🐰 Here's the link to the April Wellness Challenge! 🐰

Congrats to March Challenge winners:

Renee Evans

Kelly Roland

Natalie Molidor

Please let me know your choice of gift card!

April Focus--Trust Routines

This Week's Wellness Invitation: Ask for Help

Trust builders ask for help and see it as a strength, not a weakness. This week. commit to asking for help. It's OK to admit if you need help with someone or something. Commit each day to ask for someone else's wisdom or advice. Remember, you don't have to know everything! You build trust when you are open to learning--and asking for help--from others.

Thanks to Russ for taking the time to vacuum my carpet after our police dog visitor.

Nicole Mild--Kindergarten Teacher

I want to give a shout out to the 5th grade team for encouraging growth mindset by adding positive affirmations to all of their students' classwork! It is so fun to see!

-Natalie Molidor--Instructional Coach at Stanton

Thank you Sarah for teaching my class so I could join an executive functioning training!

Thank you Ms.Colleen & Mr.Russell for taking our group picture at 7:45 Monday morning so I could attend a PD but also be in the photo.

-Sherry Tietjen--Special Education Teacher at Lotus

I want to share a huge kudos to all members of the Associate Principal interview team. The time and thoughtful discussion that went into the process are appreciated far beyond words! It's so exciting to be joining such an awesome group of caring educators here at Stanton. Thank you all!

-Tom Cardamone--Incoming Principal at Stanton

Thanks Adisyn for helping me unload buses Tuesday Morning in the windy drizzle.

Mr.Russell Thank you for finding our Earth day read aloud.

Thank you Sonia & Colleen for Day of service help for supplies.

-Sherry Tietjen-Special Education Teacher at Lotus

Kindergarten & 1st Grade Teams - Thanks for all your support this year for Keyboarding Without Tears.this year. When I come in they are ready to rock and every minute helps :)

Mark Perlman (Stanton) thank you for the generous book donation for the students, greatly appreciated.

Kelly Roland - thanks for all the great communication, kind gestures/support and always knowing what is needed.

Jen Groot - I have so enjoyed having the opportunity to be a part of your ELA lessons this year during the first part of library, it really helps me make that connection and help support the students. . Thank you!

Sonia and Jillian - Thanks for your extra time, support and organization with getting our upcoming Field Day ready to go!!!

Betty Cwiak - thanks for sharing :)

Abbey Kadera - this year has been such a pleasure working with you to help your students find just the right book. You are amazing and thank you so much for spending time with them during library or bringing them if they need to check out a book.

Joseph Fernandez - thank you so much for always being so patient with students when they are in the library waiting to get their book. Your passion and encouragement to read is addicting and you instill that upon the students everyday.

-Kim VanHoorelbeke--Library Paraprofessional at Lotus

A BIG thank you to Colleen Robinson! She saved the day in her typical calm, cool, and collected "No Big Deal" kind of way! One of our students was having a tricky time. She was upset and needed the support of both Ms. Haley and Ms Kristine to make it back to our classroom. Our other students needed to return as well and so Ms. Colleen checked to see if it was ok to help and then jumped in and got the other students safely and happily back to our classroom. I was so grateful and I just feel lucky to work with such wise and helpful people. When our class needs help sometimes it does not fall neatly during scheduled times or when planning time is over. Our kids also take a type of calmness and finesse and Ms. Colleen definitely has that! Thanks to Kristine Gumm and Haley Baum as well for helping our girl get back successfully. The kindness and skills of multitasking, sensory support, schedule organizing, and overall creativity they bring to each day still blows me away! Seriously, Thank you both for all you do!

Pam Enright--Special Education Teacher at Lotus

I cannot thank my first grade teammates Cary and Kendra enough. They selflessly have stepped up to help two of my friends who need it the most, which in turn helps ME! xoxo

Thank you also to Gina, Cheryl and Kim Leable for your ongoing support with a student. Again, the help is so appreciated for both that kiddo and myself!

Finally, thank you Kelly Roland for the sweetest words, you don’t know how much it meant to walk in and read those that morning.

Jen Groot- First Grade Teacher

Kudos to Gina and Chris for prepping our Day of Service materials! We really appreciate it!

-Fourth Grade Team

To Dan Olson and Bryan Bailey for sticking around on an extended weekend, in the wet chilly weather to cheer on former foxes, Coach Smeigh, and my kid at the Grant/Wauconda softball game!

To Kim Mack for the herculean effort she put into assisting a family in need this week, for being an advocate for our students and for always jumping in to collaborate!

To Matt Shannon for continuing to communicate and collaborate in an effort to support a student that is struggling.

To the 6th grade team for continuing to problem solve and support our VIP's.

To Dayja Wydzierzecki for starting a Drama Club at Stanton! It's so exciting to have another fine arts opportunity for the students AND to see how many chose to participate this first year!

-Meghan Reimers--Counselor at Stanton

Kaitlyn Goorsky for helping me get set up with the spirit wear company so I could get a design going for drama club.

Hunter Banker for always making 5th hour a little more fun and always talking to start the day.

Katy Gardner for being an amazing teammate and friend. Also thank you for being our scorekeeper for scholastic bowl this season.

Jill Becmer for reading our questions this season in scholastic bowl, those words are sometimes so tricky and you did a fantastic job.

Michele Burgess for helping me with skyward to send emails to all the drama club kiddos and their home units.

And the whole 6th grade team for just being there always to bounce ideas, discuss better ways to help our kids, and laugh with.

-Dayja Wydzierzecki--6th Grade ELA Teacher

Thank you Lisa Zabratanski for taking the time to connect and share insights (and some wonderful student celebrations!) with me. And thank you so much for the beautiful flowers and card for School Social Work Week—I appreciate your thoughtfulness. It's been such a joy getting to know you this school year, and I’m looking forward to continuing our partnership as we wrap things up. Let’s finish strong!

Thank you Cathy Jawnyj for making time to brainstorm ways to support one of the students on my caseload. I really appreciate your insight, suggestions, and your willingness to connect!

Huge thanks to Michele Burgess—seriously, where would we be without you (and Jill Becmer)? Thank you especially for jumping in to help Meghan and me untangle that complicated student address snafu. You’re the real MVP!

To Lynn Smolen, Jeff Sefcik, and Rachelle Peters—thank you for all your incredible support this school year (and in the past two years too!). Your encouragement and collaboration have meant the world to me. Wishing you all the best in your new roles and adventures next year—go forth and be amazing!

Thank you Marla Walinski for choosing Stanton for your field placement—our students are so lucky to have had you walking alongside them, helping them navigate challenges and solve problems like a champ. Huge congratulations on (almost) completing your MSW program—so proud of you!

To all my grade-level team teachers and paras—THANK YOU! I appreciate you taking the time to share concerns, data, ideas, and a whole lot of patience. Your collaboration has made such a difference for our students, and I’m grateful for every moment we’ve worked together.

Thank you Collette de Oliveira for checking in on me—your kindness and support never go unnoticed, and I truly appreciate you!

And last but never least—Meghan Reimers—thank you for another year of teamwork, laughs, problem-solving, and student-centered magic. Can’t wait to keep moving mountains with you next year (maybe just some hills though, okay? We deserve a break!).

~Kim Mack, Social Worker at Stanton Middle School

A big thank you to our Hiring Team (Sami Lear, Sherry Tietjen, Michelle Magness, Emily Reczek, Ellie Seyfert and Colleen Robinson) for your professionalism throughout the AP hiring process. Your thoughtful feedback and collaboration helped make this a strong and productive experience.

Thank you to Gayle McManamon for having the courage to bring forward a tough conversation and for helping me see things from your perspective. I truly appreciate your honesty and care for our school community.

Shout-out to Sonia Miller for taking the time to clean and reorganize our storage space. It looks amazing!!!

And thank you to everyone who helped make Kindergarten Round-Up a success. Your efforts ensured a warm, welcoming experience for both our new and returning families.

-Matt Peters-Principal at Lotus

Stanton Kitchen- Thank you for always making sure that Girls on the Run have snacks for after school for practices! I appreciate you taking time out of your day to make snack bags!

6th Grade Team (Katie, Katy, Dayja, and Cathy)- Thank you to all of you for always being so collaborative and supportive. I really appreciate how we come together to tackle challenges, share ideas, and help each other out.

Connor Macko, and Hunter Banker Thank you for everything that you do for the 6th graders. Thank you for providing all the support and patience with each of the students.

Leah Falster- Thank you so much for always being so supportive in Social Studies and Flex class. I really appreciate your help, especially while I was subbing in Life Hacks this week. It made a big difference!

Natalie Molidor and Katie Jalove- Thank you for checking in with us through the mini lesson on brain breaks! I appreciate you taking the time to see how things are going in our classrooms and how our students are responding.

-Kaitlyn Goorsky-6th Grade Social Studies Teacher

Kindergarten Roundup- Such a wonderful event for our families!

Thank you to Nicole Mild, Donna Saranzak, Sami Lear, Ashley Wydra, Fiona Wisniewski, Michelle Magness, Paula Kvacik, Kristie Paul, Natasha Pfau,

Abbey Kadera, Alana Carlson and Nicole Brinkman

Big thanks to Sonia Miller for helping organize our Lotus storage closet!

Thank you to Adisyn Illg for helping me set up the room for Kinder Roundup!

Thank you to Andrea for helping timely navigate a student situation!

-Natalie Udstuen--Assistant Principal at Lotus

Thank you to Cathy Jawnyj for helping out with my 2nd hour math class on Thursday.

Thank you to Hunter Banker for your idea of using ChatGPT to create directions for the Skittles math activity. It saved me a lot of time!

-Katy Gardner-6th Grade Math Teacher

Shout out to Erik Linquist - Bus 1

I received this voicemail from a parent.

"I just wanted to praise one of your bus drivers, Bus 1. I don't know the driver's name.

They watched my daughter and another student walk safely home because there was a strange man at the bus stop. I just wanted to thank them because that really means a lot to me as a parent. Please pass the word along, thank you!"

Andrea De Matteo (Operations Coordinator) via a grateful D114 Parent

Thank you to Michael Szotek for always patiently helping my technologically- challenged self.

Thank you to Stephanie Thiel for graciously sharing her room and riding the roller coaster with me!

Thank you to Matt Peters, Nicole Brinkman, and Sonia Miller for letting me bounce my cafeteria SEL idea off of them. Of course, each of them enhanced my idea and encouraged me. Teamwork Makes The Dream Work!

-Chris Brown--Paraprofessional at Lotus

Thank you to:

*Jill Becmer for alllllllll the support and organization of the Day of Service to make sure our Stanton Students got to their service locations!

*EVERYONE who played a part in making Kindergarten Roundup such a success. WOWOWOW! You're the BEST!

From Heather 🧡💛🖤

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

Here are two I came across this week that are poignant and important for us as educators...and as human beings.

Tax Update

We did not receive approximately $340,000 in revenue for our 2023 tax levy. When we questioned the County Clerk’s office about this they suggested contacting the assessor because the majority of the adjustment was due to "errors in assessment". We contacted Lisa LaMantia and she told us that the Lilac Senior housing applied for and received a tax exemption through the Illinois Department of Revenue which changed the assessment for years 2021, 2022 and 2023 in the amount of $178,875. The Chief County Assessor’s Office, Intervenors and Lisa were not made aware of this until after the fact.

They are working to be part of these hearings going forward so this doesn’t continue to happen.

So what does that mean for us? The bulk of the money will be included in our next year’s tax levy so we will receive the money however, this significantly impacts our cash flow for this year. We will hit our low point in cash mid-May right before we receive our first payment for the 2024 levy (May 23rd). Our options would be to issue Tax Anticipation Warrants which would cost us about $7,000 in fees or IF we need additional cash, we could enter into an agreement with Grass Lake School District 36 to borrow the money to get us through to May 23rd. This would be at an estimated 3% and cost around $750.

Summer Curriculum Work

Hello!!! It's that time of year...when I ask for your ideas and proposals for summer curriculum work! THANK YOU to the teams who have already sent in ideas!

Here's WHAT:

Summer Curriculum Writing:
What do YOU want to work on this summer?

Example Projects:
*Planning for new resources as applicable
*SST Planning
*Fencepost work, including 3-2-1 unit designs and 15 day challenge plans
*Stuff YOU want to work on!
Here's How:

Email Heather:
Name(s)
Purpose of the work/intended outcomes
Proposed number of hours
Proposed schedule and plan for work

Notes:
Work must be completed onsite.
Artifacts of the work must be shared with Heather.
Timesheets must be completed, and pay rate is the curriculum rate/hour.

Looking forward to seeing your great ideas! Please send any questions my way!

TRS Lunch and Learn

Lotus-Monday, April 28th

Stanton-Tuesday, April 29th

Sign up registration link coming soon!

Lunch and Learn to provide members with general information about the TRS Supplemental Savings Plan (SSP) 457(b) along with educating members on the retirement benefits that are available to them.

This session will offer insights into:

· TRS Supplemental Savings Plan (SSP) 457(b): How members can enhance their retirement savings beyond the pension plan.

· TRS Pension Benefits: General information on retirement eligibility, contributions, and payout options. (Detailed and specific member information can be provided by the TRS Benefit Counselors)

Staff will be able to schedule a 15-20-minute appointment during their prep or lunch.

We aim to provide members with clear and concise information about the TRS SSP 457(b) and retirement benefits and how to navigate to ensure they are well-informed about their options.

Injury Reporting

If you are injured on the job, you MUST IMMEDIATELY do the following:

1. Report this injury to an administrator.

2. Report the injury to Company Nurse.

Thanks in advance!

Skyward Updates (Maddie emailed this to you before break--same info below)

We recently migrated from Skyward SMS to Skyward Qmlativ. With the conversion, all the history housed in SMS was rolled over into Qmlativ. Your username and password remain the same as your current one in SMS. Within the next 24 hours you will receive an automated 'Welcome Email' from Qmlativ. This email will include your username and a link to reset your password. If you know your password, you DO NOT need to reset it. Simply follow the link to login.

Here is the link for your live Qmlativ database: 

https://skyward.iscorp.com/FoxLakeSD114ILBus

I am including a few videos below to assist you in navigating the new database. These videos are very brief. Please take a few minutes to review them to ensure you know how to navigate the new database.

Employee Access for Employees overview. In this course, you’re going to learn about how to navigate and utilize Employee Access. You’ll learn about the Employee Profile tile, where you’ll be able to see your demographic information and some assignment information. If your organization allows you to edit this information, you can do that from this screen.

Employee Access Quick Start Guide Video

Within Employee Access, employees have the option to view their payroll check history.

Viewing Payroll Check History Video

This video will demonstrate how to print a check stub within Employee Access.

Print Payroll Check Stub

This video will demonstrate how to estimate a check.

Processing Check Estimator

As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Mark Your Calendars!

April 22, 2025!!!

May 17, 2025!!!

Come celebrate our GOTR program AND Jeff Sefcik's retirement! There will be food, fun, music, and community!

Here's the link to sign up for Jeff's event. All cash contributions directly offset costs or will be used as a donation. This is a not for profit celebration.

There will be a different sign up link for the Girls on the Run event, which you can run, walk, skip, dance, or whatever you choose for FREE!

Remember the Employee Assistance Program!

The EAP is typically a great place to start when you need care and aren’t sure what support you or a family member might be needing. They can guide you to specific care and even set up the appointment for you. Take advantage of this confidential and supportive service to address any

personal or work-related challenges you may be facing by calling Perspectives at 800.456.6327.

Good morning, District 114!

Tomorrow is The Day of Service fundraiser! Online pledges can still be made here :)

Here are the projects the different grade levels will be working on:

Kindergarten: Planting flowers in the PreK/Kinder playground
1st Grade: Decorate bird feeders with Leisure Village residents
2nd Grade: Making goody bags and writing letters to firefighters and police officers
3rd Grade: Creating flower pots for community members
4th Grade: Creating suncatchers for retirement communities
5th Grade: Making dog treats, dog toys, and care packages for a local dog shelter
6th-7th Grades: Service projects in the community (community garden clean-up, planting flowers, cleaning up garbage, etc)

So far, we've raised a little over $14,000. Our goal is to raise $20,000! Let's see how close we can get!!! If every child were to raise at least $40 we would beat our goal!!

A portion of the funds earned will be going to a fund to build a new playground at Lotus.

Mark your calendars for next PTA meeting! Monday, May 12th at 6:00 pm in the Lotus library!

Can't join in person? Join us on Google Meets!

Don't forget to join our Facebook group to see the meeting highlights and more, and while you're at it, join the PTA here! Membership dues are only $6 for the whole year!

YOUR PTA Board

Key 2024-25 Dates

April 22

Day of Service

May 2

Rocket Launch (Stanton)

Rain date May 9

Dates to Mark Down:

Tuesday, April 22 - Board of Education Meeting and EAFL Spirit Day

Wednesday, April 23rd- EAFL Articulation Meeting @ 2:00 PM at Stanton

Interested in getting more involved on the Union Board? We would love to have you. At the April Articulation meeting, we will be looking for nominations for some new board members. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to any current board member with questions. It is a great way to know what is going on with your district and your union and a great group of people to work with.

**Don't forget about your NEA no cost benefits! To check them out, you should go to Deals and Discounts: www.neamb.com/start

*Additional benefits and deals can be found at ieanea.org

Region News:

Want to know what is happening in the Region? Check out the Region 49 Newsletter!

**Get your SCORE GRANT applications in! Grants for up to $1,000 are available for IEA members & their local associations to collaborate and create opportunities for community service/school projects APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2026 SCHOOL YEAR WILL OPEN APRIL 1, 2025

PD Calendar: Take a look at all the PD training we lined up here at IEA by clicking here : The IEA is an ISBE approved provider for Professional Development Clock Hours. Clock hours are offered at trainings that meet the PD requirements set by ISBE. Events on the calendar are hosted by IEA or vetted by IEA

Benefit Highlight – CustomGuide Interactive Training Courses

Did you know IEA members and staff have access to the interactive online CustomGuide training library for free? Check out this week’s highlighted course to brush up your Business Skills:

Email Etiquette – Are your emails making the right impression? Write clear, concise, and professional emails with confidence. Learn to craft professional emails, use appropriate subject lines, apply proper formatting, and manage attachments effectively.

Self-register for an account then login to access this course and more! Reach out to Kelsey.Harms@ieanea.org with any questions.

April 18--District Closed

April 22--Day of Service, Early Release, Meet Tom Cardamone at Stanton, and BOE Meeting at Lotus at 7PM or via Meet (Whew!)

April 23--EAFL Articulation Meeting

May 17

District 114 CARES

At District 114 Fox Lake, the well-being of our students and families is our top priority. Understanding the critical role mental health plays in student success, we have launched District 114 CARES—a comprehensive initiative aimed at improving access to quality mental health services across our community.

Treatment Request

What is District 114 CARES?

District 114 CARES stands for Community, Advocacy, Resilience, Engagement, and Support. This program is specifically designed to provide essential mental health resources and support to students and families, with a focus on those facing financial challenges.

Our mission is to ensure that every student has the tools they need to thrive—both emotionally and academically. By addressing barriers to care, we aim to empower students to reach their full potential in and out of the classroom.

Our Commitment

Through District 114 CARES, we reaffirm our dedication to fostering a supportive, resilient community where every student has equitable access to the resources and support they need to succeed.

ICE and D114 Plans

Please see the document linked here, which outlines exactly how we will respond should ICE come onsite.