CJHS Charger Connection
June 25th, 2026
CJHS Charger Connection
From the Principal...
Chargers Students and Families,
We had a busy and wonderful first week back! It was amazing to see our students so excited to reconnect with staff and friends. We also welcomed many new students to Chiddix, and our returning Chargers welcomed them with open arms. It was truly beautiful to see the sense of belonging and community our students created for one another.
Assessments begin Monday. Chargers will be taking the STAR Reading and STAR Math assessments, so please come prepared to do your best. These results will help guide intervention and advanced placement decisions. We appreciate your patience as we complete the assessments, collect results, and take time to thoughtfully review the data.
We know that some Chargers have already misplaced schedules or lost ID cards. No worries—we will work with you to get what you need! At the same time, we encourage you to work with your families to develop systems and designate consistent places to help you keep track of these important items and build responsibility.
Reminder: Picture Day is Thursday, August 27!
Have a wonderful weekend, Chargers! We are so proud of the way you have started the year.
Go Chargers! 🧡🖤
Mrs. Mables
Principal, Chiddix Junior High School
Are you following our social media pages?
You won't want to miss the updates! Follow us now for news and updates from students and staff.
Important Dates...
- Tuesday, August 25th - PTO Meeting (IMC) from 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
- Wednesday, August 26th - PBIS Expectation Stations
- Thursday, August 27th - Picture Day
- Friday, August 28 - Bus Evacuation Drill
- Monday, August 31st - 100 Caring Adults from 8:15 AM - 8:45 AM
2026-27 Bell Schedules
CJHS Reminders - Cell Phone & Tardies
Middle School Changes
What is Standards-Based Grading?
Standards-based grading (SBG) is a teaching and reporting system that measures how well students understand and perform on learning standards. SBG allows caregivers, students, and teachers to target areas and set goals for improvement. This type of grading and reporting encourages a growth mindset that sees learning as a journey, not just a destination.
Scores are based on standards and represent what a student knows or can do/apply after instruction has taken place.
Students will receive feedback throughout the learning process.
Students have opportunities to demonstrate learning through reteaching, reassessment, and resubmission.
Learner Characteristics, such as behavior and effort, are reported separately.
Extra credit is not part of SBG. Grade improvement comes through re-assessment.
đź•®
The Illinois Learning Standards are mandated by the State of Illinois and can be found here for all levels of K-12 education. ISBE Website
Proficiency Scale and Rubrics
Picture Day!
PE Information
Items required for PE
Gray t-shirt (last name on the back)
Black athletic shorts or sweatpants (it’s ok if they have stripes & logos)
Athletic shoes
PE Lock
Deodorant is recommended, and plastic lotions/sprays are optional.
Locks may be purchased in the main office for $18 for the pair ($9 for a single), or you can bring them from home or buy at any store.
Clothes can be purchased online through the CJHS PE Website or by using the link below during the OPEN Ordering Dates.
https://selectspiritwear.com/collections/chiddix-jr-high-phys-ed
OPEN ORDERING DATES:
July 27th-August 22nd
December 14th-January 11th
Chiddix Spiritwear
We are excited to partner with Meltdown Creative Works for our spirit wear this school year. Ordering is available now until August 28th. Put your order in as soon as possible. All orders will be delivered to your home.
Want to show your school spirit?
On Mondays, we will wear our PBIS house colors. These will be shared with students next Friday. On Fridays, we will have school spirit day. Wear your Chiddix gear!
Chiddix Sports & Clubs
Chiddix Baseball Spirit Wear
Here is the link for the spirit wear store:
Cross Country Spirt Wear Store
Here is the link to the spirit wear store: https://orders.minervapromotions.com/chiddix_jh_xc/shop/home. The store closes Monday, August 10th at 9 am.
This year, we are offering shirts and sweatshirts with an optional back design. When placing your order, you'll be able to choose whether you'd like your apparel with or without the back design.
Girls Basketball
Open Gyms:
8/24 5:30-7
8/26 5:30-7
8/31 4-6
9/2 5:30-7
9/7 5:30-7
9/9 5:30-7
Tryouts are 5/14 and 5/15 4-7 pm all grade levels
Before School Supervision
Please note we will be offering a before school supervision program for families that are interested. Students will be supervised by a teacher from 7:20 a.m. - 8:20 a.m. At that time, students would join the rest of the students in the gym/cafeteria. Parents will be responsible for transporting their child to school each day.
The program fee is $85.00 per quarter (which equates to about $2.00 per day). The fee needs to be paid prior to the quarter starting. There will be no refund if a student does not attend on any given day. Students that are continued disruptions may be removed from the program.
CJHS School Safety Drill
Part of our mission to keep all of our stakeholders safe involves teaching best practices for responding to emergency situations. Over the past few years, we have worked to strengthen these practices with our first responders throughout our area. Our school community has adopted and practiced the Standard Response Protocols by the ILoveUGuys Foundation. The standard response protocols are based on five actions that can be done to respond to all emergencies.
HOLD - During a HOLD, students would stay in their classroom with the teacher and wait for an all-clear before moving to the next class. We might call a HOLD for a spill or other unsafe situation in the hallway.
SECURE - We would call a SECURE if there was an unsafe event happening outside of the school. Exterior doors are all checked and students are not allowed to leave the building until it is safe.
LOCKDOWN - A LOCKDOWN would be called if an extremely unsafe situation existed in the school. Students and staff would lockdown their classrooms until police could secure the building.
EVACUATE - In the case of a fire, gas leak, or any other situation that makes the inside of the building unsafe, we would EVACUATE the building using plans that are posted in each classroom.
SHELTER - If weather conditions are unsafe, we would call a SHELTER which would cause students to move to the safest locations within our building.
For more details, a parent handout is linked here. The handout is also available in Spanish and linked here.
As a matter of teaching and learning how to respond in an emergency, every other year, the last three actions are practiced with our first responder agencies in our Law Enforcement and Fire Drills. This will include leaving campus and moving students to our primary reunification site at Eastview Church. Under the School Safety Drill Act, a law enforcement drill must be observed within the first 90 days of school. This year, Chiddix Junior High School will practice our safety drill on Tuesday, September 1st. We will NOT be leaving our campus to go to Eastview.
Warmly,
Christina Mables
Chiddix Junior High School Principal
Parent Square
Unit 5 is excited to introduce a new communication tool this school year. ParentSquare is a web- and app-based school communication tool used by hundreds of schools across the country. This past school year, we heard from many of you and many of our families that the tools we had in place were not working, so we began a search to find a better solution. In ParentSquare, we are confident that we have found it.
ParentSquare Features
ParentSquare offers several features designed to improve communication and family engagement, including:
One-way communication
Two-way communication for families and students in grades 5-12
Instant translations to over 180 languages
An optional app that will allow you to communicate on the go
Stickers, a useful PBIS tool for tracking student achievement
Form, survey, and even signature collection capabilities
Sign up for an account
You will receive an email from ParentSquare prompting you to sign up for an account. This is not spam, and we ask you to create an account before Tuesday, Aug. 18, so you can follow along during the scheduled interactive training. You should sign in with Google (SSO) or go to the nine-dot grid in the top right of your Chrome browser and scroll to the ParentSquare icon to automatically log in.
Once you log in, you will be prompted to confirm your contact information. This is for internal use only. Your phone number will not be displayed publicly. You must confirm your identity so that you receive ParentSquare updates.
What is Changing
We no longer have contracts with School Messenger or Talking Points, so ParentSquare is the primary communication tool, with few exceptions. Infinite Campus may be used in the event that ParentSquare does not suit your immediate needs.
Dojo will remain an option for elementary classroom teachers; however, district and school communications will be coming through ParentSquare, so we ask that parents and staff create accounts.
Some athletic programs will utilize a separate district-approved app for next school year, and Early Learning will use Teaching Strategies to communicate curriculum information.
ParentSquare has already proven to be a superior tool to past platforms we've used in the district, and we are excited to take advantage of all the features it has to offer.
If you have any immediate questions, please email district@unit5.org, and our team will get back to you.
Transportation
Bus Routes Available
Bus route information for the 2026-2027 school year is now available.
New this school year, Unit 5 is transitioning to My Ride K-12, a new system that allows families to track their student’s bus in real time. My Ride K-12 the most up-to-date transportation information and helps families better know when the bus is approaching their stop.
Please have your child at the bus stop 5 minutes before the scheduled pick-up time.
We ask families to check their transportation information again before the start of school, even if you've already checked, as routes and times may change.
MY RIDE K-12 BUS ROUTE INFO
Families can access their student’s transportation information using My Ride K-12 - https://myridek12.tylerapp.com/. My Ride K-12 will show all of your student(s) transportation information, including bus routes and real-time bus GPS locations. Information in My Ride will update daily.
To learn how to use My Ride K-12, please go to the Bus Tracking page on the district website.
Families who do not want to use My Ride can continue to view their student’s regular morning and afternoon bus routes in the Infinite Campus Parent Portal. Infinite Campus will update twice a week.
INFINITE CAMPUS BUS ROUTE INFO
To view the routes in Infinite Campus:
Log in to your Parent Portal.
Click "More" on the left side.
Select Transportation from the drop-down menu in the center of the page.
To see routes for your other students, click their name in the top right corner.
FirstView, which families may have previously signed up for, will continue to operate at the beginning of the school year as we transition to My Ride K-12. FirstView will be phased out by September 15. Families are encouraged to begin using My Ride K-12 now to become familiar with the system.
Swiping IDs on buses for safety
Students will be given ID badges to swipe upon entering and exiting the school bus. IDs should be used for all bus transportation, including travel to and from school, field trips, and sporting events. This is an important safety measure that helps us locate students in the event of an emergency.
If a student forgets their ID, the driver will swipe one for them, but this may delay departure. We ask families to support our safety and security efforts by making sure students have their ID badge before heading to the bus stop each day.
Students should have either received their IDs at registration or can expect to receive them within the first week of school. If your student does not have an ID by the end of the first full week of school, please contact their school's office to obtain one.
Christina Mables, Principal
Daniel Tripp, Associate Principal, 8th Grade & 7th Grade Last Name A-K administrator
Courtney Eddleman, Assistant Principal, 6th Grade & 7th Grade Last Name L-Z administrator
Email: mablesc@unit5.org
Website: https://www.unit5.org/Domain/25
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083691408763
Location: 300 South Walnut Street, Normal, IL, USA
Phone: 309-557-4405