CJHS "Chargers Connection"

The Holiday season is upon us and as we reflect on the closing of 2024 we want to give thanks for the amazing CJHS staff and families for their partnership in ensuring our school is an amazing one filled with confident, honest, assertive, reliable, go-getting, enthusiastic and resilient students!! To our students, thank you for showing us what it means to #BEaCHARGER!

~Dr. Nicasio, Principal

nicasim@unit5.org

~Mr. Tripp, Associate Principal

trippd@unit5.org

~Ms. Aimee Oxarart, Assistant Principal

oxararta@unit5.org

Did you have a wonderful experience with a CJHS Staff member and would like to shout them out? Students and families are invited to spread joy among our staff! Please click on the button below to fill out the form and we will share your message with them in our future Chargers Newsletters!!

We appreciate the generous donation from the PTO to help provide incentive items to purchase using their Charger Cash! As you know, things are expensive! Any help from our families in sending us items that are needed to reward our students for following behavioral expectations would be greatly appreciated!! Please click the link below for more information!! Thank you for your generosity!!

As a new year begins, Illinois state law mandates a 6-week health curriculum for all students to participate in during the school year. This will take the place of their physical education class during their scheduled rotation. Mr. Conrad is the sole health teacher at Chiddix and his PE classes will be the first rotation of health when the students return from Winter Break. Please see the Health Syllabus Statement below outlined by the district for further insight.

If you have any questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact Mr. Conrad at conrada@unit5.org.

Comprehensive sexual health education is part of the 8th and 9th-grade Health curriculum and is a developmentally appropriate education that aligns with the National Sex Education Standards, including information on consent and healthy relationships, anatomy and physiology, puberty and adolescent sexual development, gender identity, and expression, sexual orientation and identity, sexual health, and interpersonal violence. The Unit 5 Board of Education amended the District’s administrative procedures and policies to align with the requirements of Public Act 102-0522, including the direction from the Illinois State Board of Education indicating that any district that offers comprehensive sexual health education needs to align to the National Sex Education Standards for the grade levels it is taught in. The new standards are age and developmentally appropriate, medically accurate, and evidence-informed. The standards aim to:

1. Empower and educate students about personal health and safety.

2. Protect students from child sexual abuse and interpersonal violence.

3. Support the development of healthy relationships.

8th Grade Students Only: Additionally, parents/guardians may opt their children out of instruction that is aligned with comprehensive sexual health education within the Health curriculum. If you would like to have your student opt out of instruction, please review and complete the Notice to Parents/Guardians of Students Enrolled in Family Life and Sex Education Classes, and submit it to your student’s Health teacher. Students whose parents choose not to have them take or participate in instruction will be provided an alternative assignment(s).

If you would like to review the 8th and 9th grade Health curriculum please go to the District’s Curriculum and Instruction site, click on either Middle School or High School, and then click on the Health Education link.

The KidWind event was offered at HCC last year and it seemed to have been well-received (this was an HCC promotional feature on it). We are ramping it up a bit more this year (hoping for 150 kids to compete) and wanted to make sure that we were getting the word out early so that schedules could be blocked out for this. You are invited to share with teachers and parent groups that might be interested!

HCC will be hosting a KidWind Event on February 12, 2025, at the Astroth Community Education Center (ACEC). This will be an all-day event (details to follow on specific time to start/finish once the flyer is created).

• For more information, google “KidWind” or go to this link: Challenges - KidWind (There are details and videos for what the event will include!) By the way, WIND is not the only the renewable energy targeted for this event, but also SOLAR!
• Registration is due on January 13, 2025. Click here to complete registration.

For questions about the event, contact: clc@heartland.edu or call 309-268-8700.

Kimberly Travers, Faculty - Industrial Technology

Career and Technical Education (CTE) Division

Heartland Community College (HCC)

On Thursday, December 12 from 6:00-8:00pm, Normal West Girls Who Code Club, CyberPatriot, AP Computer Science students and Computer Science Honor Society members will be hosting our 9th Annual K-8 Coding Night! This is a FREE event and will be held in person!

We would love to have volunteers (teachers, high school students, etc) for this event!

Please help spread the word to get some K-8 students signed up.

Interested in volunteering? Click here to sign up!

Want to register a K-8 student? Click here to register!

We wanted to share that Unit 5 is expanding its use of the Verkada visitor management system to all district schools. This system, which has been used in Unit 5 high schools for the past year, is designed to enhance the safety and security of our students, staff, and visitors.

Upon entry into a school, visitors and volunteers will enter the main office and present their photo ID to be scanned by the Verkada system. The system tracks the arrival and departure of visitors, while also strengthening student safety by checking all visitors against a registered sex offender database.

The visitor's full name and date of birth is searched on sex offender registries. Additionally, the name is reviewed on our district banned person list. Within seconds, the system will share the results with school staff and will print an ID badge for entry.

If someone doesn’t have an ID, they will be checked in manually by office staff, sharing other forms of information.

It is important to note, this is only in use for times a visitor is entering the school during the day. It will not be used for after-school activities or when a parent is just coming to pick up a child.

We believe that the implementation of Verkada will greatly contribute to a safer and more secure environment for everyone in our school community. We are committed to providing a secure learning space and appreciate your support as we integrate this new system.

If you have any questions or concerns about Verkada, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.

Thank you for your continued partnership in ensuring the safety and well-being of our students.

Dr. Nicasio, Principal

Mr. Tripp, Associate Principal

Ms. Oxarart, Assistant Principal

Phone Numbers:

• General Information: (309) 557-4405
• Guidance Office: (309) 557-4850
• Attendance Line: (309) 557-4454
• School Nurse: (309) 557-4687
• Transportation: (309) 557-4287

Email: nicasim@unit5.org
Website: https://www.unit5.org/Domain/25
Location: 300 South Walnut Street, Normal, IL, USA
Phone: 309-557-4405