The Franklin Flyer
November 10, 2023
April 19, 2024
Mark Your Calendars:
April 23: STREAM Night 3:40 - 5:30 PM
April 24: PTA - Night of the Stars Dress Rehearsal 4:00 - 6:00 PM
April 26: PTA - Night of the Stars Show 6:30 - 8:30 PM
April 28: Incoming 24-25 Kindergarten Meet-up, Franklin Playground 10:00 AM
May 2: PTA - Holi Celebration 3:30 PM
May 6-10: Teacher and Nurse Appreciation Week
May 9: PTA - PTA Board Meeting (Zoom only)
May 21: Girls on the Run 5K
May 23: PTA - End of the Year Bash
May 27: Memorial Day - No School
May 30: 24-25 Incoming Kindergarten Screening
May 31: PTA - 5th Grade Celebration
June 4: Field Day
June 6: 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony & Last Day of School
Absences
Please remember to call in or email absences by 8:45 AM. You can call our student absence line (847) 318-4390 (ext 1) is available 24 hours a day, or email Mrs. Linda Berleth at lberleth@d64.org.
If the absence is illness related, please also make sure to include Franklin's nurse, Mrs. Queta Karstens, at qkarstens@d64.org.
Franklin Office Hours
School office hours are from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
School Hours
School Hours (M, T, Th, F): 8:50 am - 3:30 pm
Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Lunch: 11:35 - 12:30
4th and 5th Grade Lunch: 12:05 - 1:00
Wednesday School Hours: 8:50 am - 2:40 pm
Wednesday Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Lunch: 11:05 - 12:00
Wednesday 4th and 5th Grade Lunch: 11:35 - 12:30
Half-Day Kindergarten Hours
Kindergarten Hours (M, T, Th, F): 8:50 am - 11:35 am
Kindergarten Wednesday: 8:50 am - 11:05 am
Incoming 24-25 Kindergarten Meet Up
Jefferson parent advisory committee is hosting an incoming Franklin Kindergarten meet up for any future Falcons. Come to play and meet some other incoming Kindergarteners at the Franklin playground on April 28th at 10:00 a.m.
Arrival and Dismissal Parking
We ask that all families abide by the parking restrictions of the circle drive. Our circle drive is our fire lane. No cars should be parked or left for student pick up at arrival or dismissal. The Park Ridge Police Department will be monitoring the safety of our fire lane in the coming weeks.
Rainbows Student Peer Group
A local Rainbows peer group was recently initiated to provide a safe space for students in 1st - 8th grade to share their experiences associated with loss of a loved one and/or a changing family dynamic due to divorce, deployment, etc. Trained facilitators help encourage communication while identifying, navigating and discussing feelings amongst the group. A second session of the program will begin in September of 2024. Each session is 12 weeks long, meeting weekly in the evening for 1 hour.
Please note, we are looking for more volunteers to help facilitate these peer groups. Teachers will receive CPDU credits! Any interest or questions please contact Justine Karl, 847-340-1741 or Phyllis Lubinki, 312-659-6226
Please fill out this Google form to sign up and/or to be added to our communication list.
Franklin's First STREAM Night will happen on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Please remember registration has closed at this time. Registration is required to attend. Registered families, please watch your emails for more details about STREAM Night and we look forward to seeing you soon. Questions? Please contact Victoria Wilson, Instructional Technology Coach at vwilson@d64.org.
WOW Summer School 2024
Registration for Worlds of Wonder - Summer 2024 is now open!
WOW registration will close on Monday, June 3rd, 2024.
Classes for students who have completed K-3 will be held at Washington Elementary School, while classes for students who have completed 4-7 will be held at Lincoln Middle School.
Session 1: Wednesday, June 12 - Friday, June 28 (No School Wednesday, June 19)
Session 2: Monday, July 1 - Friday, July 19 (No School Wednesday July 3, Thursday, July 4, or Friday, July 5).
2024 Proposal: The Future of our Facilities
Dear D64 Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break. It’s hard to believe we are in the final stretch of the school year, and we’ll soon be promoting our 8th graders to their respective high schools!
For the past six months, we have been taking a hard look at our Master Facilities Plan and the needs our students and staff have now and in the future. Through many meetings with staff, community stakeholders, law enforcement, and our architects, we have identified areas where our safety, security, health, critical infrastructure, and, in some cases, classrooms are not meeting our current and future needs. Our school district has done everything possible to address these issues without our current budget, and we are at the point where we are considering doing major renovations in these areas with additional funding in the form of a referendum in the future.
The School Board will make a decision later this summer about which path we will take forward, and to be transparent about our needs, we are hosting the following community engagement events, where I will lay out the issues we face and our proposed solutions. Each one of these sessions will include time for Q&A. If you plan on attending any event, please RSVP so we can plan and have the proper setup.
We have also designed a webpage that provides information, past presentations, and other useful tools that we want to share with you. To help our community better understand the state of our facilities, we have made video tours of our buildings, the first one of which is a look at Lincoln Middle School. Those resources can be found at d64.org/2024proposal. As we continue exploring this possibility, you can always reach out to me directly with any questions at bcollins@d64.org.
Our schools are community resources that have existed for nearly 100 years (Roosevelt, Field, and Lincoln will all turn 100 soon), and we want to protect our buildings, protect our children, and preserve our future.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ben Collins
Superintendent
Park Ridge-Niles District 64
As the weather starts to change, please send a change of clothes with your children for all K-5 students. It is helpful to have a change of clothes in the event of spilled water, accidents, or an unexpected incidents. Clothes should be labeled with your child's name and can be kept in your child's locker. We encourage you to make sure your child's name is on each article of clothing.
For the health and safety of our students and community, no pets are allowed on school property. We realize the beautiful weather increases the amount of families who are walking. However, we ask that you please leave your dog or cat at home. Properly identified service animals are always permitted.
Please take a moment to review the contacts section of your ParentPortal. Any adult who has approval for after school pick-up or emergency pick-up for illness/injury should be listed. Franklin staff will not release students to adults who are not listed on the ParentPortal.
Chromebooks
As a reminder, each Franklin student will be issued an iPad (grades K-1) or a Chromebook computer (grades 2-5) as part of the District’s one-to-one digital learning program. Students will receive their devices during the first week of school. Your child will also be assigned a Google account to access Google Apps for Education and other digital resources at school and to explore further concepts introduced in class at home. The devices and their applications are technology tools that provide all students access to digital content and higher levels of individualized instruction.
You can find more information about the 1:1 Initiative, Chromebooks, and the other technologies available to our students here.
Drop-off of Student Items/Lunches
If your student forgets something at home, an adult may drop off items at the Franklin front office. Our front office staff will message the classroom for your student to pick up these items during a break in student instruction. The teacher will send the student to the office when it works best in the classroom schedule.
Visiting Franklin
All visitors to Franklin must have a valid state ID or driver’s license. Identification is entered into the Raptor identification system. This process only takes a short time to complete. Once you have clearance, the office staff will print a visitor pass for you and attach it to a lanyard you must wear throughout the building. The office will hold your ID until you return to the office and return the lanyard. We appreciate your support as we proceed with this district-mandated safety procedure for the safety of our students.
Student-Parent Handbook
Franklin Elementary School and all District 64 schools follow policies and practices reviewed and implemented by the District 64 Board of Education. Please review the D64 Student-Parent Handbook before the start of the school year.
You can find frequent updates or snapshots from our days at Franklin on Facebook and Instagram! Follow us at
Facebook: facebook.com/FranklinD64
Instagram: franklin.d64
PTA Updates
Yearbook Order Deadline Approaching
The deadline for custom yearbook pages has passed, but you can still purchase a yearbook until May 4! All yearbook purchases made before the yearbook goes to print will be delivered in May on distribution day. There will be no extra yearbooks to sell at the end of the year. At that time, you will have to order separately and pay for shipping directly to home. After the fact, it takes a few weeks to ship and they will not arrive in time for the last day of school.
Click on this link to order: TreeRing Yearbook Order
Night of the Stars Ticket Sales are Open & Casting Call for Volunteers
Volunteering: We are still in need of volunteers, especially stage crew and wrangling our talented Franklin stars. Volunteers receive VIP seating and free tickets for their family members. Please consider helping by signing up at PTA Membership Toolkit
Ticket Sales: Tickets are now available to purchase in Membership Toolkit until Tuesday, April 24th.
Ticket prices: $5 for adults and $2 for students and young children
Performers do NOT need to purchase a ticket for themself
Volunteers and their immediate families do not need to purchase tickets
Questions?? Reach out to Camille DeCicco (camille.decicco@gmail.com) for questions about volunteering or ticket sales, and Danielle Kastner (dcpkastner@gmail.com) and Natalie Packer (nataliebergcm@gmail.com) for questions related to the production.
Honor our Retiring Staff!
Please help us spread the word to both current and former students. We have several teachers retiring this year at Franklin, and we thought it would be special to have any of their former students send a message, wishing them luck in their retirement, sharing their favorite memory, or even just an update on what they're up to.
This year’s Franklin retirees include:
Amanda Hernandez
Mary Lally
Julie Majeski
Chris LoPresti
Mary McCabe
Brian Kabat
Email messages to franklinretirees@gmail.com.
Teacher Appreciation Week
Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6-10. Families can contribute to the end-of-year gifts through this link in the PTA Membership Toolkit: https://franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com/packet/20003 until April 26. Head room parents for each class will purchase a gift with the funds collected and deliver them to teacher on behalf of the entire class. Families can also make contributions to other “specials” teachers, such as music and P.E., or to other staff members like those on the custodial team.
Students received appreciation notes in their folders which they can bring back to school for out Franklin staff appreciation display from May 6-10. Extra copies of the appreciation notes can be printed here: https://bit.ly/3Jm3Ek4
The hospitality committee welcomes any gift card contributions they can use as raffle prizes during Teacher & Nurse Appreciation Week. If you would like to make a gift card donation please contact vp@franklinpta.com.
First STREAM Night at Franklin: This event is being run by our wonderful LRC team and they will set up the stations and provide instructions for volunteers. They are also looking for hallway directors and welcome directors - these would be people, who could point visitors to specific classrooms and stations, as well as provide welcome information to families as they come in.
Volunteer shifts are only 20 minutes long and were designed to do as a family so that you can also then enjoy the rest of the event and visit the other stations.
- Reach out to Ms. Wilson with questions: vwilson@d64.org, more info below.
Learn about and celebrate Holi, the Indian Festival of Colors
The Franklin PTA is partnering with sibling duo Kabir & Sahana (3rd grader & kindergartener) to share the Festival of Colors, Holi, with the Franklin community on Thursday, May 2nd at 3:30pm after school. Holi focuses on accepting one another, loving our families, and having a fun time together!
This event will be held on the Franklin blacktop after school and a parent chaperone is required. Different colors of chalk will be thrown and therefore you may want to consider bringing a change of clothes or even towels for your car if you are driving to this event. Below is a picture of a Holi Celebration. We look forward to seeing you there!
Please visit our Membership Toolkit to register. There is no cost to participate.
Staff Lunches
The PTA offers teachers and staff members an option to purchase lunch on Mondays from Spuntinos via franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com. Families are always welcome to show their appreciation for a staff member by purchasing a Monday lunch on their behalf. If this is something your family is interested in doing, please refer to Membership Toolkit for more information. Questions about teacher and staff lunches can be directed to rebeccavanpoucke@gmail.com.
End of Year Bash is May 23
Come celebrate the end of the start of summer break at the End of Year Bash on May 23 at 6PM at the Franklin playgrounds and staff lot. Volunteers are needed in order to confirm the inflatable activities. Due to safety concerns we need adult volunteers to manage the flow of actvitiy lines. Please sign up for a 30 minute shift in the PTA Membership Toolkit here: https://franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com/home
