Family News 10/19/26

Friday, October 23, 2026

• Wasco Spirit Day-Dress as your favorite animal

Monday, October 26, 2026

• Donuts With Grown Ups - First Grade

Wednesday, October 28, 2026

• Early Release

Friday, October 30, 2026

• Fall Parties

1. What made you laugh today? Kids almost always have an answer, and it gets them replaying the fun parts of their day.
2. Who did you sit with at lunch, and what did you talk about? This opens up friendships and social life without feeling like an interrogation.
3. What was something hard today, and what did you do about it? It invites them to share a struggle and shows you care about how they handle challenges, not just whether they succeed.
4. If you could be the teacher for one hour, what would you teach? It reveals what they’re excited about and what they feel confident in.
5. Who did you help today, or who helped you? This builds kindness and awareness of others, and it often surfaces stories you wouldn’t hear otherwise.

More information to come but we hope you will join us for a family event hosted by the Wasco staff.

Our students will come together on the morning of Wednesday, November 11, 2026 to honor those who have served or are serving our country. If your family has a veteran who would like to join us for a short ceremony we ask that you complete the form linked below. Please know we are just at the early stages of planning but would love to gather this information in order to plan our event.

Please reach out to Jake Little (Jacob.little@d303.org) if you have any specific questions otherwise we will continue to provide additional information in future newsletters.

Please have students bring their costumes to school and remind them that they will need to slip them on prior to our afternoon festivities.

Costumes:

• No full head gear as we need the students to be identifiable

• Students need to slip on costumes as we will not have students going to the bathroom for costumes or make up

• No blow up costumes, weapons, or costumes with wheels

Parade:

• Our 5th grade students will lead our parade starting at 2:15 before returning to the building to begin their parties. We will send out the map for the parade in our next newsletter.

October 2026

This letter is to inform you about Erin’s Law (Illinois Public Act 097-1147), an Illinois law passed in February, 2011 that requires public schools to provide child sexual abuse prevention education for all children in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grades. Named after sexual abuse survivor Erin Merryn, Erin’s Law will be implemented again this year in all District 303 Schools. Please note that Erin’s Law is not connected to The Keeping Youth Safe & Healthy Act (Senate Bill 818).

Between now and the end of the school year, several lessons will be facilitated by Rebecca Schroeder, school social worker, and Jordan Wenzel, school psychologist, along with the classroom teacher utilizing the Second Step Child Protection Unit . This age-appropriate instruction will help students recognize unsafe situations, keep themselves safe, and learn how to respond to unsafe situations. Common themes across all grade levels include:

• Identifying safe touch versus unsafe or unwanted touch

• The Safety Rule About Touching (The Touching Rule): Private areas are not for others to touch, except to keep a child clean and healthy

• Steps to Stay Safe

• Understanding the difference between good and bad secret

For more information about Erin’s Law, please visit the links below.

Erin’s Law website

Erin’s Law video

For more information about the Second Step Child Protection Unit Scope and Sequence for grades pre-kindergarten-5th, please view the link below.

Second Step Child Protection Unit Scope & Sequence

If you have any questions, please contact your building principal, Christine O’Neil at christine.oneil@d303.org.

Thank you for your support,

Christine O’Neil, Principal