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Superintendent's Message
The fall of 2011 has been full of exciting educational activities for students and their families within our school system. From Curriculum Nights to athletic events, the students have excelled in numerous areas displaying their high level of ability.
Annually, students at grade levels 3rd-8th are assessed with tests developed by the Illinois State Board of Education. For the 2010-2011 school year, the results display that Itasca School District children are performing well. The results are measured by goals and standards of which the students continue to attain. As in the prior years, our district and schools have been honored to receive the designation of "Adequate Yearly Progress".
Itasca School Board members have been diligent in their responsibilities associated with the development of a balanced budget, while preserving services for our children in Itasca School District. At this time they are receiving information budget line items from administration so that next year's budget can be constructed. This will include receiving information on grants and other dedicated funding from the Illinois State Board of Education. Updates are provided to the Board on a monthly basis.
The most recent changes within the School Board include the addition of Susan Sampson. Mrs. Sampson replaced Debbi Pawinski who served on the Board for numerous years, but has most recently moved out of district. With this change in leadership, Charles Sprandel has been voted as the Secretary of the Itasca Board of Education.
During the summer months, renovations occurred at all three schools. The roof at Benson Primary School has been replaced, along with new metal soffit and fascia. After twenty years of utilizing the existing carpet at Franzen Intermediate School and Peacock Middle School, both schools have had vinyl flooring installed in hallways and classrooms. At both schools, media centers and office areas received new carpeting.
We greatly appreciate the support from our community as we continue to strive to meet all students' needs.
Marcia Tornatore, Ph.D.
Superintendent
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F. E. Peacock Middle School
Reinhard Nickisch, Principal
Anti-bullying Program
Supports Good Student Decision-making
Each year in the fall, Peacock's students receive training through a series of lessons taught by counselors from the DuPage YWCA Crisis Prevention Center. Our 6th graders conclude the YWCA's CAP program that had begun at the elementary level with topics that extend earlier lessons on teasing, bullying and making good decisions. Our 7th graders will be involved with a program entitled "Teens Taking Charge", which further expands decision-making when children encounter or are involved in negative relationships. Both programs utilize role playing along with information designed to equip our children with more effective tools to combat unwanted behavior. Unfortunately, our 8th grade students will not be able to receive their level's version of "Teens Taking Charge" as the YWCA has been impacted by the state's funding for the program. However, once these students enter high school (Lake Park) the program will be offered for freshman.
Band Students to Participate in a State Honor Band
Over the years, Peacock has been fortunate to have had talented students who have evolved into outstanding musicians, some continuing to showcase their skills well beyond our school. On September 24th, 16 of Peacock's 8th grade band students were invited to participate in the VanderCook Middle Level Honor Band comprised of students from around the state who come together for one day to perform under the direction of university and professional conductors. VanderCook is a music educator college on the campus of IIT in Chicago. The students rehearsed most of the day in preparation for a concert that was held that evening. The experience of playing with such a diverse group along with the challenge of mastering music the students had not seen certainly elevated each child's musicianship. Following the VanderCook experience, five of Peacock's band students traveled to Plainfield, Illinois on October 1st to participate in the Illinois Music Educator band auditions. Of the nearly 400 participating students from across DuPage County, only a handful will be selected to play in the honor band on November 5th at Plano High School.
Parent Portal to District Website Has Been Activated
Parents and guardians of Peacock's 6th through 8th graders now have access to a parent portal to the district's new student management system known as TeacherEase. Using a valid email address that has been entered into the TeacherEase database, parents and guardians will be able to see live data on their child's academic progress, assignment completion rate, along with demographic data that profiles the child.
The process for accessing TeacherEase is very simple. Upon entering the district's website at www.itasca.k12.il.us, parents and guardians will find a "Parent Login" link to TeacherEase. Once the link has been accessed, visitors will be required to enter their email address as their user name. If access is for the firsttime, the use of a four digit password issued by TeacherEase must be used. To change the password for future access, visitors should follow the prompts within the site.
If a parent or guardian has not received an automated electronic correspondence from TeacherEase through the school, please visit our website and enter the "Virtual Backpack" under Peacock. There you will see a link entitled, "Access to Student Grades". From that link, a parent or guardian will be directed to a form that begins the registration process for access to TeacherEase.
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Elmer H. Franzen Intermediate School
Jeffrey Murphy, Principal
Franzen School has been off to a fantastic start to the 2011-2012 school year! With a dedicated staff, hard-working students, and a supportive parent community, Franzen students are accomplishing great things!
"Through collaboration between school and community, we strive to foster an environment that promotes academic excellence and positive character, while accommodating the differences of our students in order to create lifelong learners."
As you know, collaboration is important to us at Franzen. We feel strongly about the parent and community relationships that we forge, in order to best educate our students. Our goal is to create learners that will be successful in whatever they desire as they grow and mature. We are confident that we are accomplishing that very task currently and look forward to continuing that success in the future. Please call your teacher if you ever have questions!
Academically, Franzen students continue to demonstrate mastery of the curriculum presented and taught. We are currently and always looking at best practice to help us meet the needs of our students. New this fall, we have implemented a math series that is correlated to the brand new Common Core Standards. EnVision Math is proving to be very strong in allowing our students to think through processes, analyze math concepts, and problem-solve with reasoning. Through the full implementation of RtI (Response to Intervention), each of our students' strengths and weaknesses are being addressed. Our Target Time (half hour daily) allows us to work on individual skills that have been identified by our assessments (Discovery Education and Dibels). Overall, based on the state assessment from this past spring from 2010-2011, 92% of our students are meeting or exceeding state standards in reading and 97% of our students are meeting or exceeding state standards in math. We are so very proud of this accomplishment!
We are also working hard to create the well-rounded student and offer programs and/or activities that promote this. The following are some that are being offered this school fall: Franzen Talent Show, Chorus, Band, Chess Club, and Service Workers for 5th grade. In addition, we continue to recognize students for their personal character based on the traits of Character Counts!. Our fifth graders just returned from a fantastic 3-day Outdoor Education trip to Oregon, IL. In addition, students are nominated by staff for weekly Franzen Falcon character awards. Students also hear a daily morning announcement relating to character by Administration. As always, we are proud that our Franzen Falcons Fly High!
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Raymond Benson Primary School
Dawn Turner, Principal
The start of the 2011-12 school year has been a busy and productive time for the primary building. All kindergarten through second grade students have taken the Children's Progress online assessment for math and reading as well as our curriculum-based assessment. Results have been reviewed and intervention groups have begun. In addition, students are being introduced to the new math series entitled, enVision Math. All kindergarten through second grade students will be taught math using this new curriculum, which has been aligned to the Common Core Standards for mathematics.
Primary students continue to receive language arts instruction during a one-hour grade level reading block. During this time students are not pulled from the classroom for intervention or support services. Additionally, first and second grade students receive small group instruction in guided reading which offers students time to read at their individual instructional level. Lastly, all primary students are learning to write using the 6+1 Traits of Writing curriculum.
While reading, writing and math remain the core instruction for the primary students, we also continue to integrate science, social studies and health into the curriculum. The arts are also directly taught as is physical education. Students continue to actively use technology via the computer lab and several interactive white boards available within the building. Several after school tuition based programs are offered to our primary students including the smART Explorers art class, as well as Chess Club.
The primary school experience offers a variety of core and extra curricular programs. Staff members at Benson Primary School look forward to an outstanding and productive school year.
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Itasca School District Board Members
President
Kathryn Miller
Vice President
Daniel Kolar
Secretary
Charles Sprandel
Members
Jenny Burke
Janice Gatbunton
Michelle Hoss
Susan Sampson
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