and COVID-19 are spreading in the community. District 58's Health Services website has great resources on preventing these illnesses, and steps to take if you get sick.

In addition, winter break is a great time to clean your child's coats, winterwear, book bag, lunch box and anything else your child takes to school to help fight the spread of germs!

If your family has moved in the past year, or if your student’s address information has changed in any way, please contact Lori at lblahous@dg58.org or call 630-719-5835 and provide your updated information prior to winter break. In addition, if you rent a property, please make sure that your school has a copy of your most recent lease. You may email a copy of your lease to lblahous@dg58.org or drop off a copy at our school office.

District 58 will open 2025-26 student registration in February 2025. As part of the student registration process, District 58 works with a third-party vendor to verify that all students live within the District’s boundaries. After winter break, District 58 will begin the student address verification process. By starting this process earlier, we hope student registration will go more smoothly and more efficiently.

If our third-party vendor, Thomson Reuters CLEAR, cannot confirm that a student lives at their registered address, they will flag that student. District 58 will contact the student’s family and request additional documentation to confirm their address. A family will not be able to register their student for the 2025-26 school year until their residency is confirmed.

Keeping your child’s address information up-to-date will help make the registration process go more smoothly and ensure your child’s registration is completed without delay. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter! District 58 will share more information about 2025-26 student registration after winter break.

Do you have young children at home? Do you have friends or neighbors with little ones? Please share this information!

District 58 offers free preschool and developmental screenings designed to identify young children, ages 0-5, who might have developmental delays and who would benefit from special education prior to beginning kindergarten.

Each week, a member of the Highland staff will be highlighted in the Highland Happenings! This is a great opportunity for our Highland community to learn more about our staff members and all of the information featured in the Happenings can be found in the staff directory on our website. This week we are highlighting Mrs. Cottrell.

Fun Food Fridays

Item's that can be found in every edition of the Highland Happenings, such as the Highland Playbook and our student attendance form can be found below. We want to ensure that these resources are always available to our families while also making each week's Happenings as reader-friendly as possible!

The Highlanad Playbook is your place to find important information about Highland including a staff directory, arrival/dismissal procedures, informaion about social-emotional learning, and much more. Click the image to the right to access the 2024-2025 Highland Playbook.

It is amazing how far technology has come over the last decade and continues to advance. We recognize the value technology has not just in education, but our world. However, we hope that we can work together to remind students that during the school day, personal electronic devices should be turned off or silenced and out of sight. This includes wearable devices if they become distracting to the learning environment. Students should not be using phones, Apple Watches, or other devices to send or receive text messages or phone calls during the school day.

Email: zcraft@dg58.org
Website: DG58.org/HG
Location: 3935 Highland Avenue, Downers Grove, IL, USA
Phone: (630)-719-5835
Facebook: facebook.com/HGHuskies
Twitter: @HGHuskies