Hello Highland Families,

I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer and is looking forward to a terrific 2024-2025 school year! If you have driven by or seen Highland at all during the summer you have seen the significant number of contractors and amount of work that is being done. As Dr. Russell shared in his newsletter this week, our project is on time and the first day of school is Friday, August 16th. I ask that if you have any questions or concerns regarding construction, please reach out to me at 630-719-5835 or at zcraft@dg58.org. We want to ensure that everyone has accurate information.I am very grateful for our construction partners and our buildings and grounds administrators and staff who have worked tireless to make sure all of our construction projects across the district have remained on time. During construction our main office staff, (Mrs. Blahous, Mrs. Cristobal, Mrs. Schneider, and I), are utilizing a space at Belle Aire School to work and get ready for the year. Should you need to drop anything off or need to talk with any of us, you can find us at Belle Aire, or give us a call at 630-719-5835. There are so many things to be excited about this year and we look forward to seeing everyone at this year's Meet & Greet on Tuesday, August 13th at 2:45 p.m. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at 630-719-5835.

My Best,

Zac Craft

Principal, Highland School

• Next week is the last full-week of summer! Relax, enjoy the weather, and soak it up!
• 08/09: Bus routes posted in PowerSchool!

• 08/13: Meet & Greet from 2:45-3:30. New families get a "sneak peek at 2:30!
• 08/16: The first day of the 2024-2025 school year!

Please visit these webpages as you prepare for the new school year!

• Back-to-school toolkit
• Family resources
• 2024-25 school supply lists
• 2024-25 calendar
• Immunization/health examination requirements
• Kindergarten resources
• Food services

Plus, student schedules and teacher assignments will be available in the PowerSchool Parent Portal on Friday, Aug. 2. You should have received a notice from your school with the exact time that the information will be live. We are staggering the times this information is available to ensure the PowerSchool system has the bandwidth to handle visitor traffic. If you have a new student, you will receive a message later this week with steps to creating a PowerSchool account for your child.

In addition, 2024-25 bus routes will be posted at www.dg58.org/family-resources/bus-routes, as well as on the PowerSchool Parent Portal, on Friday, Aug. 9.

As required by law, all new students, as well as students entering grades K, 2, and 6, must receive health examinations and immunizations and submit completed health forms by October 15th. To learn more check out the Health Services page on the District 58 website.

Thank you to many of the families who have already completed and submitted these forms. In accordance with Illinois law, failure to comply with these requirements by Oct 15 of the current school year, or 30 days following registration for first-time registrants, will result in the student's exclusion from school until such requirements have been met. All sections of the child examination form must be completed including the health history, which must be filled out by the parent.

District 58 communicates frequently regarding these requirements as it is our hope to avoid school exclusion for all of our students. If you are in need of additional assistance, our school nurse, Mrs. Sweet (nsweet@dg58.org), would be happy to assist you in answering questions or connecting you with resources to complete this requirement.

Looking for a job? Here are 10 reasons why you should consider applying to be an instructional assistant in District 58!

1. Convenient work schedule -- work the same hours your children are at school!

2. Earn $17.47/hour, plus a $2,000 stipend for some positions.

3. Work close to home.

4. Paid holidays, and no weekend or summer work

5. Paid sick and personal days

6. Medical, dental and vision benefits

7. Generous IMRF retirement benefits

8. Training and professional development

9. Supportive and positive work culture

10. Fulfilling work - make a difference in the lives of children!

Instructional assistants work alongside teachers to help students realize their full potential. Work can include small group instruction, 1-on-1 support, classroom organization and more. Learn more and apply at www.dg58.org/employment.

Item's that can be found in every edition of the Highland Happenings, such as the Highland Playbook and our student attendance form can be found below. We want to ensure that these resources are always available to our families while also making each week's Happenings as reader-friendly as possible!

Please click below to see the most up to date school health requirements. If you have any questions regarding health requirements for your student, please reach out to one of the members of our school nursing team.

District 58 strives to create a culture of well-being for students, parents, staff and community. To further support this endeavor, the District has invested in an additional support service through ReferralGPS.

ReferralGPS is a service providing assistance to our community in finding local mental health and substance use-related treatment resources. The service compliments the District’s existing systems of support as a tool for student service teams and families to connect with treatment. Along with a searchable database of treatment options, ReferralGPS assists families in triage and appointment setting.

School district staff and families may access ReferralGPS in two ways:

1. Contact Student Services (social workers, psychologists, counselors) to seek out treatment options

2. Visit this link at https://referralgps.com/find-help/DG58 to search for treatment resources or connect with a Care Navigator anonymously

The platform has the ability to filter by mental health concern, clinician gender/specialty, location, and insurance acceptance. The service is available for all types of private and public insurance options including PPO, HMO, Medicaid, and families that are uninsured or underinsured.

ReferralGPS is available for use by district students, staff, and families at no cost. All information entered on the ReferralGPS tool is completely confidential and securely stored.

It is amazing how far technology has come over the last decade and continues to advance. We recognize the value technology has not just in education, but our world. However, we hope that we can work together to remind students that during the school day, personal electronic devices should be turned off or silenced and out of sight. This includes wearable devices if they become distracting to the learning environment. Students should not be using phones, Apple Watches, or other devices to send or receive text messages or phone calls during the school day.

The Highland Playbook is your destination for all things Highland. The Playbook includes information about arrival and dismissal procedures, our lunch schedule, and much more! If you have any questions about any information in the Playbook, or have suggestions for additional information that should be included in the Playbook, please reach out to the main office.

Click below to read the 2023-2024 Highland Playbook! You can also find the Highland Playbook on our website: https://www.dg58.org/hg/the-2022-2023-highland-playbook

Email: zcraft@dg58.org
Website: DG58.org/HG
Location: 3935 Highland Avenue, Downers Grove, IL, USA
Phone: (630)-719-5835
Facebook: facebook.com/HGHuskies
Twitter: @HGHuskies