Winter Climate Survey Results
As you're aware, students in grades 1-5 took the Winter Climate Survey last week. We're in the process of following up with individual students and families, as necessary, but I wanted to share the overall results.
“I feel like I’m a part of my school community.”--100%
“I have friends at school.”--100%
“There is a grown-up at school I can talk to.”--98.6%
“I feel safe at school.”--97.7%
“Have you been bullied at school (since the last survey)?”-- 93.8% responded NO.
While we very much value this formative check regarding our school climate, please always encourage your child to let us know if there is an issue, or reach out if you have concerns that need to be addressed.
Lost & Found
The Forest Hills Lost and Found (located in the foyer at the main entrance) is overflowing with miscellaneous winter gear, water bottles, sweatshirts, etc. We're giving this batch one more week to be claimed, or it's all going to be donated. If your child is missing something, please have them stop by to see if it's there. You're welcome to take a peek at arrival or dismissal as well! Off to Goodwill it goes next Thursday, February 13!
Western Springs Park District: New Park!
Wonderful news from the Western Springs Park District! The north park at Forest Hills will be replaced in the upcoming year. They are currently in the early planning phase and welcome your input. The next meeting takes place on Tuesday, February 11 at 6:00 at 4400 Central Ave. I've been around to each 1st-4th grade classroom this past week to provide students the opportunity to give their initial input into the park replacement, as they're the primary constituents of this project! (The WS Parks had to take the planning boards back before I could get to Kindergarten and 5th grades!) In the meantime, you're invited to attend the meeting to share your thoughts and ideas!
All Abilities Fair: Tuesday, February 11
We are excited to once again have the All Abilities Fair at Forest Hills. It was created to try and help expose students to the various learning differences or disabilities that many of our children face everyday. By providing hands-on, age-appropriate activities, our hope was that we could create a strong D101 community of support for those students who might receive services or learn differently.
We'll be kicking things off on Monday, February 10 with an assembly. Bridget Brown is a young woman with Down Syndrome and will be sharing her experience with students about being the first person with Down Syndrome to be included in her local school and community. We're excited to welcome her to Forest Hills!
Once again, we are in need volunteers to help make this special event happen! We will need parents to help lead either morning or afternoon stations. The morning sessions would be roughly 8:45 – 11:30, while the afternoon ones would be around 12:45 – 3:25. Each class will be given a 30-minute time slot to attend the fair and participate in the various stations.
If you’d like to help, please reach out to Gina Fitzpatrick (ginafitz25@gmail.com).
We look forward to the opportunity to work with you to make the All Abilities Fair another success!
Attendance Matters
Next week marks the 100th day of school, and is also the time when we are required by the state to formally review student attendance. Regular attendance at school is known to be a predictor of success for individual students and is an indicator that we look at closely throughout the year.
Excessive absences are classified as 10% of the school year or more, or 18 or more days. Missing school, especially many days across the year, can have a detrimental effect not only on individual students, adding stress and creating missed opportunities for instruction and social development, but also negatively impacts classmates when group members are missing or pace slows down to allow for a classmate to catch up on what was missed. Chronic absenteeism is also a factor that figures into the Illinois State Report Card and the summative designation for our schools. Most importantly, each day that students are present they gain the full benefit of being in school, both academically and socially, and the consistency of a class with regular attendance produces compounding gains.
Next week we send home formal letters to families where a student’s absences are currently at or over the 10% mark, with the hopes that we can assist, where needed, to change this rate of absences. We encourage all parents to, whenever possible, please schedule appointments or travel during non-school hours.
Thank you for your partnership on this important aspect of your child’s education.
Health Notice: Cold & Flu Season
Absenteeism has increased and we are seeing many more students in the nurse’s office with viral
and flu-like symptoms. With flu season upon us, we need to review basic good health practices to
limit the spread of infection. It is important to maintain good nutrition, personal hygiene, proper rest, and proper hydration (fluids). Hand washing is most important.
Symptoms to be aware of are: fever, sore throat, chills, cough, headache, muscle aches, vomiting,
and/or diarrhea. In order to help prevent the spread of infection to others and to protect your
child from a relapse, students should be kept home for 24 hours after symptoms have subsided.
With everyone’s cooperation we can decrease the transmission of illness and infection, reduce
absenteeism, and keep our school community healthy. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
WSPD Walk Throughs
In an effort to continue to cultivate positive relationships between the Western Springs Police Department (WSPD) and the District 101 community, police officers from the WSPD will be regularly visiting schools on Wednesdays during the lunch hour. They'll be talking with students and staff and overall, just being a regular presence in our schools. Hopefully, this will normalize the experience of having officers at school and foster some positive connections for all! We have the names of all officers and will have them check-in as we do all school visitors.
I wanted to share this information in case your child comes home and shares they've been seeing police officers at school--nothing is wrong or dangerous, but rather this is a good thing. How wonderful that we're in a community where this is even possible!
Valentine's Day at Forest Hills
Please watch for more detailed information in the next update regarding Student Council sponsored "Random Acts of Kindness Week (RAK)" the week of February 10-14. It is our way of celebrating Valentine's Day and spreading kindness throughout Forest Hills.
On Valentine's Day, (which we'll celebrate on Thursday, February 13 since we have no school on February 14!) your child is welcome to bring in Valentines to share, with the following parameters:
NO CANDY/FOOD should be a part of the Valentine.
There should be one for everyone in the class.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation!
February Student Ownership Attribute: EMPATHY
This month, our Student Ownership Attribute is strategically paired to coincide with our Week of Kindness (2/10-2/14) and our All Abilities Fair! We are centering our stories, conversations, and experiences this month around the power of empathy within our community.
Our D101 definition of EMPATHETIC is: empathetic people want to learn about, from, and with other people to see the world through the experiences of others.
Some of the components we discussed at the various grade levels were:
All abilities are valuable; we all have strengths and things that are challenging for us.
We are all different and unique, but share many commonalities and experiences within our differences.
Respectful questions and kind curiosity are great, so that we can learn about each other and understand one another!
Treating each other with kindness and respect allows us to build a strong community.
We’ve discussed these talking points in connection with the following grade level texts/resources:
Kindergarten: It’s Okay to be Different, by Todd Parr
1st Grade: What Happened to You?, by James Catchpole
2nd Grade: We’re All Wonders, by RJ Palacio
3rd Grade: The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin, by Julia Finley Mosca
4th Grade: I Talk Like a River, by Jordan Scott
5th Grade: TedTalk: Compassion
Although this is our collective focus for the month of February, will seek opportunities to continue to build our inclusive, empathetic community throughout the year.
Next month we will learn all about the attribute of being Critical Thinkers and Problem Solvers; get excited to learn more about this important attribute alongside our students!
New Year, New School Security Measure
In the new year our front office will be rolling out Verkada, a new guest check-in system. Not much will change with our practice and expectations, but we just wanted to make you aware, as we will still require drivers licenses or some form of government ID to be turned in to enter the school and wear a lanyard to indicate you are a visitor in the building.
The good news is that once you register in the system the first time, you will be issued a QR code that can be saved on your phone. That code can be scanned on all future visits, which will make check-in a little more efficient.
Winter Weather Reminder and Information
Hopefully, you also saw the information regarding Winter Weather in Dr. Coffey's update last week. I've included that information below as well. Please make special note of piece about remote learning--specifically, the advance preparations we plan to take, should weather be a potential concern. In short, we will proactively send devices home with Kindergarten-2nd graders, who typically don't bring their devices home with them. We will err on the side of caution to ensure we are over-prepared, thus, your child may bring their device home and hopefully, just bring it back to school the next day as we'll be in attendance. (Just because they bring their device home, does not mean that we plan or expect to have a remote learning day--only that we want to be prepared in that event!)
Dr. Coffey's Message:
When considering school delays or closures due to weather, we prioritize several key factors to ensure the safety of our students and staff. These include:
The safety of students who rely on bus or car transportation to get to and from school
The safety of staff members who commute by car
The safety of students who walk to school
The ability of our maintenance and custodial teams to clear sidewalks and parking lots
Another major consideration is wind chill. For students waiting for buses or walking to and from school, extreme cold is always a concern. As in past years, we will consider closing schools when sustained wind chill temperatures approach 25 degrees below zero.
On snowy, icy, or extremely cold mornings, the Lyons Township superintendents stay in close communication with each other, as well as our bus companies, to determine whether or not schools in the Township should be closed. The outcome is typically a joint decision, made and communicated generally before 6:15 AM. In keeping with District 101’s tradition, we will always strive to keep school in session unless safety dictates otherwise.
Although remote learning days are an option, we intend to use them sparingly in lieu of a traditional “snow day.” As such, we will only utilize this option when qualitative conditions lead us to believe that it is the best choice. Some of these considerations may include:
- advanced notice of an incoming “weather event,”
- the likelihood for the need for multiple days away from traditional in-person school due to blizzard conditions or extreme cold, and/or
- negative implications/impact of adding day(s) to the end of the school calendar, as required, to make up missed days.
Because our younger students do not typically bring their district-issued devices home, in addition to reviewing and practicing logging in for an e-learning day at school, students will also practice bringing their devices home, particularly when the forecast indicates a possibility of a “weather event.” This does not mean that an e-learning day will automatically occur. We will provide clear, proactive communication, to the extent possible, before moving forward with an e-learning day.
When schools are delayed or closed, we will notify local TV and radio stations through the Emergency Closing Center. Be sure to look for “Cook County District 101” (and not Batavia District 101 in Kane County) when checking for updates. You can also access school closure information through www.emergencyclosings.com, or via our district website at wsd101.org. The district website is typically the first to be updated with closure information. In addition, we will continue to use our emergency notification system to contact families via email, text, and/or phone call, depending on the contact information provided in PowerSchool.
Finally, we want to emphasize that you, as parents, always have the final say in whether your child attends school during inclement weather. If you feel that the journey to school is not safe, we encourage you to make the decision that is best for your family. Weather-related absences will be excused.
Notes of Appreciation
Did you know that practicing gratitude can not only positively impact the recipient of your kind words, but also help YOU feel better and live longer?!?! It's true!
In that spirit, I encourage you to take the time to click HERE to share a short message of gratitude to a Forest Hills staff member (or members, if you're feeling really ambitious!). I have the great fortune of seeing how hard everyone works behind the scenes and the care and concern that everyone here shows for our kids everyday. Hopefully, your kiddos feel that love and support and you do too!
I'll also always have a link to the form in my email signature for ease of access and the opportunity to send a kind note whenever the mood strikes. Thanks in advance for taking the time to brighten someone's day!
IMPORTANT: Updated D101 Elementary Handbook
This summer, the administrative team spent considerable time updating the Elementary School Handbook. Please do spend some time reviewing some of the important information regarding attendance, academics, behavior/discipline, technology, etc. The handbook can be found via the link above or as a PDF below.
D101 Calendars: 24-25 & 25-26 School Years
2024-25 calendar HERE (subscribable Google Calendars) attached below.
2025-26 calendar HERE
Rachel Corrough
Email: rcorrough@d101.org
Website: www.d101.org
Location: 5020 Central Avenue, Western Springs, IL, USA
Phone: (708)485-5184
Twitter: @corrough
