Kingsley Connection

Dear Kingsley families,

The countdown to school is on! The Kingsley staff is making final preparations for your students to return for the first full day of school on Friday, August 16th.

We look forward to seeing you at our Meet and Greet school supply drop-off on Tuesday, August 13th, from 2:45-3:30pm.

Be sure to also stop by the PTA Popsicle Social on the intermediate playground from 3:00-5:00pm.

Today's Kingsley Connection contains important information about procedures, schedules, and more. We recommend you bookmark this newsletter to refer back to it throughout the year.

Finally, we invite you to follow us on Twitter (links below). This is one of the many ways to stay in touch with events happening at Kingsley.

We are excited to begin our 2024-2025 journey with you and your children.

Chuck Brewster (Principal) & Eleni Gajewski (Assistant Principal)

This is always an exciting day for students!

Teacher assignments have been posted in PowerSchool since Friday, August 2nd at 12:00pm.

In order to ensure view your child’s schedule, you will need to be able to log into your secure PowerSchool Parent Portal Account. Families can navigate the portal by visiting dg58.powerschool.com and signing in with their username and password. Information about creating a portal account can be found here. If you need assistance, please contact our school office (630) 719-5850 which can help you get signed in.

Kindergarten: Mrs. Shannon Arnold & Mrs. Nichole Szlembarski

1st Grade: Mrs. Rachel Bush & Ms. Christine Fiorenzi

2nd Grade: Ms. Jacqueline Ruf, Mrs. Jen Kotor, and Mrs. Jamie Arendas

3rd Grade: Mr. Andrew Biederman & Mrs. Colleen Hannigan

4th Grade: Mrs. Liana LoPresti & Mr. Craig Young

5th Grade: Mr. Matt Dennis & Mrs. Kristin Fuchs

6th Grade: Mrs. Ashley Herald, Mrs. Deanna Jacobs, & Mrs. Carly Boyle

K-1 B.E.S.T. Program: Ms. Maggie Resillez

2-3 B.E.S.T. Program: Mrs. Lindsey Reese

3 B.E.S.T. Program: tbd

4-6 B.E.S.T. Program: Mrs. Carly Reider (Formerly Ms. Alfieri)

Students in grades K-6 can come for supply drop-off on Tuesday, August 13th from 2:45pm - 3:30pm

Teachers will still be setting up their rooms and preparing for the first day of school. While the staff is excited to see their students, they will not be able to conference individually with families during this time. If your child has special needs or accommodations, your child's teacher will have that information ahead of time.

Families will enter and exit his/her grade-level hallway arrival door. Families who have registration or medical papers may bring them to the main office.

Grade Level Entry Doors:

Grades K-1 Enter/exit through Door 2

Grade 2 Enter/exit through Door 3

Grades 3-4 Enter/exit through Door 5

Grades 5-6 Enter/exit through Door 6

B.E.S.T. Enter/exit through Door 1

All families are expected to wrap up school supply drop-off by 3:30pm and invited to head to the Kingsley Popsicle Social located on the intermediate playground (in the back of school), from 3:00pm-5:00pm.

Dear Kingsly Families,

We do not use a formal carline for arrival and dismissal. Please refrain from dropping off on Norfolk, as it will be reserved for bus traffic. Instead, parents/guardians may park along Powell South of the parking lot and North of Norfolk, and along Barrett, and escort their students to and from their line up location and pick up location.

If you are looking for a "Drop and Go" option, you may drop your student off right outside the primary playground area on Powell between the parking lot and the stop sign. There will be staff present to help students exiting vehicles and direct them to where to go. We ask that you please remain in your vehicle to keep the line moving.

Please note that while parking along Powell, we ask that you are mindful not to park in front of driveways to avoid causing any inconvenience to our neighbors.

Our BEST program and SASED buses will continue to use the parking lot on Powell for arrival and dismissal.

For the safety of our students, these will be the only vehicles allowed in the parking lot. Therefore, please refrain from entering or exiting the parking lot during arrival and dismissal.

Please see the traffic flow graphic below. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Thank you for your continued support.

SCHOOL HOURS

Grades K-6

Mondays 8:15am - 2:00pm

Tuesdays - Fridays 8:15am - 3:00pm

Arrival

Students may arrive at Kingsley School beginning at 8:05am each day when adult supervision begins. In order to assist with a timely and safe arrival process, the school playground will be closed before school. Upon arrival, students should line up by their assigned door. Students will be directed to enter the building beginning at 8:15 am. Doors will close at 8:20am and anyone arriving after 8:20am should enter through the main entrance (Door 1) to check in at the office.

Grade Level Entry Doors:

Grades K-1 Enter/exit through Door 2 (located by the primary playground on Powell and Norfolk)

Grade 2 Enter/exit through Door 3 (located by the primary playground on Powell and Norfolk)

Grades 3-4 Enter/exit through Door 5 (located by the intermediate playground on the East side of the building)

Grades 5-6 Enter/exit through Door 6 (located by the intermediate playground on the East side of the building)

B.E.S.T. & SASED Enter/exit through Door 1 (Main Entrance on Powell)

• Bus Riders: Bus riders are dropped off on Norfolk. A Kingsley staff member will greet bus students and escort them to the building.

• Walkers: Report directly to their grade level's hallway entry door. Staff are stationed around the building to direct students. Parents should remain on the Norfolk sidewalk or grassy field behind the intermediate blacktop if walking to school with children. This will alleviate congestion at the doors.

Dismissal/After School

Following daily dismissal at Kingsley School (2:00 p.m. on Monday and 3:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday), all students who are not scheduled to remain in the building must leave the school grounds and check in at their destination as there is no supervision on school grounds. We want to ensure the safety of all students.

Students may return to the playground after 3:45pm and/or on the weekends. This will be done at the family's discretion, as our district playgrounds also function as community parks outside of school hours.

If a bus is running late, families will be notified via email. For primary children, please be sure to have an adult waiting to greet them as they get off the bus.

Dear District 58 Families,

If your child is a bus rider, you may now access 2024-25 general education bus routes online at www.dg58.org/family-resources/bus-routes or on your PowerSchool parent account (instructions are on the bus route webpage). Families whose children use specialized bus routes will be directly contacted by the bus company/bus driver with their bus pickup and dropoff information starting Monday, Aug. 12.

Taking the bus is an exciting time for students, and we have worked hard to ensure our students are on a bus route and ready to go. However, there may be some students who recently registered or who did not select transportation during enrollment that may not have a bus stop assigned to them. We are working to update our records. If you signed up for general education bus service and your child’s bus stop is either missing or inaccurate on PowerSchool, please do two things:

1. Look at your school’s bus routes and determine the closest stop to your house. Your child should use that stop and will be allowed on the bus.

2. Please email or call your school office and let them know. We will be working with the bus company to update PowerSchool student accounts with the correct bus route and stop.

If your child rides on a specialized bus route and you don’t receive a call from the bus company or bus driver by Wednesday, Aug. 14 by 3 p.m., please contact your case manager or Special Services Secretary Amy Dunbar at adunbar@dg58.org or 630-719-5824.

District 58 requests that students please arrive at their bus stops a few minutes early during the first weeks of school. As bus drivers get acquainted with new routes, it is likely that some routes may run early or late, and we may adjust bus stop times as needed. Any student who arrives late due to a delayed bus will be excused. We appreciate your patience and flexibility!

Sincerely,

District 58

Lunch and fruit break procedures will be the same as the 2023-2024 school year.

Fruit/Snack Break

Please make sure your child has a snack each day. Snack breaks should consist of nutritious food choices such as fruits and vegetables. This aligns with Policy 6:50. The health and safety of our students are our highest priorities. Therefore certain snacks or foods may be prohibited in your child’s classroom due to food allergies.

This year we are moving to a 3 lunch period schedule. Please see the schedule below for each grade level.

LUNCH/RECESS SCHEDULE:

Kindergarten: (11:30-11:50 Lunch, 11:50-12:10 Recess)

1st Grade: (11:30-11:50 Recess, 11:50-12:10 Lunch)

2nd Grade: (11:30-11:50 Lunch, 11:50-12:10 Recess)

3rd Grade: (11:50-12:10 Lunch, 12:10-12:30 Recess)

4th Grade: (11:50-12:10 Recess, 12:10-12:30 Lunch)

5th Grade: (11:50-12:10 Lunch, 12:10-12:30 Recess)

6th Grade: (11:50-12:10 Recess, 12:10-12:30 Lunch)

Prior to the first day of school, all staff will be trained on our District health and safety protocols, emergency health care, including the Heimlich maneuver, allergy awareness and Epipen usage, as well as specific student health care plans involving allergy, asthma, and/or seizure action plans as needed. Our school health office will be in touch with families of students with allergies.

Staff will review Kingsley Behavior Expectations with their classes in the first week of school. This will give a common language across the building to all staff, students, and families.

Please ask your child about Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible:

*Playground

*Hallways

*Bathroom

*Arrival/Dismissal

*Specials

*Classroom

*With a sub

*Bus

We have added a new option for attendance reporting. While guardians will still be able to call in, we are also offering an attendance form for families to submit attendance digitally. If your student will be absent, please use this Attendance form to report the absence.

Please take a moment to review the District Handbook with your child. The handbook can be found on the district website, or by clicking HERE.

August 13 - Kingsley School Supply Drop Off 2:45pm - 3:30pm

August 13 - Kingsley Popsicle Social (Intermediate Blacktop) 3:00pm - 5:00pm

August 16 - First Day of School (full day)

August 16 - Coffee with the PTA 8:30am (outside Door 9)

August 28 - Curriculum Night 6:00pm-7:30pm

September 2 - NO SCHOOL - LABOR DAY

September 13 & 14 - Dg58 Foundation Oktoberfest; Always needs volunteers!