Monday Morning Memo: Monday Morning Memo 8/12/24

WELCOME TO THE 2025-25 SCHOOL YEAR!!!! I cannot WAIT to have everyone back to build an amazing year for each of us and each of our students!!!

I'm SOOOO excited for Thursday! Be ready to invest in YOU...you are an important work under construction!

If you haven't yet sent me your summer pictures(s) or inspiration song, please do it by 3PM Wednesday to be included for Thursday morning!

Eddie, thank you for seeing I needed help opening the door and then proceeded to carry the

box upstairs for me. I super appreciate it!

Courtney Maas, thank you for opening my breakfast and doing my hair every morning for

summer school since a ponytail with one hand is almost impossible

Amber, thank you for wrapping my hand when I hadn’t learned how to do it myself yet.

Sherry, thank you for letting me go in your room in the morning and doing my hair when

Cortney couldn’t and letting me borrow your scissors for every time I needed to cut something

lol!

Kelly, thank you for helping me go through all the old curriculum and cleaning out and moving

things. I super appreciate the decluttered area now.

Lastly, thank you to anyone that helped me during summer school. I never realized how many

things you need two hands for! I so appreciate all of you for helping!

Karen McMurphy, thank you for pulling my sleeve up. I know we don’t know each other and

I probably freaked you out popping my head in the hall, but thank you for not being afraid to

help a stranger out!

Mollie Crow-3rd Grade Teacher

I’d love to give kudos to Amber M. for rocking another year of Summer School with me! I

couldn’t have done it without you!

P.s. thanks for being my Sous Chef on Flash Forward to your Future Career day!!

Kendra Logar--1st Grade Teacher

To Laura Livesay for being an awesome co summer school teacher!

Renee Evans--7th Grade Math Teacher

Kudos to the 5th grade team for jumping right into all things teaching and learning! We are

so excited to have you on our Stanton team!!

-Katie Jalove-Filippelli and Natalie Molidor-Instructional Coaches at Stanton

Kudos to Katie Jalove Filippelli and Erica Barraza for being my right hand ladies! I am so

grateful for our ongoing collaboration.

Natalie Molidor-Instructional Coach at Stanton

Thank you, Courtney and Colleen for doing a training while we’re still on summer break to get

our kiddos the curriculum they need!

Thank you, Megan for being willing to come in while we’re still on summer break to make

sure the classroom is ready and schedules are made for our kids to be successful!

Thank you Kim Leable for all the play-dough for my class!

Thank you to EVERYONE who donated clothes and toys for our 2 students in need after a

tragic fire.

Jill, thank you for meet the teacher slides; I love the background!

Sherry Tietjen-SpEd Teacher at Lotus

To Misty, Lumi, Lauren and Mia, I am so thankful that I had you by my side this summer.

I greatly appreciate your love for learning and your laughter as we navigated a large group of

students. Thank you for sharing ideas, providing input and participating as a great TEAM.

I couldn't have asked for a better ESY experience!

To Eddie, thank you for helping out and assisting in our classroom as we made some large

messes this summer. We appreciate all your hard work, and we are so thankful for you!

To Michelle and Ben, thank you for providing hugs, laughter and smiles as we navigated

summer school. We may not have taught along side each other this summer, but I appreciate

the check ins, quality time and kind words. I appreciate your friendship and your teamwork!

To transportation staff and Andrea, thank you for always keeping clear and open

communication. You made transitions a breeze, and I enjoyed chatting with you all each day.

To Allie, thank you for being such an amazing advocate for our ECSE class. Whenever I have

a question, you have personal experience and professional knowledge to back it up. Your

calm demeanor and kind words always make me feel at ease. You make my job easier every

day with your expertise and efficiency.

Erin Donovan-ECSE Teacher

Thank you Haley Baum for jumping right into a para role as you helped in both of the

preschool summer school classes. You were able to balance your time so well between 2

teachers/classrooms and made connections with 34 kiddos between these two rooms!

IMPRESSIVE!!! Thank you for all your support, ideas/strategies, and your desire to

understand the "why" behind what we do. You are an AMAZING asset to Lotus!

Thank you Ben Landmesser for helping me clean all the toys and materials in the 2 preschool

summer school rooms and help put everything away so our rooms would be ready to switch

gears from the Kindergarten Readiness program to brand new preschoolers. It was A LOT of

work and I appreciate your time and energy to take on this task so that our team can start

with a fresh slate this week!

Thank you Mindy Auld, Mary Foersterling, and Ben Landmesser for volunteering to come in

this week on Tuesday and Wednesday so our team can set up our classrooms and have the

material ready in all three rooms in time for Meet and Greet. I'm really looking forward to us

having this time together to plan and prep as a team!

Michelle Magness--PreK Teacher

Thank you so much to Lynn Smolen and Meghan Reimers who have transformed the

staff lounge into a comfortable, cozy place to be. Thank you to all volunteers that have helped

with painting and transporting furniture to make this happen.

Thank you to Jill Becmer for organizing the Enchanted Backpack event for our staff and

families. We had over 50 families stop by, this was incredible! Thank you to all volunteers that

assisted with this event.

Thank you to Natalie Molidor and Katie Jalove Filippelli who have been working throughout

the summer with new staff to get them ready for this upcoming school year!

Thank you to Michele Burgess who does an amazing job putting together student schedules.

Thank you to Don Ukleja, Norm Fischer, Cari Ayala, and Desmond Hughes who have spent

the summer getting our building ready to go for this upcoming school year.

Thank you to Georgette Franco and Al and Sue Giandonato who have gotten food ready for

our summer school students and our staff for new staff welcome.

Thank you to everyone who attended the PLC Institute and brought back their learning to

share!

Thank you to our PBIS team-Kim Husko, Chris Carvell, and Kendra Smeigh, who are putting

together so many fun activities for this upcoming school year.

Rachelle Peters-Assistant Principal at Stanton

Meghan and Kim for digging into the Courageous Classroom curriculum and sharing their

work with our Guiding Coalition on Friday! Can't wait to kickoff every week with a

"Courageous" focus!

Miguel and Adam for getting the stage prepped and ready to go for Friday and for setting

up my phone and computer in my new office.

Katie and Natalie for connecting with so many of our teachers over the last couple of weeks!!

our Guiding Coalition for meeting on Friday to make sure we are connected and ready to GO!!

Jeff Sefcik-Principal at Stanton

Lynn Smolen has been quite amazing to incorporate my needs as a special education teacher

as I am new to the district..

My mentor Cathy, whom I am thankful for to be able to discuss my needs. AND my thousand

questions.

Jeff, as the principal for Stanton, has been adaptable to all our needs as well as

approachable and will be missed the following year. .

The instructional coaches have been so kind.and knowledgeable.

You, as superintendent, have been quite engaging, loving, inspirational and allow me to be

a better educator.

Lisa Zabratanski-SpEd Teacher at Stanton

A HUGE thank you to ALL who donated items for PBIS store.

Kim VanHoorelbeke--Library Superstar at Lotus

A big thank you to Michelle, Hailey, and everyone that helped make kindergarten readiness

a success this summer. Big shout out and gratitude to Michelle for prepping rooms and

answering lots of questions, helping me to learn even more "whys" behind all we do for our

littles this past Thursday and Friday.

Ben Landmesser-PreK Teacher

Kudos to all administration, but especially Allie Mixon, for making a new special education

teacher feel comfortable, prepared, and excited for the new school year!

Karen McMurphy-Special Education at Lotus

Kudos to Anna Morris for being such an amazing co-teacher for summer school! Thank you

so much for being so helpful to me as I was recovering from surgery.

Caitlyn Fenton-4th Grade Teacher

Sending all the kudos to Don for always going above and beyond to make sure my classroom

is student ready in such a timely manner, you are so appreciated!

Another big round of kudos to Russ, Tim, Ken and Eddy for moving furniture and getting

extra desks and chairs into my room this past week. You are all amazing!

Jen Groot -1st Grade Teacher

A big shoutout to all the custodians and front office staff for their incredible hard work in

getting our school ready for the new year! And a special thanks to Donny for going above

and beyond by picking up paint for Jillian and me! Also for lending us all the materials we

needed to paint! We appreciate you!

Thank you, Allie, for collaborating with me this summer on all things Adapted PE! And a big

thank you for connecting Jillian and me with a fantastic APE teacher. Your support has been

truly appreciated! - Amber Mysliwiec-PE Teacher at Lotus

Kudos to our new staff! You are TRULY an amazing group, and I can't wait to see you make your MARK in D114!

To Jill, Michele, Sue, Paula, and Sharon for being homeless all summer and now moving back in to new spaces...some without furniture yet! Your flexibility is very, very appreciated!

To our facilities staff for working like crazy people all summer to make sure our schools look GREAT, even with massive construction at both sites!

To Lynn Smolen for showing grace and sharing an important text.

Thank you to the Stanton Guiding Coalition for working together to identify opportunities and solutions!

To literally everyone for making D114 a place that I wake up EXCITED to come to each day. What superintendent gets to say that????

-From Heather 💓

Please send me your kudos for colleagues each week! I'll happily post them in this section!

THE FRIZ 5 IS BACK!!!!

As we brush up on the Friz 5, let's dig in on making sure learning targets (academic and social emotional) are clear. Here's WHY this is so important:

I literally cannot WAIT to show you a way I've discovered to help make all this even easier for you!!!! I'll show you Thursday morning! 💥

WELCOME BACK LETTER AND OPENING SCHEDULE

We mailed out a welcome back letter and the details for our first few days. In case the mail is slow or if you like an electronic copy, the letter and schedules are linked here.

I'll send the final version of all schedules by Wednesday, August 14 so everyone is crystal clear on what's happening. 😀

IF YOU TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID...

You are expected to return to work as soon as you meet the following criteria:

• Be free of fever for at least 24 hours (without medication)

• Be free of vomiting and or diarrhea for at least 24 hours.

You are STRONGLY encouraged to wear a mask upon your return to prevent the spread of illness to others. Please alert me as to your date of return. Any days out are sick days.

Masks are available in the office for all staff who wish to wear one.

Please let me know if you have any questions!