Communications Guidelines Message

This Communications Guidelines message outlines the best ways for families to connect with District 300 and our schools, supporting open and transparent communication during the 2026-27 school year.

Questions about any of these items can be directed to BackToSchool@d300.org, and additional information can be found at www.d300.org/BacktoSchool.

Please note: The bottom of this message contains a listing of notable dates, as well as details about previous back to school messaging.

For issues that occur outside the classroom, a parent’s first point of contact should be their school’s front office staff. If the matter cannot be resolved, a parent can move through the next steps outlined in the Parent Communication Guidelines for Issues Outside the Classroom document.

Both documents can be accessed by visiting www.d300.org/CommunicationGuidelines.

The District 300 Central Office can be reached via phone each school day from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. by calling 847-551-8300.

Parents can contact District 300 schools by phone on school days during building hours. To find a school’s building hours, please visit its respective website and look for the “Building Hours” link under the “About” menu.

In addition, phone numbers for all District 300 schools, including the main office, attendance, and RCS (Rapid Communication System) numbers, are available in the District 300 Phone Directory.

For reference:

• Attendance Office numbers should be called to report a student absence.
• Main Office numbers should be called for all other (non-attendance related) inquiries.

An email directory for all staff members is available at www.d300.org/FacultyStaffDirectory.

District 300 and our schools use a Rapid Communication System (RCS) to send emails, phone calls, and text messages to parent groups. These types of communications are typically referred to as “RCS messages.” Parents and guardians who provided their phone number(s) and email address(es) during the online registration process will receive RCS messages throughout the school year.

District 300 strongly recommends parents and guardians verify their phone numbers and email addresses in PowerSchool by visiting the PowerSchool Parent Portal.

• RCS emails – From the district-level, RCS emails are sent to communicate emergency alerts, important information, messages from the superintendent, Late Start reminders, news updates, weather-related school closures, and more.
  
  
• RCS phone calls – From the district-level, RCS phone calls are typically reserved for high-level communications, including emergency information, important news updates, and weather-related school closures.
  
  
• RCS text messages – From the district-level, RCS text messages are used to communicate critical information, including emergency information, important news updates, and weather-related school closures.

Please note: Schools send their own individual RCS messages, which vary from building to building based on the needs and preferences of their school communities.

District 300 delivers the majority of our district-level RCS messages at 7:30 p.m. on any given day, except for emergency and weather-related RCS messages.

Emergency and weather-related RCS messages are sent as necessary.

• RCS email – Each RCS email includes an “unsubscribe” link at the end of the message. Email unsubscribe connects to the organization. This opt-out will opt the user out of all normal and emergency messages from the school that sent the message. Example: You may opt-out of district emails but still get elementary school emails or vice-versa.
  
  
• RCS phone calls – When a parent receives an RCS phone call, it will include a recorded message from your school or the district. After the message, a prompt will announce an option to opt-out: "Press 9 to unsubscribe from future non-emergency messages." Should you wish to opt-back into messages, please call 855-502-7867 and follow the instructions. Please note: Using this method of opting-out of non-emergency messages applies to all schools and the district. This process does not opt you out of emergency messaging.
  
  
• RCS text messages – Non-emergency text messages are sent from short code 97178. Each time a parent receives an RCS text message, it will contain a short prompt stating: "Txt STOP to cancel." If a parent replies to any of these text messages with the word "STOP," this will block all non-emergency texts from the school and district. Emergency texts will be sent from a separate, emergency-only short code (53291).

District 300 advises parents not to unsubscribe from RCS messages. Instead, they should delete any individual communications they find unnecessary. This approach keeps email addresses and phone numbers active in the RCS system, ensuring parents continue to receive all important messages.

District 300 recommends parents save the relevant phone numbers listed in the District 300 Phone Directory as contacts in their cellphones. Specifically, District 300 recommends:

• Saving your school’s main office number: (For example: “Carpentersville Middle - Main Office”)
  
  
• Saving your school’s attendance number*: (For example: “Carpentersville Middle - Attendance Office”)
  
  
• Saving your school’s RCS number: (For example: “Carpentersville Middle - RCS”)
  
  
• Saving the District 300 RCS number: (For example: “D300 - RCS”)

School logo images are available for download and can be added to school contact information in parent cellphones.

(*A note for parents of students who attend Jacobs High School and Westfield Community School: Both schools have two attendance numbers listed in the District 300 phone directory. For Jacobs, we advise saving both the regular attendance number and the Late Start attendance number. Westfield has separate attendance phone numbers for elementary and middle school. Please select the numbers that apply to your family.)

Parents are encouraged to create email contacts for relevant staff members to ensure emails are easily identifiable in their inboxes. An email directory for all school staff members is available at www.d300.org/FacultyStaffDirectory.

Additionally, we recommend adding RCS@d300.org as an email contact. This email address is used by District 300 and all schools for sending outbound RCS emails. Please be aware that RCS@d300.org is not able to receive inbound emails.

When District 300 delivers an RCS phone call message, the call can be directed to voicemail. However, when a voicemail box is full, new voicemail messages will not be delivered and stored in the phone.

Parents are encouraged to check the capacity of their voicemail system and, if necessary, delete past messages to ensure new RCS phone messages can be successfully delivered to voicemail.

District 300 will send RCS messages to parents throughout the school year for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, Late Start reminders, announcements of various initiatives (such as the launch of registration and the release of report cards), safety updates, weather-related school closures, district-wide events, and other information that impacts the entire school community. These messages are intended to keep families updated about district-wide information, policies, and events.

Schools will send RCS messages to families that include information specifically related to their community. This may include details about school-specific events, updates on extracurricular activities, reminders about school meetings, changes in schedules, or any issues that directly impact students and families at the school level.

The Communication Center webpage will host all RCS emails District 300 sends to families during the 2026-27 school year.

To access the Communication Center, please visit www.d300.org/CommunicationCenter.

District 300 and our schools operate social media accounts to disseminate school-related information and celebrate student success.

The main social media accounts for the district and our schools can be viewed by visiting www.d300.org/SocialMediaAccounts.

• To access the District 300 website, visit www.d300.org.
  
  
• Individual school websites can be accessed by visiting www.d300.org and selecting “Schools” from the menu near the top right corner.
  
  
• For convenience, website links that are frequently used by parents are available by visiting www.d300.org/parents.

District 300 would also like to remind families of the following notable dates:

Tuesday, August 25:

• Parent/Guardian Handbook Acknowledgement Form deadline – District 300 requires all parents and guardians to confirm they have received the 2026-27 Parent/Guardian Handbook by completing the Parent/Guardian Handbook Acknowledgement Form located in PowerSchool Parent Portal. Details on how to complete the handbook acknowledgement form can be viewed by accessing this instructional PDF. If you experience any difficulties accessing or submitting the acknowledgement form, please submit a tech support form.

Wednesday, September 2:

• Late Start – Late Start day for all K-12 schools. Please note: Preschool students do not attend school on any Late Start dates this school year.

Please note: This is the fifth – and final – scheduled message District 300 has shared with families about the 2026-27 school year.

• The first message – titled the Back to School Requirements Message – was sent on July 1.
  
  
• The second message – titled the Back to School Center Message – was sent on July 24.
  
  
• The third message – titled the Student Schedules and Teacher Assignments Message – was sent on August 3.
  
  
• The fourth message – titled the Essential Information/Notable Changes Message – was sent on August 4.

District 300 looks forward to having an impactful school year with our students, staff, parents, and guardians!

Again, please visit our Back to School Center at www.d300.org/BackToSchool for additional information about the 2026-27 school year.