Washington Wildcat Chat

We are thrilled to announce that we will transition away from SchoolMessenger to ParentSquare for our communications platform. This new district-approved system will enhance and streamline how we engage with families and staff. ParentSquare will help reduce information overload and improve clarity at all three levels (District, Schools, and Classrooms) while promoting inclusivity and strengthening trust within the community.

Here’s some of what makes ParentSquare so great:

• Receive messages from District/School via email, text, or app notification
• Choose to receive information as it comes or all at once with a daily digest in the evening
• Communicate in your preferred language
• See pictures and files
• See calendar events

This will be a gradual transition to the new platform, and not all features will be immediately available. Here is more information about the feature rollout. The first big date is July 17, starting then all district-wide and school-wide mass communications will be sent from ParentSquare.

As we approach the mid-July launch and the start of the school year, we’ll provide information on registering your account. For families, even if you don’t register, you will still receive text, email, and phone notifications.

All newsletters will also be sent through ParentSquare. We will share more information later on how the community (people without children currently in D64) can sign up to still receive this newsletter. Eventually, FAQs, training sessions, presentations, and other resources will be posted to our ParentSquare help page on our website.

We are pleased to inform you that District 64 recently earned special recognition for the Best Communities for Music Education Award from The NAMM Foundation.

The collective efforts of teachers, administrators, parents, students and community leaders have been instrumental in making music part of a well-rounded education for every child in our schools. We applaud our music department's unwavering commitment to creating an environment where each child can learn and grow with music.

This is an end-of-the-year reminder for families who have not started or completed their child's registration for the 2025-2026 school year. Unfortunately, delays in registration numbers make our back-to-school planning efforts extremely difficult.

Action Needed: If we do not have your registration completed and verified by 10:59 pm on Thursday, May 22, then

• A bus route (if needed) will not be available until after Labor Day, and your child will not be able to ride the bus on the first day of school.
• Your child’s Chromebook will be collected for the summer.

This deadline is to allow our staff the proper amount of time to input information into our systems and create bus routes to start the year, which takes time to do correctly. Also, we now allow students in grades 2-7 who have completed registration to take their Chromebooks home for the summer. You can find more information about the Chromebooks here.

Please register your child and have our staff verify the information before the May 22 deadline. All of the steps are online at d64.org/about/register. If you have any questions about the registration process, please contact the front office of your child’s school.

Thank you for your understanding and support as we plan for the upcoming school year.

In case you are not aware, there are trending videos on TikTok and YouTube showing kids putting graphite pencil lead or paper clips into the USB or USB-C ports on their Chromebooks to burn them out. Unfortunately, this kind of damage can cause cascading shorts throughout the device, possibly damaging other components.

If the District receives a device with clear burn marks around a USB or USB-C port from a student, that repair will be a full device replacement at cost since this is not considered accidental damage. Please remind your child of the importance of respecting and caring for school devices and reach out if you have any questions.

Pizza will be served on the last day of school, Thursday, May 29th! Enjoy one less thing to do as we head into summer break!

Get a head start on your school supplies for next school year. This is your one stop shop for pre-picked supplies determined by each grade level. Order early and check that off your "to-do" list! Order Deadline is July 1st.

Please click this link to order.

We would like to invite your student to join the District 64 Instrumental Music program next year!

Beginning in 4th grade, your child is eligible to join Orchestra and 5th grade students are eligible to join the band or orchestra. To learn more about the program and the string instruments offered, please see the links below:

Read: Important Information About Instrumental Music

Video Presentation: All About Band!

Video Presentation: All About Orchestra!

If you already registered your child for the 2025-2026 school year but did not select instrumental music, log back into your account to add band/orchestra: Click Here to Add Instrumental Music, click "Forms" on the left, then "Enrollment" at the top and scroll down to instrumental music.

Click here for a video tutorial on how to add band/orchestra to your child’s registration!

The instrumental music registration deadline is August 1. Band/Orchestra teachers will communicate more information via email with registered families the second week of school. Lessons will begin the week of September 8.

If you have any questions, please email Erica Faulhaber (efaulhaber@d64.org), Curriculum Specialist for Instrumental Music.

Incoming 6th Grade Families,

Please fill out the following form for the sizing of your student's PE uniform. The price of one uniform is included in fees for each incoming 6th grade student. Please fill out a separate form for each student if you have multiple new students to Emerson or Lincoln in 2025-2026.

Please complete this form prior to May 28, 2025.

Incoming 6th PE Uniform Sizing 2025

• 5th Grade Celebration, May 22nd
• Field Day, May 23rd
• Memorial Day (No School), May 26
• 5th Grade Clap Out, May 29th
• Last Day of School, May 29th
• PTO End of School Party, May 29th

Inspire all students to discover their strengths, embrace learning, achieve personal excellence, and demonstrate care. Students thrive in a rich, rigorous, and innovative curriculum delivered by highly qualified teachers. Each student learns and grows in a safe, nurturing environment. In collaboration with student, parents, teachers and the community, District 64 provides opportunities for each learner to investigate, be successful, be resilient, and become inspired and empowered as they contribute to our global society.