CJHS "Chargers Connection"

Winter Break is upon us and we wish all our families and students very Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!! Second semester begins on Tuesday, January 7th!!

~Dr. Nicasio, Principal

nicasim@unit5.org

~Mr. Tripp, Associate Principal

trippd@unit5.org

~Ms. 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 wanted to make sure we continued to celebrate these students' outstanding effort during 1st Quarter. These students were given the Team Aces Award for exemplary effort in school as well as bringing a tremendously positive attitude each day at school! We appreciate all they bring to the students and teachers of Team Aces.

The attachment shows the following student award winners: Colton, Everett, Harshit, Jacob, Sydney, Leah, Jenna, Abby, Addie, Ethan, and Jude.

We will continue to celebrate the many fantastic things we see each day in working with your children. Thank you for your encouragement and support of all of our students!

Team Aces Teachers

~Jim Broach

~Elizabeth Hernandez

~Dee Hopper

~Rachel Hinshaw

~Carly Winn

We are proud of our Chiddix volleyball teams for creating 299 holiday cards that will be sent to Cards for Hospitalized Kids!!

The district has provided a guide for parents in accessing and understanding grades in Infinite Campus.

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!!

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)

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://chiddixjhs.unit5.org/
Location: 300 South Walnut Street, Normal, IL, USA
Phone: 309-557-4405