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Happy Monday, Willard Families! 💙

Wow, what a week! First off, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out for Parent-Teacher Conferences last week. It was great seeing so many faces in and out of Willard, and we loved getting to connect with you all. We had registration support set up during conferences too, and hope some of you found it helpful! If you have any lingering questions or are still wondering about anything, just reach out—we're here to help!

Happy Day Off! So why do we get today off? Presidents Day started as a celebration of George Washington's birthday (February 22nd) and has evolved into a day honoring all our presidents and their service to the country. Another way to think about it is, today is a day to think about leadership, how we model service to our kids and communities, and what it means to serve others with our time, money, and talents! Cool tidbit: Washington's birthday was one of the very first federal holidays!

Hope you're all enjoying this long weekend and getting some serious rest and relaxation time. And if you've been watching the Olympics—GO TEAM USA Women's Hockey! They're beating Sweden right now and it's been amazing!

I definitely took advantage of the break myself and headed down to the 1-on-1 Unrivaled Basketball tournament near Miami. The whole thing was so fun and the talent was unreal! I've got a few photos to share below.

Enjoy the rest of your day, soak up that family time, and we'll see everyone back tomorrow!

Best,

AP Ernvall

All families should have received their school placement for the 2026-2027 school year at this point.

Families are asked to log into PowerSchool and do one of three things by March 1st:

1. Accept their school assignment (must accept if this is your choice)
2. Request a Permissive Transfer
3. Request a Return to Home School

Registration for Kindergarten and Rising 6th is OPEN!!

March 1st: All permissive transfer requests MUST be submitted by 11:59 p.m. March 1, 2026, to be considered for the 2026-27 school year.

For More Information: Please see the District Website Link Specifically

Invite your friends: Please mark you calendars if you are exploring your options, and feel free to share these dates with anyone interested in learning more about Willard! These are two school tour dates— and we also have our perspective family open house on Feb 24th! Families must RSVP

Lincolnwood:

Friday, February 20, 8:00-8:45am

Willard:

Tuesday, February 17, 8:15-9:00am

Wednesday, February 18, 4:45-5:30pm

Orrington:

Wednesday, February 25 - 8:15-8:45 a.m.

The Willard Chess Team brought their A-game to the Oakton Chess Tournament last Saturday, going head-to-head with over 130 competitors in an epic battle of strategy and skill!

Our amazing Owls showed incredible focus and determination throughout the day. Special congratulations to Cielo Carlino and Minh Le, who claimed spots on the podium in their age categories — outstanding work, champions!

Every single member of our chess team represented Willard with pride, sportsmanship, and serious brainpower. We couldn't be prouder of these strategic thinkers!

The next tournament date is Feb. 28th!!

GO OWLS! 🦉♟️

Willard School invites families to a 60-minute African Diaspora Celebration honoring the powerful musical traditions of Gospel, Jazz, and Blues. The program will feature music led by Vernon Clark and the Second Baptist Church Choir, music from the Willard Student Choir, and Willard students sharing the history of each genre. Following the celebration, families are welcome to continue listening to this inspiring works of music by listening to various artists of gospel, blues and jazz while enjoying dinner provided by Jennifer Eason formerly of Jennifer's Edibles. We will also have crafts in the library and a quiet classroom space will also be available.

We think we may have mixed up blankets when families returned their Camp Willard materials. If you ended up with an extra blanket that doesn't belong to you and you don't need it, we'd love to get it back to the family who donated it.

Please feel free to return it to the school office when you get a chance. Thank you so much!

We invite current and future Haven families to join us for our State of Haven Showcase & Family Orientation. This engaging event highlights Haven’s academic programming, student supports, leadership opportunities, and the systems in place to ensure every student thrives. Future Haven families will also gain a meaningful look at daily life and the strong community that defines our school.

Last opportunity to attend this semester:
Tuesday, March 25, 2026
6:30 PM sharp
Haven Middle School

We hope you’ll join us to learn more about the Haven experience and our exciting path forward!

Big news—registration is open and we made it way easier this year!

Everything's moved to the PowerSchool parent portal (finally, no more snapcodes!). Just log in with your parent portal account and you're good to go.

We emailed the how-to info on January 26th. Please knockout your registration as soon as possible— it really helps us get classroom assignments sorted and makes sure everyone's set up for a great year.

Quick heads up on dates:

• Feb 2nd - Lottery applications opened (and yes, we simplified this too!)
• March 1st - Permissive Transfer applications are due

Thanks for getting this done early—it honestly makes our lives so much easier and helps us plan an amazing year for your kiddo! - Principal Latting

Questions? Reach out to: registrationinfo@district65.net

When: Feb 17 from 4:30-5:30pm on Google Meet

Who: All are welcome to attend. Together we're focusing on building a brighter, healthier, more equitable future for our children. Click here for February 17 meeting details.

Learn more about our local artist Holly Greenberg and Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene.

Washington is hosting an event with Screen Sense Evanston. It is a parent education event about how we can support our kids and make decisions about technology. Everyone is invited so please share the information broadly!

Presentation will be in English but handouts/resources will be available in both Spanish and English.

Where: Washington auditorium
When: Wed. 2/18 from 6 - 7:30pm

Event is free and registration is not required, but it is great if we can get an idea of the headcount by having folks sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4AA8AF23AAF8C61-61583356-screen

*Unfortunately we aren't able to provide childcare for this event

The 5th annual District 65 PTA One Fund Native Plant Sale is live! Select from a wide variety of native plants, shrubs and trees and order by Friday, February 21. Proceeds from this district-wide plant sale helps fund every District 65 school via the PTA Equity Project's One Fund Initiative.

Pre-order pick-up will be held on Saturday, May 23 from 10am to 1pm in the Chute Middle School courtyard (1400 Oakton St., Evanston). A limited number of plants, shrubs, and trees will also be available for sale. Late pick-up is available!

To view the items available and make a purchase, please visit https://go.rallyup.com/2026nativeplantsale/Campaign/Details.

Donations to plant wildflowers and trees on D65 school grounds are also accepted.

Don’t miss a beat with all things Willard PTA! 🦉 Check out the Weekly Newsletter for the latest happenings, membership info, and our handy directory. If you missed the latest Owl Notes, click here to catch up!

February:

• 17th: D65 Sustainability Community Meeting (Virtual)
• 18th: Peace Pep Rally #2 (All School)
• 18th: Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee meeting (6:00-7:00pm)
• 20th: African Diaspora Night at Willard (6:00-7:45pm)
• 21st: D65 In-Person Registration Support @Kingsley (10:00am-12:00pm)
  
• 23rd: D65 Regular Board Meeting (6:00-8:00pm)
• 24th: Willard New Families Spring Open House Grades 1st-5th