Friday, March 7th- 8th grade Graduation Pictures

Monday, March 17th- PTO sponsored Assembly

Parents, we need as many parents as possible to complete this 5 Essentials survey http://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/ This survey window is open up until Spring Break.

Please complete the survey. Your child will be taking it on March 10th or 11th in school. On the 10th or 11th, your child will receive a form to take home asking if you have taken the survey. If you have, you sign the form and that becomes your child's ticket for a raffle competition for a free shopping trip at our school store to select 1 item of their choice.

Please take the survey. It only takes a few minutes. We need at least 20% of our parents to respond, but would love to hear from everyone.

Thank you!

Every year, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) awards educators and educational leaders "Those Who Excel" awards.

Our very own Assistant Principal, Mr. Allaway, has received the Award of Meritorious Service. These educators have gone above and beyond in service to their school communities. They are experienced educators who take on leadership opportunities and whose accomplishments uplift the culture of learning in their school. They stand as exemplars of their profession and have become integral members of their schools and districts.

Thank you Mr. Allaway for everything you do for Grove and the community!

Are you curious what your child is learning? Click the grade's Peek at the Week below.

Once again this year we will have students casting votes at breakfast. This year students will get to choose their favorite donut flavor. This will start Monday March 3rd.

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All families who have an incoming kindergarten student in the 2024-2025 school year and are interested in learning more about the Polish Dual Language program are invited to go to a Kindergarten Polish Dual Language Information Night on Wednesday, February 26th. Please see the flyers attached for more information. Polish English

Location: Clearmont Elementary School, 280 Clearmont Dr. Elk Grove Village

Time: 5:30-6:30 pm

Dear Parent or Guardian,

The 2024.25 5Essentials window is now open and set to run through March 28th 2025. This annual survey of school climate and learning conditions allows schools and districts to collect feedback from students (grades 4-8), staff members, and parents. The responses on the 5Essentials not only affects the feedback schools and the district receive, but also the learning conditions information shared with the public for each school on the Illinois School Report Card. Additionally, starting with the 2021.22 School Report Card, the 5Essentials results are a major component of the Equity Journey Continuum (EJC) informational tool that tracks a district’s progress toward closing gaps in student achievement, opportunities, and supports.

As a parent, this will allow you to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness in a survey about your child’s school.

On behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois 5Essentials Survey will be administered online by UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago. The survey gathers data related to five indicators that can predict important student outcomes, including improved attendance and larger test score gains. These five indicators that affect and predict school success are:

• Effective Leaders

• Collaborative Teachers

• Involved Families

• Supportive Environments

• Ambitious Instruction

All teachers and 4th through 8th grade students may participate in this survey. 5Essentials Reports will be generated for schools if their teachers and/or students meet the response rate threshold of 50 percent. These reports will be sent to schools and districts in June 2025 and will also be included in the State School Report Card. Parents and guardians who DO NOT want their child(ren) to participate should access this document (English / Spanish / English / Polish) for additional information.

Additionally, there is a 5Essentials parent survey and if at least 20 percent of parents and guardians from each school complete this survey, a parent report will also be generated. Parents and guardians can take the survey by visiting survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and selecting the appropriate survey to begin. The parent data will not be reported on the State Report Card.

Your participation in the parent portion of the survey will help us understand the conditions at your child’s school and guide improvement. If you have children in more than one school, feel free to complete a survey for each school. Your identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey by March 28, 2025. Please note that this is a state survey and it is available to take in English or Spanish. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact 5Essentials Client Services at 1-866-440-1874 or impact-surveys@chicago.edu.

Sincerely,

Tom Luedloff

Associate Superintendent of Schools

Dear Parent or Guardian:

As you are likely aware, District 59 students will take part in mandatory annual state assessments this spring. These assessments are used to build understanding on how students are growing academically, compared to their peers across the state and are also used as part of the accountability system used by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). Students in grades 3-8 will complete the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR). The IAR assesses the Illinois Learning​ Standards, incorporates the Common Core, and will be administered for English Language Arts and Mathematics. Students in grades 5 and 8 will complete the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA), which is aligned to the Illinois Learning Standards for Science incorporating the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

The district testing window for the Illinois Assessment of Readiness opens on March 31, 2025 and closes April 17, 2025. Students in grades 3-8 will take two English Language Arts (ELA) tests and three Mathematics tests. Additionally, three of our schools (Grove Jr High, Devonshire Elementary, Salt Creek Elementary) have been identified by ISBE as field testing sites, which will result in one additional ELA test at each grade level. The ISA district testing window is scheduled for March 3 - 21, 2025 with students in grades 5 & 8 completing three science assessments. You will receive a communication from your child’s school regarding their specific testing schedule closer to the testing windows.

We expect to receive the results of the IAR & ISA by fall of the 2025-26 school year.

We encourage you to talk with your children about the importance of doing their best on the IAR and as always, parents/guardians can help ensure their child is prepared and ready for the the school day by:

• encouraging students to get a good night’s sleep

• eating a healthy breakfast

• arriving to school on time

• avoiding absences

Additionally, the IAR/ISA online practice site has many useful resources including tutorials and short practice items in each subject area being assessed. To access these and other IAR/ISA family resources, please visit ISBE’s website at https://il.mypearsonsupport.com/practice-items/.

If you have any further questions about IAR or ISA, please contact your child’s teacher or school principal. Thank you for your partnership in your student’s academic success.

Sincerely,

Tom Luedloff

Associate Superintendent of Schools

Dear Parents and/or Guardians:

We will be meeting with students again this year to talk about personal body safety through both our Erin’s Law and Healthy/Unhealthy Relationships lessons. Erin’s Law is required for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. The Healthy/Unhealthy Relationships lessons are required for 7th and 8th graders. Below are details related to both requirements and their subsequent lessons.

Erin’s Law: On January 24, 2013, then Governor Quinn signed into effect Public Act 097-1147, also known as Erin’s Law. This law requires child sexual abuse prevention education for children in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grades. District 59 will continue its implementation during the 2023-24 year. Our district social workers and psychologists, under the leadership of our Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, worked together to develop developmentally appropriate curriculum that will give our students the knowledge and skills they need to protect themselves. Lessons for junior high school students will include information on sexual harassment (6th and 7th grade) and sexual harassment and sexting (8th grade).

More specifically, lessons focus on types of sexual harassment (verbal, physical, visual, online), the impact of being sexually harassed, the consequences of sexually harassing, what one could do if one is being sexually harassed, what bystanders could do if they witness someone being sexually harassed, and what one could do if one realizes that they have crossed someone’s boundaries. For more information about this issue, please see Teen’s Health educational materials at: https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/harassment.html

Healthy/Unhealthy Relationships: The Board of Education policy, 7:185, Teen Dating Violence Prohibited, is a component of the District’s anti-bullying program. Research has shown that inappropriate relationships can form lifelong, unhealthy habits during young adults’ formative years. Educating parents/guardians, students, and staff about healthy relationships can help us identify incidents of teen dating violence at school or school-related activities. The Board’s policy states that teen dating violence occurs whenever a student uses or threatens to use physical, mental, or emotional abuse to control an individual in the dating relationship; or uses or threatens to use sexual violence in the dating relationship.

Students in grades 7 and 8 will receive age-appropriate instruction on inappropriate relationships including warning signs and prevention. More specifically, 7th graders will review characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships, warning signs of unhealthy relationships, tips for maintaining healthy/abusive relationships, and what to do if one needs help. In addition to these points, 8th graders will learn more about dating violence as well as an introduction to the concept of human trafficking (typically when a stranger/trafficker tries to form a relationship with teens online). School staff will also receive training on handling the signs and incidents of teen dating violence. School staff members are asked to respond immediately and with compassion to a student who reports teen dating violence. They will proceed under our District’s procedures for responding to incidents of bullying and school violence.

The following could be warning signs that your child may be involved in an unhealthy relationship: Name-calling and put-downs, Extreme Jealousy, Making Excuses, Monitoring of Whereabouts, Uncontrolled Anger, Isolation, Dramatic Changes, Injuries, and a Quick Progression of the Relationship. These signs do not necessarily mean that your child is involved in an unhealthy relationship, but, if present, consider talking to your child about creating healthy relationships. For more information about this issue, please see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s educational materials at: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/features/dating-violence/index.html

This year, student presentations will take place between March 7th and March 14th. The district realizes that these are sensitive topics, so if you do not want your child to participate in these lessons, please print and complete this form and return it to the main office.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Alison Jenski

Building Principal

Grove's Interact Community Service Club is so excited to announce that this year we will be a part of NeighborHood Forest's mission to plant more trees around the world. Neighborhood Forest is a Non-Profit organization in the US that's mission is to inspire students to take care of the planet. They donate free trees to students to help with carbon footprints and to also provide students a memorable experience of planting a tree.

Here is the link to their website: https://www.neighborhoodforest.org/ to learn more about the organization. Every year they donate different types of trees that are indigenous to the region.

Every student who signs up gets a free tree for Earth/Arbor day to plant :) The organization has almost planted a million trees across North America since they started in 2010!

To sign up please click this link: https://www.neighborhoodforest.org/parent-registration/?school=97456 or use the QR Code. Trees will be delivered the week of Earth Day 2025! Trees are completely free, you can skip the options to donate/buy a book or you can donate if you wish. It is not required. All sign ups are due by March 15th!

CCSD59 Families,

We’re pleased to share that CCSD59 has partnered with our bus provider, Safeway Transportation, to provide families with Here Comes the Bus, an interactive application that allows parents or guardians to see where a student’s bus is located in real time.

With a smartphone or tablet, notifications can occur when the bus is near or when there has been a schedule change. Set-up details are outlined below, and within the flyer.

Set-Up Steps:

1. Download the application at herecomesthebus.com.

2. Once downloaded, type in the 30205 to access the student’s information

3. The school code will automatically link the student account to the app

4. Set up your preferred notifications

If you have any questions, please contact https://help.herecomesthebus.com/en/support/home.

Thank you!
CCSD59 Transportation Department

As we are entering winter months, I would like to remind you all that if schools have a "Snow Day" or "Cold Day", District 59 would typically move to a remote learning day. That means that students will log into their Google Classroom. It is a shortened day of learning from 8am-1:30pm. Each class starts with a video call for the lesson. Teachers post on their google classroom the link to the video call. After the video call, there is some independent work for that class. Teachers do take attendance for every class and students are expected to attend as this does count towards an attendance day.

If your child forgot their chromebook at school, they can log into their Google account from any device in order to participate in learning for the day.

Whenever there is an Emergency Day announced, the district will email, I will email, and I will post on Facebook and Twitter.

As we are in peak cold and flu season, please remember to call the school attendance line to call your child out sick. Please save this number as a contact in your phone so it is easier for you. Thank you!

Grove Attendance Line: 847-472-3893