The Connection Corner
Your Whole Child Hub
Welcome to your "Whole Child Hub"!
Coming up next in our Educate and Empower Parent/Guardian Event Series....How to Prepare Kids for Success in School and Life
How to Prepare Kids for Success in School and Life
When: February 18, 2026 @ 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Lunch and Learn Virtual Presentation and Q&A
Presenter: Hilary Davis from Touchstone Therapy
Click here to join the virtual presentation!
January can feel heavy for many students. After the excitement of winter break, children often experience increased fatigue, lower motivation, and heightened emotions as routines resume and academic demands increase.
Parents can support their children by prioritizing sleep, re-establishing consistent routines, and checking in with simple questions like, “What’s been the hardest part of your day?” or “What’s one thing that helped today?” Small, steady supports at home help students build resilience and manage stress in healthy ways.
The Illinois 5Essentials Survey gives parents an important opportunity to share their experiences and perspectives. Parent feedback helps schools understand what’s working well and where we can continue to grow in supporting students’ learning, well-being, and school climate. The survey is anonymous, takes about 10 minutes to complete, and plays a meaningful role in school improvement planning. Thank you for partnering with us by participating.
Watch for the survey link to open the first week of February in the D73 Digest!
Winter PBIS Booster Days!
When students returned from winter break, all of our schools took time to review school expectations through PBIS booster sessions. During these sessions, students practiced what safe, respectful behavior looks like in different parts of the school day. This included riding the bus, walking in the hallways, and participating in assemblies.
These sessions happen three times a year as part of PBIS, and helps students start fresh, remember expectations, and feel successful at school. PBIS stands for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, which focuses on teaching and reinforcing positive expectations.
Families can support this at home by reminding children to SOAR at school: Safe, On-Task, Act Responsibly, and be Respectful in all settings.
Middle School North and Middle School South staff recently participated in their second training session of the year with SEL Integrations. This training supports the ongoing work in our middle schools to strengthen advisory and social-emotional learning.
During this session, staff learned a structured problem-solving approach that helps them better support students when challenges arise—academically, socially, or emotionally.
Students in grades 6–8 begin each school day with a short advisory period, where they connect with a trusted adult and set a positive tone for the day. Every Wednesday, advisory is extended to a full class period so students can participate in focused social-emotional learning lessons aligned with the Illinois Social-Emotional Learning Standards. These lessons help students build skills such as managing emotions, problem solving, and building positive relationships.
ReferralGPS: Connecting Families to Mental Health Resources
- Searchable Database: Offers a database of treatment options for easy access.
- Care Navigation: Provides services to support families in triage, appointment scheduling, and follow-up care.
- Inclusive Insurance Coverage: The service is compatible with all types of private and public insurance, including PPO, HMO, Medicaid, and it caters to uninsured or underinsured families.
- No-Cost Access: Available free of charge for use by district students, staff, and families.
- Confidentiality Assured: Rest assured that all information entered into the ReferralGPS tool is kept completely confidential and securely stored.
The Connection Corner Archives
Social Workers
Our students benefit from access to school social work services. Our social workers provide ongoing support in several ways. They collaborate regularly with grade-level teams to promote a positive school climate for all students, and help support staff in using instructional practices that support social-emotional learning across all subjects. Our social workers may also lead class lessons or work in small groups with students to provide more targeted support.
District Social Workers:
Meghan Frazier - Lincoln School - frazierm@hawthorn73.org
Rhonda Malina - Hawthorn School for Young Learners - malinar@hawthorn73.org
Sydney Pacernick - Elementary North/Aspen - pacernicks@hawthorn73.org
Anna Bach - Aspen -bacha@hawthorn73.org
Ashley Zarinana - Dual Language - zarinanaa@hawthorn73.org
Kathleen Falotico - Townline - faloticok@hawthorn73.org
Grace Haggerty - Townline-Dual - haggertyg@hawthorn73.org
Paul Mazzetta - Elementary North - mazzettap@hawthorn73.org
Connie Travis - Elementary North - travisc@hawthorn73.org
Nesrin Unlu - Elementary South - unlun@hawthorn73.org
Brittany Langton - Elementary South - langtonb@hawthorn73.org
Lauren Brownstein - Middle School South - brownsteinl@hawthorn73.org
Amunn Jaffery - Middle School South - jafferya@hawthorn73.org
Jaime Medbery - Middle School South - medberyj@hawthorn73.org
Brian Van - Middle School North - vanb@hawthorn73.org
Kelli Cordes - Middle School North - cordesk@hawthorn73.org
Scarlett Davalos - Middle School North - davaloss@hawthorn73.org
Connect with ME!
Megan Goldman
Director of Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Learning
847-990-4269
Follow me on X (formerly known as Twitter) @D73SOARS
Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj-L3MVWzHT7xxgWytCWmYA