Creekside Chronicle
October 23rd, 2026
Mr. Doyle's Message
Good evening Creekside families,
We are thrilled to celebrate our Creekside Middle School community on being officially recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the Best Middle Schools in the state of Illinois! Thanks to the hard work, passion, and partnership of our students, teachers, and families, Creekside has proudly earned the title of the #1 ranked middle school in McHenry County—with the next closest school in the county standing 125 spots below us in the statewide standings.
This outstanding achievement is a testament to our commitment to academic excellence, growth, and student success. Thank you for making Creekside an exceptional place to learn and grow, and congratulations to our whole school community on this phenomenal accomplishment!
***"U.S. News & World Report determines its rankings for the best public middle schools in Illinois by evaluating state assessment results alongside student demographics to measure both overall academic achievement and context-adjusted performance. The methodology splits its scoring evenly between two main pillars using reading and math standardized test data provided by the Illinois State Board of Education: 50% measures pure academic proficiency (the percentage of students scoring proficient or above on state exams), while the other 50% assesses academic performance relative to expectations based on socioeconomic factors like student poverty levels. By weighting performance against demographics, the formula aims to reward schools that outpace expectations for their student body alongside top-performing institutions.***
Enthusiastically,
Mr. Doyle
Veterans Breakfast!
Creekside Middle School and Prairiewood Elementary School will be hosting our 4th Annual Bring Your Vet to Breakfast on Tuesday, November 10th from 7:30am to 8:15am. Students and their veteran family members are invited for a special opportunity to have breakfast and give thanks for their service compliments of Creekside and Prairiewood. Please use the link below to let us know how many people will be joining. We ask that you RSVP by Friday, October 23rd. If you have any questions, please reach out to the Creekside office at 815-337-5200.
CLICK HERE to RSVP!
In addition to the breakfast celebration, we are supporting DAV's Field of Flags which empowers our community to setup fields of American flags, all to honor local veterans and raise critical funds to support our ill and injured heroes. Join us in honoring our community's veterans.
Cash donations can be dropped of during In Person at Creekside or CLICK HERE to donate online. Donate at least $50 and your name (or veteran's name) will be displayed and read at our Veteran's Day breakfast.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to another great event!
A Note from Mr. Nickolas
Hello Falcon Families!
I’m going to focus on the chromebooks and social media the next few week for things that have been coming across my desk.
Chromebook use: Our students are tech-savvy, which is no surprise! However, on district-provided Chromebooks, some are finding ways around our Blocksi filtering system designed to keep online activity strictly academic. By using alternative web browsers, students are accessing games, soundboards, and social media platforms.This creates a real security risk: logging into unauthorized sites or browsers opens the door for malicious third parties to compromise student accounts or steal personal information. Using unapproved browsers or bypasses is considered tampering with district-installed software. Consequently, students who repeatedly visit these sites or flag suspicious activity will have their Chromebook access restricted for safety.
Please take a moment to talk with your child about online safety and link caution. As a reminder, school Google logins should only be used on sites listed in the District 200 bookmark folder.
Social Media: Social media has a strong influence on our students, often with negative impacts. The most popular apps, Snapchat and TikTok, require users to be at least 13 years old. Remind your children that online posts are more permanent than they seem and invite both positive and negative feedback. If your child uses these apps, remain curious and supportive. Give them guidance on how they can block accounts/users who are being mean.
Mr. Nickolas
Student Support Team!
Is requiring kids to do chores worth the effort? Research says, yes! Studies have found that one predictor of success later in life is whether or not they were required to do chores at home as a kid. Some benefits that have been reported include:
Having a higher self-esteem
Being more responsible
Better able to manage frustration
Ability to delay gratification
Recognizing important family roles
Feeling more needed and capable
Having better skills to function outside of the family
Your Creekside Middle School Student Services Team is here to help you and your child travel the Road to Success at CMS this year. Please reach out to any one of us via email or contact the main office at (815) 337-5200.
Mrs. Nieman (School Counselor) hnieman@wcusd200.org
Ms. Tucker (School Social Worker) atucker@wcusd200.org
Mrs. Hoven (School Social Worker) cahoven@wcusd200.org
Mrs. Meyer (School Social Worker) rmeyer@wcusd200.org
Creekside Middle School
Assistant Principal: Kristopher Nickolas
Dean of Students: Jason Laidig
Secretary to the Principal: Kerrie Butenschoen
Secretary to the Assistant Principal: Adriana Silva-Rodriguez
Registration Secretary: Kylie Porter-Eichler
Nurse: Carla Schrock
Office Hours: 7:30 am - 4:15 pm
Email: rdoyle@wcusd200.org
Location: 3201 Hercules Road, Woodstock, IL, USA
Phone: 815-337-5200