Carleton Washburne

We are thankful for the support and partnership our parent community provides. See below for upcoming events hosted by our PTO. This week on Tuesday, April 8th and Thursday, April 10th, students at Washburne will continue to take the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR). Students should get a good night of rest and bring their fully-charged iPads to school each day to be prepared for testing.

Take Care and Be Well,

Andrew Fenton & Ben Horwitz

Carleton Washburne Principal & Assistant Principal

Where: Washburne Cafeteria

When: Friday, April 11th

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

RSVP: Please REGISTER your child ($10 before Wednesday 4/9 at 5PM) so that we can plan for food ordering. Want to join us at the last minute? Please bring $20 CASH ONLY at the door. Parent Volunteers Needed!

**PLEASE NOTE: We ask that all cell phones are left in Yondr pouches/ backpacks for the event. If your student cannot adhere to this policy, they will be asked to leave.

Monday, April 21st, 2:30-3:30PM in the Washburne Gym

• Registration Fee $10, must be registered to attend.

• Champion will win a tournament prize!

• REGISTER

• VOLUNTEER

8th grade families should keep an eye out for both paper and electronic mail from the Washburne Graduation Committee. This packet contains important information on all things graduation, including tickets, graduation party, and other upcoming events for our 8th graders.

Attention 7th Grade Parents: On Thursday, June 5th, Washburne 7th graders will be taking a field trip to Springfield. As the culmination of our Civil War unit, we will be visiting Lincoln's New Salem, the Illinois State Capitol, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, and the Lincoln Tomb. We will depart at 7:00 AM sharp that day and return by 10:00 PM.

More information to come. -- Washburne Social Studies Department

• Tuesday, April 8th: Counted Out - Math Documentary Screening @6:00pm Skokie Auditorium
• Thursday, April 10th: Washburne Jazz Night @ 7:00pm
• Friday, April 18th: No School - Good Friday
• Tuesday, April 22nd: School Board Meeting @ 7:15pm
• Friday, April 25th: 1/2 Day Student Attendance (11:50am Dismissal) Institute Day

Due to a resignation announced at our March 2025 School Board meeting, we currently have an open seat on the Board that is to be seated this month to fulfill the final two years of that term. Per Board policy 2:70, the remaining term was less than 868 days, and the resignation was less than 88 days until the next election (April 1, 2025); therefore, the Board shall appoint a person to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the open term.

The Board will be accepting applications from community members seeking to fill the open role through April 10th at 5 p.m. Qualifications to seek a Board seat are noted in Board Policy 2:40. The application can be found here.

After the application window closes, the Board will select candidates to interview in a closed session on either April 17th from 6:00-8:30 p.m. or April 18th from 8:00-10:30 a.m. Selected candidates may choose to meet with the Board in person or via Zoom.

The Board will discuss the final candidates and select a new Board member in time to be sworn in at the organizational meeting of the Board on April 22, 2025.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Board President, Dan Waters at danwaters@winnetka36.org.

Big Ideas Math & You (Grades 5-8)

Please consider taking a few moments to share your thoughts. Your feedback will provide valuable information regarding the quality of support, ease of use, and how well the needs of your child and family might be met through the at-home math resources included with the individual pilot resources.

We will seek feedback from parents at the conclusion of each pilot regarding each resource. This survey is focused on evaluating Big Ideas Math & You.

The District offers regular sessions for families to learn more about a variety of topics. View the entire 2024/2025 schedule here.

Up Next:

Homework and Executive Functioning Support in The Winnetka Public Schools

April 9, 2025

9:30 A.M.

Location: Washburne RC

This session will highlight the work that is being done to better support our students in the area of executive functioning and how the District’s philosophy and expectations on homework will be experienced by our students.

RSVP for this event here

If you missed it, view videos from past sessions:

• Insights on K-8 Literacy Programming in The Winnetka Public Schools

• What to Know About the Otus Parent Portal

• AI Literacy Lessons for Grades 5-8

• Understanding the IEP and 504 Processes: From Referral to Eligibility and Services (with Ms. Denise Matthews, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, Equity and Inclusion, and Ms. Jackie Schwartz, Director of Student Services, Equity and Inclusion)

• Acceleration Applications Overview with Assistant Superintendent of Innovation, Teaching and Learning Dr. Becky Mathison

• Preschool/Kindergarten Family Information Night (with Winnetka Administration and Sue Stolzer, Early Childhood Assessment Team Lead from TrueNorth)

• From Washburne to New Trier: A D36 Parent's Guide to the New Trier Transition

• Not Quite Little Kid, Not Quite Teenager: The Developmental Progression of the Middle School Child

The Dimension of Belonging featured in March is “Supported” and monthly observances include Women’s History Month. Learn more by reading the Belonging Means… Newsletter which features contributions from Greeley School and the Department of Innovation, Teaching and Learning.

The Homework & Executive Functioning Network has compiled a list of tips and tricks to support students and parents with homework success at home. Review the list here!

On April 8 from 6:00-8:00 p.m., a free community showing of the documentary Counted Out will be held in the Skokie Auditorium, followed by a brief facilitated discussion with participants. If you are interested in attending, please register here.

About the film:
“Counted Out” investigates the biggest crises of our time. Political polarization. Racial biases. Social injustice. Economic inequity. Climate change. And a global pandemic. All viewed through a previously unseen lens: math.

In our current information economy, math is everywhere.The people we date, the news we see, the influence of our votes, the candidates who win elections, the education we can access, the jobs we get is all underwritten by an invisible layer of math that few of us understand, or even notice.

But whether we know it or not, our numeric literacy — whether we can speak the language of math — is a critical determinant of social and economic power.

Through a mosaic of personal stories, expert interviews, and scenes of math transformation in action, “Counted Out” shows what’s at risk if we keep the status quo. Do we want an America in which most of us don’t consider ourselves “math people?” Where math proficiency goes down as students grow up? Or do we want a country where everyone can understand the math that undergirds our society — and can help shape it.

The film’s voices include the late civil rights icon Robert Moses as well as Talithia Williams, associate professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd University and TEDx speaker of “Own Your Body’s Data,” Julia Angwin, investigative journalist and founder of Proof, Steven Levitt, co-author of “Freakonomics.”