John Miller sworn in as new School Board member
On Oct. 26, the District 58 Board of Education appointed John Miller to complete the unexpired term of Thomas J. Cunningham, who resigned in September.
Miller was chosen from a pool of eight applicants interviewed by board members.
Miller is a director of finance and administration for the McCormick Foundation/Cantigny with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a father of three and a Whittier School parent.
Following a unanimous vote by the board, Miller was sworn in by School Board President Elizabeth Davis, and took his seat on the board for the curriculum workshop. Davis praised all the strength of all eight applicants, and said that the interview process was a very positive, productive two-way dialogue. |
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District 58 continues to share latest novel H1N1 updates
Get the latest information on novel/2009 H1N1, including a  District 58 guide for parents and community members, brochures from the CDC and the DuPage County Health Department, and a list of helpful links for more information, on District 58's H1N1 information site. Click here to go to the site.
For the guide for parents and community members, click here.
For the DuPage County Health Department's vaccine schedule, click here. |
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District 58 students show strong performance on ISATs
District 58 students have continued their consistently strong performance on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, with more than 92 percent meeting or exceeding standards on the test administered this past spring, according to results recently released by the state.
All 13 schools in District 58 met all of the requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress for 2008-09. Those requirements are that every student must be tested on the state tests, at least 70 percent of st udents overall and in each subgroup must score in the Meets and Exceeds categories in math and reading, and the attendance rate must exceed the state requirement of 90 percent. District 58's overall attendance rate for 2008-09 was 95.8 percent.
The results of the ISAT, as well as
other standardized tests administered to District 58 students,
including the nationally normed Stanford Achievement Test, were
presented during a curriculum workshop Oct. 26. The district performed
similarly well on the SAT, with 92 percent of students performing at or above the national average.
For the rest of the story on ISAT results, click here.
The state report cards for District 58 and each of its 13 schools also have been posted on the district's Web site, www.dg58.org. To access the school report card page, please click here. |
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District 58 set to issue Life Safety bonds next month
A DuPage County judge ruled on Oct. 6 that District 58 has done everything legally required in relation to the proposed sale of $10 million in Life Safety bonds to pay for roof repairs at six schools and other important Life Safety work throughout the district.
At the Oct. 13 School Board meeting, President Elizabeth Davis signed the resolution allowing the district to issue the bonds; the sale is set to take place in early November. Chapman and Cutler, the district's bond counsel, will ensure the terms of the sale are within the parameters set forth within the bond resolution the board approved this summer.
Closing will take place several weeks after the sale, which is when the district will have money in hand for the Life Safety projects.
Click here for the rest of the story.
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District 58 sets date for 2009 tax levy hearing
District 58 will hold a public hearing regarding its proposed 2009 tax levy at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, at Longfellow Center, 1435 Prairie Ave., Downers Grove.
Each year, District 58 sets its levy request for local property taxes, which accounts for more than three-fourths of its revenues. Like every other taxing body subject to the Illinois tax cap, the district is permitted to increase its tax extension each year by an amount limited to the Consumer Price Index plus any new growth that may have occurred during the past year.
The total levy request for 2009 is $46,462,326, a slight increase (1.4 percent) over the 2008 extension, or the actual amount the district received in tax money, which was $45,817,113. Because of expected increases in the total equalized assessed valuation of property within the district, the district's total tax rate will likely decrease from 1.5713 in 2008, to approximately 1.47 in 2009.
Click here for more information. |
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O'Neill students have moving experience at Wall
O'Neill Middle School students got a unique opportunity to learn about the Vietnam War in an up close and personal way earlier this month, when the Moving Wall visited Downers Grove.
The Wall, a traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial, was in town for five days at the beginning of October, and O'Neill students paid a visit on Oct. 2.
"This gave students a chance to research some of the soldiers from Downers Grove who were killed in the conflict, as well as gain a greater understanding of how the wall is organized," said social studies teacher Des Jones.
For the rest of the story, click here.
For some photos from the day, click here.
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WeatherBug finds a home at Whittier School
When WGN News reports on the weather in Downers Grove, it's now getting data from the roofto p of Whittier School.
A WeatherBug station was installed at Whittier this summer, thanks to a series of generous donations and the efforts of the Whittier PTA Math and Science Committee.
WeatherBug is a brand of Maryland-based AWS Convergence Technologies, and Whittier has joined the ranks of more than 8,000 tracking stations across the U.S., which are primarily based at neighborhood schools and public safety facilities.
Donations for WeatherBug came from Apex Industrial Automation, Chris Burke and Associates, Midwestern University, AWS Technologies, the Whittier PTA and the District 58 Education Foundation's Reaching New Heights annual schools grant. Critical Technology Solutions, Inc. donated the installation, a value of $2,500.
To see live weather conditions for Downers Grove as measured at Whittier School, visit www.whittierschoolpta.org and click on the WeatherBug link, or visit Whittier's updated Web site, www.dg58.org/schools/wh/.
For more of the story on the Whittier WeatherBug, click here.
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Popcorn party promise prompts reading at Highland
A recent reading incentive at Highland School really got things popping!
Students were told that if they collectively read 100,000 minutes in three weeks, they would get a PTA-sponsored popcorn party.
Not only did they reach the goal, they surpassed it. The school's 260 students read a total of 130,086 minutes-an average of 500 minutes, or more than eight hours, of reading per student during the three-week time frame.
"The kids absolutely loved it, and they're asking us to do it again," said Joann Bushman, the school's LRC director. "It was a great joint effort between the LRC and the PTA." |
District 58 students selected for music festival
Nearly
three dozen District 58 middle school students have been selected to participate in the Illinois Music
Educators Association's District 1 Music Festival on Saturday, Nov. 7
at Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort.
The festival will involve more than 500 students selected by
audition from 60 schools in the southwest metropolitan Chicago area. The festival band, orchestra and
chorus will present a public
Festival Finale Concert at 3 p.m. in the Lincoln-Way North High School
gymnasium. Admission is $5; children under 6 are free. The jazz band ensemble will perform Saturday, Nov. 14, at West Leyden High School in Northlake.
The following District 58 students were selected to participate:
Orchestra
From Herrick Middle School: Nisha Albert, violin; Shatien Jordan,
violin; Allison Kirkegaard, cello; Zach Ligmanowski, violin; David
Lyda, cello; Silvia Martin, violin; Toni Miller, viola; Nicole Pearson,
viola; Rachel Pfeifer, cello; Sarah Williams, viola.
From O'Neill Middle School: Kathryn Krajewski, viola; Megan McGivern, viola; Stephen Rau, bass; Allison Williams, cello.
Concert band
Herrick: Ellie Arand, clarinet.
O'Neill: Amber Warland, clarinet; John Shimanek, trumpet.
Chorus
Herrick: Elizabeth Brunell, Anna Burton, Andy Osterling, Robert Whitmore and Martin Whitmore.
O'Neill: Caitlin Carr, Marisa Cervantes, Lian Lucansky, Amber
Sadlick, Caitlin Carlson, Rosemary Davy, Rachel Stepp and Andrew Mahlan.
Jazz band
Herrick: Spencer Schillerstrom, tenor saxophone.
O'Neill: John Shimanek, trumpet; Brian Moroney, drumset.
Congratulations to all those participating, and to all those who auditioned!
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Communicate
58 is a periodic, subscriber-based e-newsletter published by the
Downers Grove Grade School District 58 Office of Community Relations.
It is designed to offer our district community a convenient way to stay
informed about what's happening in the
district.
Please send questions, comments and feedback to Jennifer
Waldorf, Coordinator of Communications, at jwaldorf@dg58.org.
Do you know someone who would like to receive Communicate 58? Please encourage them to visit www.dg58.org to sign up--and please pass this e-mail along to anyone who might be interested in the information.
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District 58 benefits from recent fundraisers
This year's nearly sold-out performances of the Kelly Miller Circus, which was hosted by the Education Foundation on Sept. 23, raised nearly $15,000 for the Foundation's programs!
The Foundation's programs in District 58 include middle school orientation, staff and student recognition, grants and scholarships.
District 58 also benefited from a recent Girls Night Out fundraiser called Schools Just Wanna Have Funds, hosted by the Downtown Downers Marketing Committee.
The event raised approximately $2,500 for the local school PTAs, including those in District 58, and we would like to thank the 39 businesses who participated!
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District 58 e-flyers
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Click here to view the latest postings on District 58's e-flyer page!
Postings include:
Junior Woman's Club babysitting clinic
YMCA basketball
Lions Club Halloween
Midwestern University Halloween Fest
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Dates to remember
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Nov. 2--Financial Advisory Committee meeting, 7 a.m., ASC
Nov. 9--Board of Education meeting, 7 p.m., Longfellow Center
Nov. 11--Veterans Day, no school
Nov. 17--Navigating the American Educational System workshop: Boosting the academic
achievement of students, 6:30 p.m., El Sierra School, 6835 Fairmount
Nov. 18--Legislative Committee meeting, 3:45 p.m., ASC
Nov. 23--Financial workshop, 7 p.m., Longfellow Center
Click here for the full 2009-10 District 58 calendar, including institute days and holidays.
Click here for the 2009-10 Board of Education calendar. |
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