Sunday, February 24, 2019

Happy Monday, D114!









Kudos to Theresa Kovach for helping me out at the teacher inservice day on February 15th
by letting me use one of her Chromebooks for the day.
-From Dan Olson
Huge shout out to Theresa Kovach! Thank you for organizing the entire field trip for our
3rd grade students. The students absolutely loved every second and we could not be more
grateful for all that you did to arrange this opportunity.
-From Kelly Roland & Stephanie Brual


Erica Barraza, Thank you for taking one of my littles under your wing and working MAGIC
with her!  She has made SO much growth with your intervention and support, and LOVES
math so much that it makes me wanna cry happy tears!!  ðŸ’ŸðŸ’ŸðŸ’Ÿ
and
Sami Harshaw, Thank you for handling ALL OF THE THINGS Kinder on a very intense/
short-staffed day while a couple of us were out Thursday!!
-From Tiffany Tardio
Thank you to Jill Becmer who planned an awesome "beach themed" academic assembly  
and to Michele Burgess for all of your help assisting! Kudos to the staff for wearing their
beach attire and making it such a fun event for our students.
and
Thank you to our kitchen staff that do an amazing job each day. It doesn't matter what
obstacles you have in front of you, you always overcome them and give the best to all of
our students and staff!
-From Rachelle Peters
Amanda Lorenz, thank you for going above and beyond as a CICO Coach for one of our
kindergarten students.
-From Nicole Mild



To Michelle Serini and Jeff Sefcik for making home visits for some of our most challenging
students. These trips change lives and show how much we care. Thank you for giving 110%.
and
The amazing D114 team who attended the Trauma Based Classrooms workshop on
Thursday. We were a FORCE in the room!
and
To the D114 Wellness Committee for helping us all remember that we are only good to
others if we also take care of ourselves!
and
To Jill Becmer and the entire Stanton Staff for the pep assembly. Your love for the kids and
togetherness makes a huge difference!
-From Heather
When you have a kudo to share for someone, please just email me and I'll include it here!
The goal is to create system celebrations--so your input is truly welcome!
 
Business Office Updates
Schedule Reminder:
Just a reminder that Maddie will be out on vacation Feb 25-March 1, so please contact
Maureen and she’ll forward questions to make sure they are answered. Maddie and Mary are
partnering on payroll, so there will be no issues.  
Time Clocking Pilot:
Our time clock pilot starts March 4!! Thanks to this group for being our tester and lead clockers.
If we can work out a couple final logistics, the plan is to launch system wide on March 18.
Purchasing:
Any and all purchasing for 2018-19 must be completed by spring break. Right after break,
we’ll start building the budget for next year!
Calendars:
Updated Board approved calendars are attached to the email for this blog.


Funding Requests
Must be approved by principal then me. This means that, before a special project idea is
brought forward to the PTA, the Robert D. Sayles Foundation, or any grant, it must be
pre-approved. The reason for this is that--with limited dollars out there--we have to make sure
that all funding requests reflect the priorities of the Strategic Plan. Please see me with any
questions.


Staffing Plan for 2019-2020:
The tentative staffing plan shared with the Board last week is attached to this email for your
information. Again, please see me with any questions.

Curriculum Updates
Math
PIZZA PARTY CHALLENGE---pizza for all staff when we reach 80% of students meeting
the 45 minute goal!
SEL

Don't forget to check out Your Member Benefits to see how the IEA can help you personally
and professionally!


Looking Ahead
March 15th: Voting for IEA-NEA RA Delegates at both buildings
March 20th: Association Articulation at Stanton @2:00 (please note the new start time).


Melissa Jakstas, President
Maureen DeVoss, Vice President for Certified Staff
Chris Brown, Vice President for Non-Certified Staff
Katy Gardner, Treasurer
Betty Cwiak, Secretary
Cathy Jawnyj, Region Representative
Kendra Smeigh, Stanton School Representative
Tiffany Tardio, Lotus School Representative


Come celebrate the completion of the February D114 Self Care Challenge on Friday,
March 8th at El Puerto's! The EAFL will be purchasing appetizers around 3:30. The
winners for the $20 gift card and the Fitbit will be drawn (winner need not be present
to win). Hope to see you there!
*check here for documents most frequently used/requested
Please let Heather know of suggestions for any documents to add to this folder!




Blue Cross Blue Shield:
SEL Pacing Guides
Stanton:
Questions:
Think about a time you were successful---what was “under the water” for you?
Now think of a student who’s working hard--what’s “under the water” for THEM?
Now think of a student who isn’t successful yet--what’s “under the water” for him/her?
How can you help support what’s “under the water” for this student?



March 19, 2019--Board of Education meeting
April 17, 2019--New IEP platform(EMBRACE) training...DETAILS COMING!!!
May 14, 2019--Board of Education meeting--NEW DATE

Have a really amazing week!

Heather

at

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Happy Presidents' Day!









Kudos to Karen and Becky Brnot and Chris Katuzny for working the concession stand this week
during our home wrestling meets.
and
Kudos to Jill and Michele for helping prepare the concession table.
and
Kudos to Walter, Niccole, and Katy for committing to partnering with me as possible (application
pending) presenters at the 2019 Illinois Principals Association Fall Conference - Peoria in October.
-From Jeff Sefcik
Thank you to the lunch ladies for allowing me to use your supplies for materials for STEM! Even
when I ask last minute. You are life savers.
and
Thank you to teachers for working around an already crazy schedule and allowing your students
extra time on Wednesday's to work on & finish their STEM projects. Greatly appreciated!
-From Victoria Miller
Kuddos to Victoria Miller for pulling our progress monitoring and reading enrichment students on
Wednesdays!  We really appreciate all that you do for our 3rd Graders!!
-3rd Grade Teachers
Kuddos to Erica Barraza for going above and beyond to help one of my students!  She has built a
great relationship with him and it really shows with his confidence in the classroom.  Thanks!!
-From Stephanie Brual
Thank you to our Kindergarten Paras for working SO HARD in so many ways for our kiddos! We
truly appreciate you.  Your dedication makes our work possible!
❤-From the Kinder Team
I wanted to give a shout out to Don Ukleja for fixing my heater so quickly on Monday morning!
My students and I really appreciate the warm classroom to learn in! ALSO, he came in and checked
to make sure it was still functioning normally on Wednesday! Thanks for all the hard work you do Don!
-From Paige Shaffer
To the members of the Stanton Staff who volunteered to chaperone the Valentine's Day Dance.
Beth Rendon, Liz Andersen, Dan Olson, Karen Brnot, Niccole Culbertson, Megan Dulen,
Maddie Kerr, Mandy Bartlett, Katie Jalove, Laura Livesay, Walter Nickles, Ashley Palmer, and Cathy Jawnyj.
-From Jeff Sefcik
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who facilitated learning at Friday's Institute Day!
-From Heather :)



When you have a kudo to share for someone, please just email me and I'll include it here!
The goal is to create system celebrations--so your input is truly welcome!
 
Business Office Updates
Schedule Reminder:
Just a reminder that Maddie will be out on vacation Feb 25-March 1, so please contact Maureen
and she’ll forward questions to make sure they are answered. Maddie and Mary are partnering on
payroll, so there will be no issues.  
911 Call Update:
After tons of work by Mike Szotek and help from Kim VanHoorelbeke, we’re happy to report that all
rooms have direct links to 911. This means that, if a call is placed from any room, 911 will be able to
immediately identify the room just by the call. The only “but” to this is if you, for some reason, have
your phone on Do Not Disturb--if 911 needed to call you back, it would go straight to voicemail.


Curriculum Updates
Please take a moment to give your input on Friday’s Institute Day! A quick survey is linked here.
HURRY...the survey closes on Friday! :)
Math
*Without k-1 information= 53%
PIZZA PARTY CHALLENGE---pizza for all staff when we reach 80% of students meeting the
45 minute goal!
SEL



Region 49 NEA RA Delegate nominations are going on now!
Nominations are due by 2/22!
The National Education Association Representative Assembly (NEA RA) convenes July 3-7, 2019
in Houston, TX. Delegates will propose, debate, and take action on new business items for the
Association and other association policies, and vote by secret ballot on proposed amendments to
the Constitution and Bylaws, and participate in elections. Elections for this position will be held
on March 15, 2019. A member may either nominate him/herself or a colleague. If you are
recommending someone, please make sure that person wants to/and can attend. The region does
provide funding for elected delegates. This is a wonderful opportunity to gain experience and insight
into the NEA structure and be a collective voice in the decision making process. If you have questions
about the NEA RA or the election process, please contact your region representative or Melissa
DeBoor.

IEA Legislative Update – Feb. 15, 2019


Melissa Jakstas, President
Maureen DeVoss, Vice President for Certified Staff
Chris Brown, Vice President for Non-Certified Staff
Katy Gardner, Treasurer
Betty Cwiak, Secretary
Cathy Jawnyj, Region Representative
Kendra Smeigh, Stanton School Representative
Tiffany Tardio, Lotus School Representative
*check here for documents most frequently used/requested
Please let Heather know of suggestions for any documents to add to this folder!




Blue Cross Blue Shield:
SEL Pacing Guides
Stanton:



My man George Couros strikes again!
Questions:
How do we empower students to “own” the school?
What are opportunities?

Empowering Students in the Day-To-Day

Operations of Our Schools

February 17, 2019 by George Leave a Comment
The word “technology” was in my title for a large part of my career as a teacher, with the
hopes that I would work with colleagues on finding meaningful ways to implement technology
within the curriculum. Yet, simply having “technology” in my title meant to many others on my
staff that I could and should fix anything that was technology related in the school. Literally.
Anything that had electricity was fair game. I hated it.
One day, I was asked to fix something in a classroom and I was busy working with students
so I asked some of my tech-savvy students to go and check in and help the teacher that was
asking for help. While I was annoyed with the request, to be honest, my students were
excited with the opportunity. They went to the teacher’s classroom immediately, helped them
out, and came back and asked if they could do that again in the future.
LIGHT BULB MOMENT!
From then on, they became the student tech team and all requests went their way to help
teachers with technology issues in the school. I was a last resort if the students were stuck,
yet they never asked me for help. It was beautiful.
So many schools do things similar to this today, and I think it goes beyond taking something
off of a teacher’s plate. It is about giving students ownership over the building. Do you
remember when students used to pop keys off the keyboard? That ended altogether in
our school because students would stop each other because they knew they would have to
fix it eventually. Through the process of empowering students in the day-to-day dealings of
a school, I unintentionally created a situation where students took more pride in their school
because it became “theirs” through the process. They felt valued because they were given
ownership over important aspects of the operations of the school.
Making sure that a) students feel that they are valued and needed for school and b) have
true ownership, is something that is beneficial to students as individuals and the school
community as a whole.
How do you give students ownership over your school community?





Save the Dates!
Ronald McDonald  physical and immunization mobile clinic will also be coming to Lotus on
Thursday, February 21st, 2019 and to Stanton on Friday February 22nd, 2019. More information to
follow!

February 19, 2019--Board of Education meeting
April 17, 2019--New IEP platform(EMBRACE) training...DETAILS COMING
May 14, 2019--Board of Education meeting--NEW DATE
I heard great things about Friday’s Institute Day, and I’m so happy that it went well. I also truly
appreciate everyone’s hard work! Wanted to share a couple pictures of our get away---because of
YOUR talents and commitment, I was able to get to be a mom enjoying a little time with her family.





YOU are appreciated!
Heather

at
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