Blue Jay Buzz

In this issue you will find:

New Info

• Upcoming Dates
• Community Corner
• Updates and Other Info
• 8th Grade Families
• Update: Traffic Flow - Drop off and Pick up Safety
• Clubs and Activities
• PTO Upcoming Events

Old News

• Cellphones, Medication, Attendance, Tardiness to school

2/7/2025 Newsletter

1/31/2025 Newsletter

Mark T. Schwarz - Principal - mschwarz@dps109.org

Donnie Castans - Associate Principal - dcastans@dps109.org

Marcia Klita - Director for Student Services - mklita@dps109.org

Friday, 2/14 - No School (Teacher Institute Day)

Monday, 2/17 - No School (Presidents' Day)

Wednesday, 2/19 - Panorama Survey

Thursday, 3/20 & Friday, 21 - Parent-Teacher Conferences (more info to come)

Monday, 3/24 - Friday, 3/28 - Spring Break

Tuesday, 6/3 - 8th Grade Graduation @ DHS

Wednesday, 8/13 - Locker Day

The 8th graders had a profound and meaningful experience at the Holocaust Museum, deepening their understanding of history, resilience, and the importance of remembrance. This visit allowed them to reflect on powerful stories of survival, courage, and the impact of standing up against injustice.

A special thank you to 8th grader Elle Rodgers for capturing these moments through her lens! (Photos below)

As part of our commitment to fostering a supportive and inclusive school environment, our students have been creating positive posters about kindness through the No Place for Hate initiative. This program empowers schools to combat bias, bullying, and hatred by promoting respect and understanding. By engaging in activities like this, our students are actively contributing to a culture of kindness and long-term positive change in our school community. (See below some of our student work)

Building students’ social-emotional learning (SEL) skills is important at Caruso. As a part of the learning process, we will be asking students in grades K-8 to reflect on skills related to social-emotional learning and the school environment. The survey will be administered to all students in grades K-8 between February 18 and February 28, 2025. Per policy, if you would like your child to opt out of taking the survey, please contact me no later than February 13.

See below for the upcoming Spirit Days in February!

Mark your calendars! Pizza Bowl & Baker's Showcase is scheduled for Sunday, February 23, 2025, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. in the Highland Park High School Cafeteria. Enjoy a delicious showcase of the finest pizzerias and bakeries in our community, along with student performances and exciting raffles—all for a great cause.

Tickets are $13 per person or $40 for a family of five (*$10 per additional person). All proceeds benefit the District 113 Educational Foundation, supporting innovative programs and opportunities that enrich the student experience at Deerfield and Highland Park High Schools.

For more information about the District 113 Educational Foundation, visit www.district113foundation.org.

As the temperatures drop and the days grow longer, it’s easy to feel rushed and impatient, especially at the end of the day. However, to ensure everyone's safety, we kindly ask all our families to respect and follow school procedures during arrival and dismissal. To help us all stay on track, we spoke with our School Resource Officer, Officer Maldonado, who shared some important reminders.

Here is the link to the video

As you review your child’s semester 1 report card, please be sure to pay close attention to the attendance information included at the bottom of the report card. If your child has already missed 10 or more days of school, they may be on pace to be considered chronically absent by the end of the school year.

• Chronic absenteeism is defined as absences totaling 10 percent or more of school days—including absences with or without valid cause—during the school year. If a child is absent for 17 days or more during the school year for excused or unexcused reasons, that child is considered chronically absent.

Our goal in District 109 is to work together to ensure the success of every child. As we are entering the second semester of the school year, we want to remind you that regular student attendance is vital to your child’s success. We are committed to working with you, our families, to achieve this goal by supporting your family with any concerns regarding student attendance. There are many people in our building ready to help address any challenges in getting to school regularly or on time. We can also help identify barriers to regular attendance and implement key resources to support your family in these efforts.

If you have any cool pictures you would like to see in the yearbook, please email to ecadkin@dps109.org or hmatan@dps109.org, or you can upload them to this link.

Thank you,

Hayley Matan and Eliza Cadkin

Join us for coffee @ Caruso; a way for the adults in our students' lives to build stronger connections with us at Caruso. Space is limited to 25 people per event. Please RSVP by calling the Caruso Main Office at 847-945-8430. Thanks to the PTO for Sponsoring Coffee.

Cell phones will be off and away in lockers from 8:00 am - 3:00 pm every day (8:00 am - 2:00 pm on early release Wednesdays). Here's the why: This will help our students focus on their learning, build relationships with those around them, and hopefully disconnect from the anxiety that comes from even just having a phone in the pocket, wondering what notifications they are missing.

If students are using their phones during the school day, they will be instructed to bring their phone to the main office. There will be a progressive response when this occurs that resets each semester:

First and Second Occurrence: Email home and student picks up phone at the end of the school day.

Third Occurrence: Parent/guardian must come pick the phone up from school. Student will serve a lunch reflection.

Fourth Occurrence +: Parent/guardian must come pick the phone up from school. Student will also drop phone off at office each morning. Student will serve an after-school reflection.

MUST be wired and are not used during passing periods.

A student who fails to meet the expectations will be asked to comply with them and may be subject to a verbal warning or behavior check in.

Backpacks must be kept in students’ lockers throughout the school day unless it is a documented accommodation. They will not be traveling from class to class. Here's the why: We do not have room in our classrooms to safely store backpacks without having a tripping/fire hazard, and—by keeping backpacks in lockers—we have a wonderful opportunity to teach and reinforce important executive functioning skills with material organization, case-its, and other organizational tools.

We ask that you try to limit student deliveries during the school day. We will not be allowing and/or accepting any DoorDash or similar delivery options for any student under any circumstances. All deliveries will be refused. Families are welcome to drop off lunches themselves. We have extra Chromebooks, chargers, and copies of books here at Caruso, so it is not necessary to drop what you're doing and run these items to school. If something is truly needed during the day, we ask that you bring it in to the front entrance, label it with your student's name and grade, and leave it on the Drop Off table in the vestibule. We will then bring it into the office for your student to pick it up. Please note, students are not permitted to order their own lunches during the school day. If you order/bring lunch for your student, please do not provide food for other students.

Please do not send any medication, over-the-counter pain pills (Tylenol/Advil/aspirin), or cough drops with your students. State law prohibits students from taking medication at school outside of the nurse's office with a doctors' note on file. We will confiscate any meds found outside of the nurse's office. Contact our school nurse Ms. Gwen Dowell gdowell@dps109.org

If your student will not be in school, please report the absence to the health office by phone (847) 945-8430 x6103) or email (carusoattendance@dps109.org) before 8:00 am. If you do not contact our school nurse by this time, she will contact you at home or at work to ascertain your child’s whereabouts. Children must be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school. Students will only be dismissed to a parent or legal guardian, or to emergency contacts designated in Family Access.

PTO Facebook Page

Email: cmsoffice@dps109.org
Website: https://www.dps109.org/Page/9
Location: 1801 Montgomery Road, Deerfield, IL, USA