The Principal's Perspective

Greetings parents! I hope this newsletter finds you enjoying this fall Monday. A huge thank you to all of the parents who braved family conferences. We appreciate your patience as there were some systems issues with our sign up platform. We know that many of you were able to see your child's teacher during family conferences; we do recognize, however, that a 5 minute window may not be enough time for you to ask your questions or to get further details about your scholar's performance in class. We welcome you to contact your child's teacher to get more information about their progress. Over the past couple of weeks I have shared information about SBG that I hope has been informative. I know that there were many questions centered around SBG that came up during conferences. Here is some additional information that you might find useful as well:

We hope that in partnership we can all work together to celebrate our scholar's progress as they strive towards mastery of different standards.

As we go deeper into the fall season and as winter approaches it is critical to be mindful of how our students are dressing. Far too often I see students coming to school in shorts and t-shirts on cool mornings. The warmest day this week seems to be Friday at 68 degrees, however, it will be cooler on other days. We need students to wear weather appropriate clothing so that they can be comfortable and safe coming to school, and while at recess. Note- all students are required to go out for recess (weather permitting). We need your scholars to have coats/jackets and bottoms and shoes that will protect them from the elements. We know that children will wear sweatshirts and shorts all yearlong if we let them, however, this simply is not healthy. Thank you for assisting us in making sure scholars are warm. If you do not have a winter coat for your child, please contact the main office and we will assist you.

There are family overview nights coming up regarding the Comprehensive Sexual Health curriculum.

• Upcoming Family Education Nights (Flyers: English & Spanish)

• PreK-5: Wednesday, October 16 (6-7PM) on Zoom

• 6th-8th: Thursday, October 24 (6-7pm) on Zoom

The following communication was sent to Bessie Rhodes, future Foster families, 5th Ward families, and 5th Ward community at 6 p.m. 10/9.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17RhrU7uimq49sA034nPb44YimUiFApJ10QEUdV8Hj0A/edit?tab=t.0

The Panorama Student survey will take place between October 21- November 1.Things to note:

• Surveys are for 3rd-8th grade this year

• Surveys are not REQUIRED but highly encouraged.

• Surveys are anonymous and data is viewed at a school or grade-level, not at the individual school level.

• Once the survey closes, data will be released to the schools and all teachers/staff to view through the Panorama site.

Please see the letter to get more detail: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q3kgVs5HpRl53lW5QdsD699p17V_tkocn8cqhVq_AVc/edit?usp=sharing

The Middle School Caregiver Event centered around understanding the difference between bullying vs. teasing will take place on 11/21/24 from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

This event presented by our Middle School Counselors. It will be hosted at Haven Middle School but this is open to ALL Middle School families from all of our D65 schools.

We use a platform called Securly which alerts us whenever there is a disturbing key word or phrase that a student enters into their search. This is designed to alert us of danger in order to prevent students from harming themselves or others. The system will send us an immediate alert with the word or phrase searched for by the student, and either a counselor or admin responds to the alert. This may look like going to get a student from class to ask them about what they entered or in some cases it may look like a phone call home. If we get an alert in the middle of the night, and we are aware of the alert, you may get a phone call as we want to make sure your child is safe. In extreme cases, if we feel the child is in eminent danger, and the child is away from the school premises, we will notify 911 if we cannot reach you.

Picture retakes are Oct. 23rd. Students should be receiving their original pictures this week. There was a problem with the first batch so we had to send them back. They just arrived in the office so we will get them out to you soon.

In District 65 we are committed to helping all students reach their full potential and to provide opportunities that accelerate learning. Accelerated learning is available to all students; educators accelerate learning through grade-level differentiation, enrichment, and small group instruction. D65 also offers the possibility of alternate placement - which may grade skipping, single subject skipping or early entrance into grades K or 1st. You can find more information about acceleration HERE.

Acceleration Night is coming! All District 65 families with students in kindergarten through 7th grade are invited to join us to learn more about opportunities for acceleration, and about the process for consideration of grade-skipping. Meeting dates are; 10/23 @ 6:00 pm on Zoom

Todas las escuelas- Mensaje para la comunidad

El el Distrito 65 estámos comprometidos a ayudar a que todos los estudiantes alcancen su máximo potencial y a proporcionar oportunidades que aceleren el aprendizaje. El aprendizaje acelerado está disponible para todos los estudiantes; los educadores aceleran el aprendizaje a través de la diferenciación en el nivel de grado, enriquecimiento e instrucción/enseñanza en grupos pequeños. El D65 también ofrece la posibilidad de ubicación alternativa - lo cual puede incluir saltarse un grado escolar, saltarse una materia/clase o ingresar de manera temprana al Kinder o al primer grado. Pueden encontrar más información acerca de la aceleración AQUÍ

¡La noche informativa acerca de la aceleración se acerca! Todas las familias del Distrito 65 que tengan estudiantes en kindergarten hasta 7mo grado están invitadas a acompañarnos para aprender más acerca de las oportunidades para la aceleración y acerca del proceso para considerar saltarse un grado escolar. Las reuniones son: el 23 de octubre a las 6:00 pm también en Zoom

Open Office Hours will resume next week as we go back to our regular 5 day week. As always, you can make an appointment to see me outside of these times.

Virtual Open Office

Tuesday, October 22 · 6:30 – 7:30pm

Time zone: America/Chicago

Google Meet joining info

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/jih-eihe-sbv

Or dial: ‪(US) +1 304-508-3236‬ PIN: ‪229 682 469‬#

More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/jih-eihe-sbv?pin=9831958403418

In Person

Wednesday, October 23rd 2:00-2:300 p.m.

Friday, October 25th 3:15-4:15 p.m.

Reminder- you can find all activities listed on our website here: https://nichols.district65.net/students/clubs-activities