Fremont MS Family Newsletter

Good afternoon,

This upcoming week is Hope Week and it's not just about our dress up days or taking a break from the routine—it’s about the culture we’re building at Fremont Middle School. We know that school can feel like a lot sometimes, but no one should ever feel like they’re navigating it alone.

What We’re Rooting For:

• Acceptance: Seeing people for who they really are, not just who we assume they are. Difference isn't a barrier; it's what makes our school interesting.

• Kindness: It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. A "hello" in the hallway or an extra seat at the lunch table can change the trajectory of someone’s entire day.

• Inclusion: Actively looking for the person on the sidelines. If you see an empty chair, fill the gap. If you see someone standing alone, bridge the distance.

Reminder: There is no school on Monday, February 16th.

The Friday Frenzy is from 6:00 - 8:30 pm on Friday, February 20th. Students must be present during the school day to attend.

Morning Announcements

Warm Regards,

Emily Loerakker

Fremont MS Principal

• ‼️ February 16 - President's Day - No School

• 🏀 February 20 - February Frenzy - Student Council

• 🛑 February 26 - End of Trimester 2

• ✅ February 27 - Start of Trimester 3

• 💻 March 5 - 2nd Trimester Report cards available through Teacherease (updated)

• 📌 March 5 - Parent Teacher Conferences (11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.) - No School

• ‼️ March 6 - Teacher Institute Day - No School

• 🏀 March 7 - PTO March Madness Basketball Game

• 🧪 March 13 - Illinois Science Assessment (ISA) Testing (8th grade only)

• 💐 March 23-27 - Spring Break - No School

• 💻 March 31 - April 8 - IAR testing

• 🚫 April 3 - No School

• 🏫 April TBD - 5th-grade student tours of Middle School, Related Studies presentation to 5th grade

• ✈️ April 30 - May 2: Washington, DC Field Trip (8th grade only)

• 💻 May 7-8 - NWEA MAP Testing

• ⚾️ May 13 - Schaumburg Boomers Game (7th grade only)

• 🎩 May 21 - 22 - Springfield Field Trip (7th grade only)

• 🇺🇸 May 25 - Memorial Day - No School
• 🕺🏽May 27 - Graduation Dance (8th grade only)
• 🏆 May 29 - 8th Grade Awards Assembly (7-8th grades only)
• 🎓 May 29 - 8th grade Graduation Walk to ES and IS
• 🎓 June 3 - 8th Grade Graduation (College of Lake County) - Entrance with ticket
• 🧑🏼‍🔬 June 4 - Career Day (7th only)
• 🎳 June 4 - Bowling Field Trip (6th only)

• 🇺🇸 May 25 - Memorial Day - No School

• 🌞 June 5 - Last Day of School and Report cards (1:13 pm dismissal)

Please see the school website for more information:

• Fremont Middle School Athletics
• Fremont Middle School Club Information

• 8th grade dance - May 27th
• 8th grade graduation - June 3rd at College of Lake County

Families that ordered graduation photos were distributed Friday, February 13 during Flex. Please reach out to Color Portraits if you have any concerns or questions about photos.

https://colorportraits.com/

8th Grade Graduation Speakers, you must do the following:

1. Join the “2026 8th Grade Graduation Speaker Google Classroom”.
1. Google Classroom Code: uotxhyld
2. Submit your speech/spoken word via this Google Classroom by Tuesday, February 17th at 8:00 a.m. (Look at the criteria listed below.)

After submission, all submissions will be judged by a panel of staff members. Three finalists will be announced by Friday, February 27th at 3 p.m. by email.

The finalists will be chosen based on the following criteria:

Content:

If you are selected as a finalist, you will be required to submit a video of yourself giving the speech/spoken word to accompany your typed speech/spoken word. The video, along with your typed speech/spoken word, must be submitted in the “2026 8th Grade Graduation Speaker Google Classroom” by Monday, March 9th at 8 am. The winner will be announced by Monday, March 16th, at 3 pm by email.

If you are selected for this honor, you will be required to work with a staff member for additional practice and preparation.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Best,

Mrs. Larson

hlarson@fsd79.org

It is time to prepare for the upcoming 8th-grade graduation. One important component of graduation is gowns. The gowns will be sent home prior to the ceremony with care instructions and will be yours to keep after they are worn.

Please fill out the following form with your graduate’s information. This is required by Jostens and will ensure the appropriate size is ordered for each student. We ask that this be completed by Monday, March 2.

Graduation Gown Order Form

The 8th-grade graduation ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, June 3, at 6:30 p.m. and will be held at the College of Lake County Physical Education Center. Wednesday, June 3 will also be the last day of school for all 8th-graders and will be a full day of school.

More information regarding graduation, including student speaker opportunities, admission tickets, and the 8th-grade dance will be shared in the coming weeks/months. Look at the Fremont Family Newsletter for updates. Students can also access information from the Class of 2026 Google Classroom. Heather Larson am the graduation advisor for the 2025-2026 school year so please feel welcome to reach out to hlarson@fsd79.org with any questions in the meantime. Thank you!

We have an amazing opportunity for an optional field trip to the Lake County Tech Campus at the College of Lake County. On April 7th, any students opting in to participate in the field trip will take the Fremont transportation to the Lake County Tech Campus. There, you will be able to rotate through various programs that the Tech Campus has to offer. Any interested students should have a parent/guardian fill out the following form. Please take time to indicate your student's areas of interest. We will do our best to accommodate any selections. Students will be transported back to Fremont at approximately 7:15 pm, and a pizza dinner will be served.

FutureQuest Sign-up and permission form - FORMS ARE DUE BY Wednesday, February 25th.

Please see your email for more information.

Parent or Guardian should sign up their athlete if they are interested in the following spring sports:

• Boys Volleyball (grades 7-8) - Season runs March 16 - May 12
• Track & Field (grades 6-7-8) No cut - Info Mtg 3/31 - Season runs April 6 - May 22 (State)

Spring Sport Sign up

All athletes NEED a physical on file in our nurse's office. More information will be shared regarding the different sport as the start date approaches.

For current Fremont families, registering your incoming kindergartner is easy and can be done right through your existing TeacherEase account.

How to Pre-Register (Starting Feb. 17):

1. Log in to the TeacherEase Parent Portal.

2. Select Online Registration.

3. Select “Register a new student(s) to the district.”

4. Complete the prompts and Submit.

Need a hand? Watch this short tutorial video on how to add a new student to your account.

Save the Date: Kindergarten Information Night

When: Wednesday, March 4

Sessions: 5:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m.

Location: Fremont Elementary School

Join us to tour the school, meet the principal, and see what a typical “Day in the Life” looks like for a kindergartner!

Fremont School District 79 greatly values your feedback as it relates to your student’s educational experience. Once again, the State of Illinois has partnered with 5Essentials to create a forum by which you can provide your input.

If you have not already done so, we would greatly appreciate it if you would take the brief survey by visiting:

http://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/

Your responses are vital for continuous improvement and long-range planning for your child's school. Parents are welcome to answer the survey for each of their children’s schools.

The deadline to complete the survey is March 13, 2026.

We need at least a 20% response rate from each school to receive a report. Fremont Middle School is currently at a 5% response rate.

Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held on March 5, from 11:00 am - 7:00 pm. All teachers will have a dinner break from 4:30 - 5:10 pm. All conferences are held in the main gym, allowing families to make appointments with as many of their teachers as possible. Holding in the gym maximizes the time we can spend with parents, allowing for just a few moments of transition from one conference to the next.

All families will receive communication via Finalsite related to the following important dates:

• 2/11 - P/T Conference Email to parents goes out explaining how parents/guardians can sign up for P/T Conferences
• 2/18 -PickATime Conference Sign Up opens at 6pm
• 2/24- PickATime Conference Sign Up closes at 9pm

If you need a translator for your parent-teacher conference, please fill out this Google Form by February 13th.

Fremont School District Summer School is organizing rosters and schedules! Registration is open for Summer Adventures in Learning classes until April 10, 2026. See this catalog of class options and then register for Summer Adventures in Learning here. Alana Davidov, the Summer School Principal, will be in contact if a chosen class is closing to ensure your child can join another class. All final class confirmations will be sent in May. Please email Alana Davidov at fremontsummer@fsd79.org with any questions.

You may have already heard from your child’s teacher if your child is invited to Extended School Year, Multilingual, or Summer Scholars. These invitations will be sent via email throughout this month as teams continue to review student data. If invited, please let us know if you are planning to attend one of these programs or not and if you will need bus transportation. There are waitlists we will utilize in Spring after initial registrations come through.

Summer Boost registration is now open! Students can sign up for this virtual asynchronous program over the summer where they will be paired with a teacher to practice Reading and/or Math. This program will run from June 15 until July 24. There is no cost to this program. Registration is open now through April 2026.

Fremont Middle School is hiring a Head Track Coach. If you are interested or know someone who might be, please check out the online application.

If you enjoy trivia, try out our Scholastic Bowl team. It is an IESA sport of a fast-paced, team-based academic quiz competition. Similar to Jeopardy, where students buzz in to answer questions across all subjects like history, science, math, literature, and current events.

Scholastic Bowl promotes quick thinking, broad knowledge, and academic excellence in a fun, competitive format of two teams of five players facing off. You will compete against other local schools with the chance to go down to IESA state level.

Scholastic Bowl: All Grades Sign up to tryout! MUST attend Both Tryouts.

• Tryouts - Thursday, February 12th - Buzzer Test Tryout - 2:45 pm - 4:30 pm

• Tryouts - Tuesday, February 17th - Written Test Tryouts - 2:45 pm - 4:30 pm

• Coaches: Mrs. Novello & Mrs. Puhr

Questions - contact Mrs. Poglayen - apoglayen@fsd79.org

• 7:55 a.m. to 2:43 p.m. (M, Tu, Th, F), 7:55 a.m to 2:13 p.m. (W)
• The earliest students can be dropped of is 7:30 a.m. If students are reporting to school early for a morning activity that is supervised by a Fremont staff member, they can enter the office beginning at 7:05 a.m.

Please note: Students are dismissed 30 minutes earlier than normal every Wednesday so that teachers and staff may participate in professional learning.

• 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (during school year)
• 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (during school-year breaks and summer)

• The designated pick-up and drop-off zone is in front of the school.

• Early pick-up of students ends before the dismissal process begins. Please note that the latest early pickup time is 2:00 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and 1:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.

• The area behind the building is reserved for buses only.

• If someone other than the child’s parent or guardian is picking them up, the school office must be notified.

• Family Handbook
• Family Resources
• Community Resource Guide
• Important School Contacts
• Weekly Principal E-newsletter

Emily Loerakker

Fremont Middle School Principal

Nick Atchley

Fremont Middle School Assistant Principal

Address: 28871 N. Fremont Center Road

Phone: (847) 566-9384

Website: middle.fsd79.org

Instagram: @FSD79

YouTube: youtube.com/FSD79