Community Facilities Task Force

The Community Facilities Task Force work has begun. To learn more and to follow the progress, CLICK HERE. Minutes will be posted 72 hours after each meeting starting after the Thursday, September 17 meeting.

 

Computers for D41 Students in Need

little-girl-laptop.jpgThis summer, D41 PTA Council Community Outreach delivered 5 donated computers to students. An anonymous computer "angel" refurbishes the computers for students for use at home to study, complete assignments and for access to approved educational websites and applications. Community Outreach has been distributing donated computers for over five years. One parent commented, "It makes a huge difference for my daughter to be able to do her homework here at home." Thank you to the PTA Council Community Outreach team! 

 

Children of U.S. Military Personnel

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According to Illinois State School Code, school districts are required to report to the Illinois State Board of Education the number of enrolled students identified as children of U.S. military personnel. School districts serving any of grades kindergarten through 12 shall provide families the opportunity to voluntarily state whether a student has a parent or guardian who is a member of a branch of the armed forces of the United States and who is either deployed to active duty or expects to be deployed to active duty during the school year. District 41 collects this voluntary information upon initial enrollment, however if you'd like to update your child's record, please complete the Military Collection Data form and submit it to your child's school office. If you have questions or need additional information, please contact District 41 registrar, Marylou Gehringer at mgehringer@d41.org.
 


Sign Up for Emergency Text Notifications 

District 41 will be using text messaging as an additional form of emergency communication this year. If you are a parent and would like to receive emergency messages on your cell phone via text (in addition to email and voicemail), please follow the below steps:
  1. Log on to Family Access - Click Here
  2. Click the Skylert button on the left.
  3. The Skyward contacts screen will appear for the different types of notifications. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and enter your cell phone number(s) in the "Text Message" section.
  4. Click Save.
Text messaging will not be used to communicate news items or event reminders. It will strictly be used for emergency school closings, emergency notifications about specific schools, etc. Thank you for signing up for these important text notifications.




Report Card and Grading Information

District 41 continues to use standards-based grading, reflecting the common core standards. The purpose of the report card is to communicate with parents and students about the achievement of specific learning goals (standards). This year, we are transitioning to a five point grading scale.

The performance descriptors read as follows:


5
Exceptional: Demonstrates an exceptional understanding of the concepts and performance of the skills included in the standard.
4
Proficient: Demonstrates a secure understanding of the concepts and performance of the skills included in the standard.
3
Satisfactory: Demonstrates a competent understanding of the concepts and performance of the skills included in the standard.
2
Beginning: Demonstrates a beginning understanding of the concepts and skills included in the standard.
1
Unsatisfactory: Does not yet demonstrate an understanding of the concepts and cannot perform skills included in the standard.
  
We are hopeful the five point scale provides increased opportunities for children to demonstrate their growth in learning over time.
Hadley grades on the quarter/semester and their gradebooks will be accessible to parents on September 15.  Elementary schools grade on the trimester and their gradebooks will be accessible to parents on September 25.  Directions for accessing the gradebook will be viewable in Skyward.  

Academic Testing Information

All students, grades K-8, will be taking the fall Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test this month. Your child's results will be available in Skyward later in October. Teachers use the MAP data to help inform instruction.

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test results from last school year, grades K-8, are expected to be available later this fall.

If you have questions about testing at your child's school, please contact your school principal.




Curriculum Nights

Thank you to all of the family members who attended the curriculum nights across the district. Your interest and involvement is vital to the success of our schools. It's going to be another great year!