District 15 announces four administrative appointments for the 2015-16 school year 

• René Carranza, Winston Campus Junior High's principal for the past three years, will join the District's Department of Instruction next year and prepare to assume the position of Director of Second Language Programs in 2016-17. That position is currently held by Cheryl Wolfel, Ed.D., who will be retiring at the end of the 2015-2016 school year.

• Mr. Carranza's position at Winston Campus Junior High will be filled next year by Matt Warren, who has served as an assistant principal at the school for the past three years. Jeannette Sander will continue to serve in her important role as one of Winston Campus Junior High's assistant principals.

• Kathy Pluymert, Ph.D., who served this year as the District's assistant superintendent for school improvement, will serve next year as the principal at John G. Conyers Learning Academy. That position is currently held by Peg Lasiewicki, Ed.D., who will be moving to Skokie School District 68 at the year's end to serve as its Director of Special Education.

• Tom Edgar, Ph.D., will join District 15 next year and serve as its Director of Assessment, Accountability, and Programs. Dr. Edgar currently serves as the Student Services and Assessment Coordinator for Northshore School District 112.

Plum Grove Junior High's MATHCOUNTS team finished its 2015 season with a second-place finish at the state competition, which was held Saturday, March 7, in Lisle.

Teams from Winston Campus and Walter R. Sundling Junior Highs also qualified to compete at state; Winston finished 16th while Sundling finished outside of the top 40 percent of the 39 teams that participated in the competition.

Plum Grove was led by seventh grader Kevin Li, who finished 13th in the individual competition. His teammates, eighth graders Suchet Kumar, Flora Zheng, and Michael Murakami, finished 19th, 25th, and 31st, respectively.  

Additionally, Kinllen Peng, a seventh grader on the Winston Campus team, finished 22nd, and Kristina Chen, an eighth grader who competed as an alternate on Plum Grove's team, finished 35th.

Plum Grove qualified to compete at state after taking first place for the seventh year in a row at the North Suburban Chapter of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers' MATHCOUNTS competition, which was held February 7 at Oakton Community College. Winston's and Sundling's MATHCOUNTS teams qualified to compete at the state competition by finishing third and fifth, respectively, at this chapter competition.

Read more about District 15's MATHCOUNTS teams qualifying for state. 

Hundreds of band, orchestra, piano, and vocal music students from District 15 performed in the Illinois Grade School Music Association's annual Solo and Ensemble Contest, held February 21 at Northwood Junior High in Highland Park.

Judges rated the students' performances and awarded them medals in four divisions: perfect, superior, excellent, and good. District 15 students presented 325 pieces for the contest, and judges awarded perfect ratings to 45 of those performances, which featured a total of 52 students.  

Read more about students who earned perfect scores in the IGSMA Solo and Ensemble Contest.  

• Beginning of the School Year: Staff Institute Days are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, August 20 and 21. Grades 1-8 begin classes on Monday, August 24. Kindergarten and early childhood classes begin on Tuesday, August 25.
• Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving will be celebrated on Thursday, November 26. There will be no school that week, but parent-teacher conferences will be held on Monday and Tuesday, November 23 and 24.
• Winter Break: There will be no school from Monday, December 21, through Friday, January 1, with schools reopening on Monday, January 4.
• Spring Break: There will be no school Monday, March 21, through Monday, March 28, with schools reopening Tuesday, March 29. (Note: Friday, March 25, is a nonattendance day for students and staff.)
• End of the School Year: The school year will end on Friday, June 3, should the District not use any snow days.

The Blue Jays, District 15's Special Olympics team, will host "A Night for the Blue Jays" fundraiser on Saturday, April 11, at The Cotillion, 360 S. Creekside Drive in Palatine
 
In addition to cocktails, dinner, a DJ, and dancing, the event will offer live and silent auction and split-the-pot raffle opportunities. All proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit the District 15 Special Olympics program, and will be used to purchase uniforms, equipment, and supplies for the Blue Jays team, which operates strictly on fundraising.
 
Tickets to "A Night for the Blue Jays" cost $60 per person. Cocktails will be served at 6 p.m., and dinner at 7 p.m.

Read more about "A Night for the Blue Jays." 

D15 schools help Rolling Meadows
celebrate its 60th anniversary

The City of Rolling Meadows turned 60 years old on February 26, and District 15 schools helped them celebrate this historic event.

Carl Sandburg Junior High's band and orchestra were performed during the birthday party, which was held at the Rolling Meadows Community Center. 

Additionally, the city recognized Paige Cosico, a fifth grader at Kimball Hill School, as the winner of the vehicle sticker design contest that it sponsored for this special occasion.

Read more about Rolling Meadows 60th anniversary celebration. 

U.S. Army honors Whiteley for its support of troops

Throughout this school year, students in Amber Danielczyk's third-grade class at Frank C. Whiteley School have practiced their writing skills by sending letters and care packages to Capt. Brandi Moore of the U.S. Army.
 
Capt. Moore and her unit are deployed in the Middle East with the Third Army/U.S. Army Central Command (USARCENT). The students were connected with her through a coordinated effort with the Haith family. Fourth grader Jabe Haith's father, 1st Sgt. Leonard Haith, has served in the U.S. Army for 23 years, and currently heads the branch's recruiting efforts in this area.
 
In November, Whiteley's PTA, in conjunction with Operation Gratitude, a not-for-profit organization that sends care packages to U.S. Military personnel, sponsored a schoolwide collection of Halloween candy and letters for troops. Because students from Whiteley were already in contact with Capt. Moore, the letters and candy collected during this effort were sent off to Capt. Moore and her USARCENT colleagues so the entire unit would feel love and support from back home.
 
In February, Sharon Haith, Jabe's mother, personally delivered to Whiteley students and staff a package on behalf of Col. Richard Rivera. That package included notes from many of the soldiers who received their letters and candy, and a Challenge Coin, which military officials occasionally give to non-military personnel for outstanding service or in recognition of a job well done. The package also included an America flag and a letter of appreciation in which Col. Rivera explained that the flag that he was presenting the school had been flown in Afghanistan on December 12, 2014, in Whiteley's honor.
 
"Needless to say, it made a big impact on the men and women of Third Army/United States Central Command," Robert Harris, Whiteley's principal, said of the letters and care packages sent by Mrs. Danielczyk's class.

Laurie Gustafson

Earlier this winter, while serving as a recess supervisor at Winston Campus Elementary, Laurie Gustafson, a program assistant at the school, noticed a number of students who were unable to play in the snow because they did not have proper boots.

Mrs. Gustafson set out to change that by submitting a Believe Project grant application to the Daily Herald. The Believe Project mails a $100 bill each day to someone with a good idea for how to use it to do a good deed for someone else.

Mrs. Gustafson's idea was to use the $100 to buy snow boots for students in need.

"I would use the $100 to purchase snow boots for some needy elementary school children," Mrs. Gustafson told the Daily Herald. "I supervise outdoor recess for an hour each and every day. Many of our students cannot afford snow boots, and without them, they cannot play in the snow. They must stay on the shoveled blacktop and watch those who have boots frolic in the snow. Being able to supply boots for the children would certainly bring smiles to their faces and to mine!"

The Daily Herald chose to fund Mrs. Gustafson's request, and featured it in the newspaper's February 14 issue.

"It doesn't sound like a bunch of money, but Laurie was on a mission," said Andrew Tieman, Winston Campus Elementary principal. "She went all over looking for lightly worn second hand boots. Laurie was determined, and we now have a boot cart for students to borrow boots so they can play in the snow."

Sundling's 24th Annual Students vs. Faculty Basketball Game comes down to buzzer

Walter R. Sundling Junior High held its 24th Annual Students vs. Faculty Basketball Game in February.  

Each year, a handful of Sundling staff members take on players from the seventh- and eighth-grade girls' and boys' basketball teams. This annual PTA event helps raise funds for a variety of school activities and projects.  

This year, the Sundling faculty won a tight contest, 95-90.
 
"We are riding a four-year winning streak against the students," said Jason Dietz, Sundling's principal and a member of the faculty team.

On January 26, Plum Grove Junior High teachers Ron Furgason and Laura Vanderploeg led 33 of their PGTV and journalism students on a field trip to Chicago's Magnificent Mile, where they were treated to a tour of the NBC 5 Chicago studios in the NBC Tower.
 
"During the field trip, we got a tour of the studio's control room, broadcast room, camera vans, hair and makeup room, etc.," said Mrs. Vanderploeg. "We also got the amazing opportunity to watch a portion of a live taping of the 11 o'clock news."
 
Natalie Martinez, an Emmy-Award winning NBC 5 Chicago reporter, was even available to help guide the students around the studio and answer any questions they had. Following the tour, she and Mr. Furgason worked together to produce a video to document the students experience.
 
"It was definitely an unforgettable experience for these students to see such a large production in person," said Mrs. Vanderploeg.  

Willow Bend classes each collect
100 donations for local food pantries 

Under the sponsorship of Willow Bend School's Civic Beliefs Committee, the students at Willow Bend recently rose to the challenge of having each classroom bring in at least 100 food items for the benefit of two local food pantries.
 
The students formed a human chain to pass the food from the collection spot -- a Willow's Nest -- out to the respective trucks.
 
Joe Stanley, a warehouseman and internal services driver at the District's central distribution facility, delivered half the bounty to Bethel Community Church. The other half went to WINGS in Palatine.
 
All together, Willow Bend students collected 2,328 boxes and cans of food.

Lincoln takes a STAND against bullying     

During its STAND Spirit Week, Lincoln School recently took a stand in support of the school's anti-bullying strategies and its Lincoln Lion expectations for students.

STAND means Students and Teachers Against iNtolerance and Disrespect, and throughout STAND Spirit Week, students and staff celebrated lessons they had learned through the program's Expect Respect curriculum. Each day of STAND Spirit Week had a theme: 

• Monday: Lincoln Bands Together -- students wore their favorite band T-shirt, headband, or wristband
• Tuesday: Put a Lid on Disrespect -- students wore hats
• Wednesday: Fight Disrespect Like a Superhero -- students wore superhero shirts and gear
• Thursday: Team Up Against Disrespect -- students wore their favorite teams' jerseys and sportswear
• Friday: Lincoln Lions Come Together -- students wore Lincoln spirit wear