• Jeff Brown, who has served for the past two years as the director of educational partnerships for Solution Tree, one of North America's largest and most respected professional development providers, will serve as Gray M. Sanborn School's principal. Rachel Bland, who has served as Willow Bend School's assistant principal for the past seven years, will serve as Sanborn's assistant principal.

• Mike Mauro, who has served as a fifth-grade teacher at Round Lake's Park School Campus for the past four years, will serve as Plum Grove Junior High's assistant principal.

• Christy Loh, who has served as a multiple needs teacher at John G. Conyers Learning Academy for the past five years, will serve as John G. Conyers Learning Academy's assistant principal.

• Joanna Shostachuk, who split her time last year serving as assistant principal at both Pleasant Hill and Marion Jordan Schools, will serve as Marion Jordan School's full-time assistant principal.

• Shayne Birkmeier, who has served as a multi-age first- and second-grade teacher at Willow Bend School for the past three years, will serve as Pleasant Hill School's full-time assistant principal.

• Amy Molinsky, who has served as a districtwide literacy coach and a learning disabilities resource teacher in McHenry School District 15 for the past five years, will serve as Kimball Hill School's assistant principal.

• Chris Eggie , who has served as a special education teacher at Antioch Elementary School for the past seven years, will serve as Frank C. Whiteley School's assistant principal.

• Michael Coleman, who has taken part in Elgin Area School District U-46's Administrative Intern Program for the past two years, will serve as Willow Bend School's assistant principal.

During its June 12 meeting, the District 15 Board of Education approved an update to the District's technology plan that will more double the number of iPad devices available to students and teachers in the District.

Under the updated plan, the District will enter into a three-year, $1.6 million lease agreement with Apple, Inc. for the purchase of 3,000 iPad 4 tablets. The lease agreement will be paid for by savings realized through careful and creative planning related to several of the District's largest tech projects this year--funding that would otherwise be allocated toward refreshing the District's laptop computers. Additionally, the agreement allows the District to sell back the units at the end of the lease's second year, and to use those funds to enter into a new agreement should the District feel the need to upgrade prior to the end of the lease. If the District does not sell back the units and decides to pay for the third year of the agreement, the units become the property of the District.

James Garwood, deputy superintendent of schools, said that, in order to meet the District's growing instructional and assessment needs, the Administration had to explore ways to increase and equalize access to technology for all students across the District without having to seek additional funding from the District budget. He said this lease plan will help achieve that goal. 

"The iPads offer a lower-cost solution to putting more instructional learning tools into the hands of children at the primary point of learning--in the classroom," he said.  

Twenty junior high students from District 15 participated in the Illinois Junior Academy of Science's (IJAS) 2013 State Science Exposition, which was held May 4 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Each student competed with the top 1,000 science projects in the state during the Project Session. Those students, their award medals, and the titles of their projects are:

CARL SANDBURG JUNIOR HIGH 

• Nikil Badey, Andres Carrero, and Madeline Paoli--Gold Award--Do Layers of Clothing Affect Blood Pressure Readings?

PLUM GROVE JUNIOR HIGH 

• Ethan Bratkiv and James Le Fevre--Gold Award--The Effect of Garlic Volatiles on Radish Seeds
• Avijit Singh and Gautham Arun--Gold Award--How do Video Games Affect the Number of Math Word Problems Done?
• Margaret Griffin--Gold Award--Equine Heart Rate with Grooming
• Chirag Prasad Naga and Shailesh Vhasure--Gold Award--Which Type of Drink has the Most Electrolytes?
• Gretchen Coleman and Shruthi Kumar--Gold Award--Effect of Temperature on the Elasticity of a Rubber Band
• Jacob Gattuso--Gold Award--SAR They Safe?
• Vinodh Sekhar--Gold Award--Does Thermal Conductivity Depend on the Material?
• Akash Mukherjee--Silver Award--Effectiveness of Plant Products as Substitutes for Road Salts
• Anmol Singh and Julian Piwowar--Silver Award--The Effect of Talking on the Phone While Driving
• Justin Piotrowski--Silver Award--Snow or No Snow?

WALTER R. SUNDLING JUNIOR HIGH

• Aidan Busch--Gold Award and Best in Category, Microbiology--Bokeh Dots
• Vincent Lobo--Gold Award--The Effect of Taste on Memory

During its June 24 Volunteer Recognition Reception, the Bridge Youth and Family Services presented Paul Budin, District 15's coordinator of social work services, with a Sonya Petersen Memorial Award in recognition of his work on behalf of needy and troubled children.

The award is presented annually to recipients who, like Sonya Petersen, a former Bridge volunteer, have worked to improve the system of care for "at risk" youth and their families and provide leadership and expertise in collaborating with others to provide services for families residing in Barrington and Palatine Townships.

Mr. Budin was nominated for the award by Amanda Smith of Leyden Family Services, who said, "Paul has a heart to serve and follows through with the Petersen Award's mission to improve the quality of life for 'at-risk' students in his district and at large."

"Paul is extremely dedicated to the students in District 15," she said in her nomination. "Humbly, he goes above and beyond the call of duty. He takes the time to understand the population of students in District 15, staying current and working directly with the students and their families, even attempting to learn some Spanish. Paul contributes his time and talents to lead a strong team of school social workers, working to empower and equip them with the tools and resources necessary. He has an obvious goal to improve the level of functioning for every student so that they are able to be successful both in the classroom and in their communities."

In her nomination, Ms. Smith also commended Mr. Budin for coordinating the implementation of the District's "Signs of Suicide" curriculum in which he facilitated well-attended information nights by coordinating transportation and child care offerings for parents and arranging for the presentations to be translated.

"Many school districts across the northwest suburbs have been affected by teen suicide within the past few years," said Ms. Smith. "Partnering with community agencies, Paul saw the need and did something about it." 

Mr. Budin accepted the award on behalf of the District's Social Work Services staff, which, he said, has worked closely over the past two years with Leyden Family Services' Screening Assessment and Support Services to coordinate the "Signs of Suicide" program and handle the District's mental health emergency screenings. 

The Bridge Youth & Family Services has been serving the Northwest suburbs since 1965 with child and family counseling, crisis intervention, early childhood counseling, mentoring programs and youth leadership development. Some or all these services are offered to six area townships, including Palatine, Barrington, Maine, Hanover, Schaumburg, and Elk Grove. 

Since joining the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's quest for a cure in 2002, Plum Grove Junior High's annual "Pennies for Patients" fundraisers have combined to raise more money for the cause than any other Illinois school.

This year, the school continued that proud tradition, raising $11,262.65 through its 11th "Pennies for Patients" drive. That total ranked Plum Grove among the top five schools in the state this year, and among the top 40 nationwide.

Staff, students, and parents raised all of this money over the course of just three weeks. The first week's fundraising effort consisted of a contest to see which classroom could collect the most pounds of change, with the top class winning donuts for its effort. In all, that contest raised a total of 650 pounds of change. Weeks two and three of the fundraiser featured a variety of activities. Staff, students, and parents were given opportunities to buy raffle tickets for prizes, participate in a Baggo tournament, and enjoy "Pizza for a Purpose" delivered by Tre Amici Pizza in Palatine. 

During the last full week of April, Thomas Jefferson School held its first ever Bernie's Book Bank book drive to collect gently used books for students in need.

As a school, Thomas Jefferson collected more than 3,450 books to support this amazing cause!

Bernie's Book Bank is an organization that supports literacy and matching children's books in need of a new home with children in need of books in their home. This organization provides these texts to students throughout the Chicago area. Children that receive books don't simply receive one book, but they receive two shipments of six books a year for a total of 12 books a year per child!

Thomas Jefferson was excited to support this cause, and it really showed its giving spirit by donating as many books as it did. Bernie's Book Bank provided each classroom at Thomas Jefferson with a bin to collect its donations in, and, by the end of the week, the bins outside of nearly all 24 of the school's classroom were overflowing. Some classes even started filling second containers, and, by the end of the book driver, six classrooms had each collected more than 300 books!

"We couldn't be more proud of how the students, community, and staff came together to support this amazing organization!" said Larry Sasso, Thomas Jefferson School's principal. "What is even more amazing is that, as a school, we were able to provide a year's worth of books to 288 students who need them!"

"We cannot wait to see what we can collect next year!" added Mr. Sasso.

--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

All 800-plus students at Stuart R. Paddock School engaged in serving others during a schoolwide day of service on Friday, April 26.

For the event, the school's Community Cares PTA team planned service projects benefiting the school, Palatine, and the world for each classroom to participate in. More than 50 volunteers donated materials and helped facilitate the projects with the support of Paddock teachers and staff.

"Thank you to all the Paddock teachers, staff, families, and students for your participation and support for this project," said Christie Samojedny, Stuart R. Paddock School's principal.

The hands-on service projects for K-6 students included: 

• Creating 70 recycled coloring books for children in Beganabe, Haiti, for Bright Hope;
• Designing hundreds of bookmarks and rulers for students in Kenya for Oasis for Orphans;
• Creating three colorful wall murals and more than 100 centerpieces for the Plum Grove Nursing Home in Palatine;
• Creating more than 100 bright and cheerful tissue paper flowers in homemade vases for Meals on Wheels recipients;
• Creating place mats for residents at Journeys from PADS to HOPE;
• Beautifying the school, including cleaning the computer lab;
• Collecting many boxes of food and making place mats for the Palatine Township Food Pantry;
• Braiding 200 fleece dog pulls for the West DuPage Humane Society;
• A parent volunteer guiding students through a relaxation technique to create more than 80 paintings that evoke peace and happiness for Home Hospice & Palliative Care of Northeastern Illinois; and
• Writing many cards and letters for children at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The students enjoyed participating in projects to help animals, the environment, and people in their community and around the world. They engaged in great discussions about service and how--even as children--they can make a difference in their community and the world through their acts of kindness and helping others.

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