Fremont Focus

Dear Fremont Staff, Families, and Community,

As we embark on the 2023-2024 school year, we are excited to launch our 2023-2027 Strategic Plan. This plan is the result of a comprehensive community-involved process that was developed throughout the 2022-2023 school year. The Strategic Plan and annual goals are focused around the following four goal areas and associated objectives:

• Safe, Healthy & Connected Culture

• Growth & Achievement for ALL

• Talent Recruitment & Development

• Financial & Facility Stewardship

Each year, the Board of Education and Administration collaboratively create annual action plans to advance the goal areas and objectives. The Board unanimously voted to approve the annual goals for the 2023-2024 school year at its regular monthly meeting on August 21, 2023. Highlights of this year’s plan include:

• Launch of our Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) with staff, embedding focused collaboration on student learning (more details below)

• Implementation of a revised math curriculum and resources to raise achievement and close performance gaps (more details below)

• Introduction of a college partnership program to provide teacher licensure for paraprofessionals and additional credentialing for current teachers (in the areas of special education and English learners)

• Engagement of the community in a 10-year Educational Master Facility Plan to prepare for enrollment growth aligned with our educational vision and strong financial stewardship

The District’s efforts are aligned to produce positive outcomes in the areas of focus. We will continue to keep you involved and informed in our strategic planning work. We are poised to have a productive year!

Sincerely,

Trisha Kocanda

Superintendent of Schools

Please read the following newsletter for detailed information, but here is a summary of key dates for quick access:

• August 30-31 - NWEA MAP Testing (K-8)
• August 31 - Lincoln Parent Involvement Night; 6:00 p.m.
• September 4 - Holiday (Students Not In Attendance)
• September 6 - Early Release Schedule (MS dismissed at 2:13 p.m.; ES/IS dismissed at 3:08 p.m.)
• September 8 - Special Event Dismissal Schedule - Mundelein HS Homecoming Parade (MS dismissed at 1:13 p.m.; ES/IS dismissed at 2:08 p.m.)
• September 8 - No School for PK/EC
• September 13 - Early Release Schedule (MS dismissed at 2:13 p.m.; ES/IS dismissed at 3:08 p.m.)

Our K-5 students are beginning the year with our new math resource, Imagine Learning Illustrative Mathematics. This widely respected and research-driven resource addresses math instruction with an interactive, problem-based, collaborative, and inclusive approach that promotes deep student thinking and reasoning.

Our grade 6-8 students will continue to utilize Cengage Big Ideas to support their math learning. This resource is aligned with best practices in math instruction and embraces an exploratory approach to math that promotes deep conceptual understanding, meaningful applications, and student independence.

Our PreK students have updated a number of their resources used to support math instruction, including Manipulatives, scales, play money, clocks, thermometers, 3D shapes, etc.

Keep an eye out later this year for parent education opportunities related to our math instruction and resources that are aligned with our newly launched Parent University, in addition to communications coming from the school and classroom level.

We successfully launched our staff professional learning communities (PLCs). The practices associated with PLCs enhance educator collaboration to improve student engagement, growth and achievement. Through collective inquiry, action research, and ongoing job-embedded learning, educators plan for and monitor student performance to ensure all learn at high levels. The PLC model is proven to help raise overall student achievement and teacher morale.

Our new Wednesday early release model supports these efforts. However, PLCs are not just a Wednesday activity during our early release days and actually are not “meetings” at all, instead they are a process. Twenty team leader positions are now in place across the District to embrace the distributive leadership spirit of PLCs and support our pursuit of our FSD79 strategic plan goal #2 of “Growth and Achievement for ALL.”

In an effort to connect the FSD79 Board of Education and the community, the District is creating a summary of monthly, regular Board meetings. To view a recap of the August 21 meeting, please click here.

As requested by numerous families, Friday, September 8 will follow our Special Event Dismissal Schedule so that students may attend the Mundelein High School Homecoming Parade. Middle school students will be dismissed at 1:13 p.m. that day, while elementary and intermediate school students will be dismissed at 2:08 p.m. There is no school for Lincoln Early Learning Center on that date. There is a new parade route this year (see below), with the route beginning at Mundelein High School starting at 3:30 p.m. and ending there as well.

As an extra layer of security, FSD79 updated guidelines for individuals visiting a District building. We ask that all visitors contact the appropriate office in advance to make an appointment so that staff may be properly prepared for your arrival in order to best be of assistance.

Individuals needing to register their child for school should contact Sherri Olk, Registrar, at 847-566-0169.

If you need to drop off materials, please label the items and place them on the table in the vestibule. When dropping off paperwork, please place the paperwork in an envelope, label the envelope with the names of the student and teacher, and place the envelope in the basket located on the table in the vestibule.

FSD79 thanks you for your assistance in adhering to these guidelines.

Developing positive relationships between our teachers and parents is central to the education of our students. Thank you to everyone who came out last week to the Curriculum Nights at our schools. We look forward to the continued collaboration!

Lunch menus for the month of September are now available and can be found here.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
The Fremont PTO would love to see you at our meetings this year! Meetings are on the third Wednesday of the month in the Middle School Den at 6:00 p.m. Our next meeting is on September 20. Here is the list of all meeting dates for the 2023-2024 school year.

SPIRIT WEAR
Spread school spirit with custom Wildcats gear! Designs include all new Fremont logos! This online sale runs from Friday, August 25 - Friday, September 8. NO LATE ORDERS WILL BE ACCEPTED! All items are custom made for you! Once the online sale is complete, items will go into production, which takes approximately 3-4 weeks before being shipped to Fremont. They will then be sent home with your child. Each item is unique and comes from different manufacturers, so please check the sizing guide on each item you are purchasing. Click here for more information on how to order.

Order Your Yearbook Now - 10% DISCOUNT
Order your student's 2023-2024 yearbook by September 30 and get 10% off. Use the correct school code from our flyer when you order!

PTO MEMBERSHIP/ONLINE DIRECTORY FOR 2023-2024 SCHOOL YEAR
If you already have an account in Membership Toolkit, thank you for creating and/or updating your Membership Toolkit account last year. All accounts have been rolled over for the 2023-2024 school year but you do need to update/confirm your account information to activate your account. If you do not update/confirm your family information and directory preferences by November 1st, your account will be removed from Membership Toolkit.

If you don't have an account in Membership Toolkit, set it up now for free! Once you have created an account in Membership Toolkit your child will appear in the online directory immediately (that's if you choose to do so). To create an account, go to fsd79.membershiptoolkit.com and follow the directions in the attached form (Online Student Directory Set Up Instructions 2023-2024).

To gain access to the Online Student Directory your account must be active and you must pay the $15 PTO Membership Family Fee. If you paid your PTO Membership fee thru your TeacherEase account before June 15th, your payment has been confirmed and you currently have access to the Online Student Directory. If you didn’t pay your PTO Membership Family Fee before June 15th, you can pay the $15 PTO Membership Family fee thru Venmo @Fremont-PTO; or by bringing or sending the attached form with your cash payment or check made payable to Fremont PTO to any school front office. The option to pay the PTO Membership Fee thru your TeacherEase account is no longer available. Once we receive confirmation of your payment, we will give you access to the online directory. Please note it may take up to one week to be granted access to the online directory.

Don't forget to download the FREE Membership Toolkit app to your smartphone-search "Membership Toolkit" in your app store.

FSD79 offers local groups and organizations the opportunity to advertise their upcoming events in the Virtual Backpack. To submit your group's event for consideration, please submit a PDF flyer to publicrelations@fsd79.org. Current offerings include:

• 2023-24 Right at School Registration
• IAGC/SENG Regional Parent Conference
  

The next edition of the Fremont Focus will be distributed on Wednesday, September 13. This will be in addition to the weekly e-newsletters sent on Fridays from principals at the school level.

Address: 28855 North Fremont Center Road, Mundelein, IL

Phone: (847) 566-0169

Website: fsd79.org

Facebook: facebook.com/FremontSchoolDistrict79

Twitter: @FSD79

Instagram: @FSD79

YouTube: youtube.com/FSD79