Pierce Downer This Week

Pierce Downer Families,

I am once again BLOWN AWAY at the generosity shown by our families to support Staff Appreciation Week. The thoughtfulness put into each day, the theme, the meals, and kind words, do not go unnoticed. It is amazing how much time and energy is put into making all of Pierce Downer feel special. Thank you ALL for filling our cups this week as we approach only two more full weeks left for the school year!

All of our scheduled benchmark assessments (MAP and AIMSWeb) have been completed and we will begin to work on make-up and completions next week. I anticipate the results from these assessments to be sent electronically the week of May 20th.

With that being said, please do not hesitate to reach out. You can email me at LWagner@DG58.org or call the Pierce Downer Main Office at 630-719-5860.

As always, WE are PD!

Dr. Leland (Lucky) Wagner

The Education Foundation of Downers Grove District 58 invites the community to recognize an exceptional District 58 staff member with a Green Apple Award.

When you submit a Green Apple Award donation, the Education Foundation will give a specially designed Green Apple Award certificate to the specified teacher or staff member with a short, custom message from the donor.

All donations will support the Education Foundation’s programs, which include the Select 58 Recognition Awards for Eighth Graders, The Reading Games, Sneak Preview, Teacher Grants Program, Distinguished Service Awards, New Teacher Luncheon, and more.

Green Apple donations and messages may be submitted online here. All donations are tax-deductible. While the Green Apple Program is open year-round, if you would like your Green Apple Award to be delivered before the end of the school year, please submit your donation by Friday, May 17.

It is amazing how far technology has come over the last decade and continues to advance. I recognize the value technology has not just in education, but our world. However, I am hoping 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.

Construction begins at many District 58 schools over spring break. To keep parents apprised of construction progress, updates will be provided on our website here, including progress dashboards of our middle schools.

• Herrick Dashboard

• O'Neill Dashboard

If you’d like to learn more about spring break work in the District, click here.

Congratulations to Ms. Balagtas on being the latest PD Cup recipient! Ms. Balagtas is a sixth-grade teacher at Pierce Downer School. Mrs. Balagtas has a passion for the content she teaches and is committed to all her students' success. She is regularly thinking outside of the box to connect her lessons to real-world examples.

Thank you Ms. Balagtas for ALL that you do!

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.

May 1-May 20

Spring NWEA MAP Testing

May 24

Field Day

May 27

NO SCHOOL: Memorial Day

May 29

Last Day of School (HALF DAY)

District 58 has partnered with Safe2Help to give students a safe and confidential way to report potential threats or crises. Safe2Help was launched by the State of Illinois in December 2020 and aims to help prevent suicide, bullying, school violence and other threats to school safety.

With Safe2Help, students can connect with a trained crisis professional during their own crisis, or to report a potential threat. Students can submit a Safe2Help alert via the following ways:

• Website: https://app.safe22helpil.com
• Text: SAFE2 (72332)
• Phone: 844-4-SAFEIL (844-472-3345)
• App: "Safe2Help Illinois" app available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store
• Email: HELP@Safe2HelpIL.com

All alerts are responded to by a trained Safe2Help crisis professional. Safe2Help is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

District 58 staff are not the initial responders to the alert and will receive each alert after the Safe2Help professional provides support. District 58 staff will review alerts sent by Safe2Help during regular school hours, unless the nature of the alert necessitates immediate school action.

District 58 is pleased to continue using the Raptor Visitor Management System in all of our schools to strengthen our program of campus safety for students and faculty. Part of keeping students and faculty safe is knowing who is in our buildings at all times. The Raptor system will better allow us to screen visitors, contractors, and volunteers in our schools and provide us with a safer environment for our students and staff. Community High School District 99 currently utilizes the same platform on its campuses.

Upon entering a district building, visitors will be asked to present photo identification, such as a Driver’s License, which can either be scanned or manually entered into the system. If a parent or guardian for any reason does not have a US government-issued ID, the school staff member can use any form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the Raptor system. The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not entering our school campuses without our knowledge. The Raptor system checks the visitor's name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. The registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded and the information is not shared with any outside agency. Once entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit. A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item in the office or pick up paperwork.

The safety of our students is our highest priority and the Raptor visitor management system allows us to quickly identify those that may present a danger to our students. Thank you in advance for your understanding and your support in enhancing the school safety protocols in our district.