It’s the final countdown for our Season’s Greetings Holiday Card Design Challenge! Entries are due by 5 p.m. on November 6! Click here for more information.

The team placed third overall for their class in the IESA 2024 Cross-Country State Meet in October, marking the 18th time the team has finished within the top four at state!

Additionally, eighth graders Arcangel T. and Ethan H. were both awarded IESA All-State Medals for finishing in the top 25 for individual times: Arcangel placed third overall for individual, while Ethan was 20th overall.

A huge shoutout to the athletes, coaches, and everyone who supported the team along the way. Go Cobras!

This year, our district is excited to promote reading among students through engaging school-based reading challenges using Beanstack. Our district’s ambitious goal for the year is to collectively read 700,000 minutes across K-8. Each school will offer unique challenges and incentives to motivate participation. We encourage you to ask your child about their progress and support their reading journey!

• English Log-In Directions
• Spanish Log-In Directions
• Russian Log-In Directions

A special congratulations to Tarkington Elementary School, which received an Honorable Mention from Beanstack for its Summer Reading Challenge. Throughout the summer months, our Tigers logged 57,806 minutes of reading! You can read more about that here.

State code 105 ILCS 5/27-8.1 requires school districts to share informational materials with parents and guardians of students regarding influenza and meningococcal diseases and vaccinations. Click here to view the informational materials.

We are excited to share information about upcoming NSSEO Parent Events at the Parent Education Resource Center:

• Community Alternative Unlimited (CAU) @ PERC – Nov. 7, 5:30-7 p.m.

• Residential Options @ Kirk Gym – Nov. 13, 6-8 p.m.

• How To Navigate the Illinois Disability System @ PERC – Dec. 11, 6-8 p.m.

For more information, click here for English and here for Spanish. We hope to see you there!

Did you know...? Set your student up for success. Research shows that students missing 10 days by December are more likely to fail at least one class. Maximize learning time by encouraging attendance.

Congratulations to Aurora, Francesca and Priscila, three seventh graders at London Middle School, for being selected to have their artwork featured in a virtual gallery at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle.

Read more about their achievement here.

The Illinois State Board of Education has extended the timeline for the short term substitute license through 2028. We had some wonderful new sub candidates that applied to work with us this past year. Many of these subs are right from our community! We’re excited for these additions to our sub group but we’re not done yet. We are continuing to hire subs this summer. Please let your neighbors and friends know that we are hiring for next year.

We still have openings in our sub pool for the following positions:

• Secretary - $100/day

• Health Assistant - $100/day

• Teaching Assistant - $125/day

• Teacher - $141/day

• Registered Nurse - $309/day

• Long term teacher (more than 10 days in the same classroom) - $227/day

In addition, any subs who work 100 days this year will receive a $1,000 bonus at the end of the year.

Check out this video on how to apply for a short-term substitute license, and this link for more information.

Last year, we began our Digital Citizenship presentations, and we are excited to build on those teaching lessons for this school year. The reality is that many, if not all of our students, are spending a lot of time on the internet and it is part of their daily life. The internet can be a fun and educational place for your students to pass the time. But, unfortunately the internet can be a dangerous place for juveniles. We encourage you to have an open discussion with your students about what dangers they have encountered on the internet and what expectations you have for their behavior on the internet.

Did You Know… As a district, we are proud to celebrate the diversity of our learning community! During this month many countries around the world celebrate their day of independence. Many people in our community acknowledge their native country’s independence by displaying a flag and participating in festivals or parades. Some of the celebrations taking place during the month of November include Native American Heritage Month, Dia de los Muertos, All Saints Day, U.S. General Election Day, Veteran’s Day, Diwali, and Thanksgiving - If you’d like to learn more, click on the links! If there is a celebration that we missed, don’t hesitate to reach out and share it with our Language Services Department.

We are excited to share a wonderful resource with you to further support our family/school community. Care Solace—a confidential mental health care coordination service available to all North Cook Immediate Service Center students, and their families, 24/7/365, at no cost!

We encourage you to take advantage of this valuable resource with your student, family, or extended network. Mental health and well-being are important, and support is just a call or click away. Let’s work together to ensure everyone has access to services that best benefit their needs.

How to access support:

• Call (888) 515-0595
• Visit caresolace.com/site/northcook to complete a brief screening and be matched with a provider.

The Indian Trails Public Library has many events and workshops for students and their families during November. Check out the calendar of events for specific activities and times this month.

Our School Resource Officers have started their Digital Citizenship lessons for students 6-8. To accompany these lessons, we'd like to provide families with an app privacy settings handout to serve as a conversation starter with your student about their online activity. Click the links below to access the handouts!

English | Spanish | Russian

The livestream video of the October 17 meeting of the Board of Education can be viewed here.

The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on November 14, 2024, at 7 p.m. at the District 21 Community Service Center and Administrative Office.