Monday Morning Memo: December 2025

Tip of the Week

BREAK TO BREAK!

Keep it up!!!! The De-Stress Challenge continues!!!!!!

Colleen, Courtney, Misty and Mary M-P - thank you for your always consistent presence and seamless help. It's impressive how good you all are at getting ahead of, and often avoiding, difficult situations. Thanks again for all you do!

BIG thanks to Colleen for donating some fabulous fiber to Art Class for our Bisa Butler Unit. The kids love the variety of fabrics and yarn and they especially loved the chenille yarn - it went like hotcakes!!! Thanks again for always being so thoughtful and generous.

Many thanks to Pam E and Erin D and their dedicated teams for their help and flexibility with the various art lessons. It's incredibly heartwarming to see the progress your kiddos are making in the structured and loving environments you've created.

BIG thanks to Kelly R. for your support of all things ART! Your generosity and thoughtfulness are greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks again to Kaitlyn for not missing a beat when you took over my classes - I appreciate you more than you know! And many thanks to Mrs. CJ for stopping in often to make sure Kaitlyn was supported!

Truly grateful

-Gayle McManamon--Art Teacher at Lotus

Thank you Caitlyn Fenton for subbing for me during an IEP meeting. I appreciate all you do!

-Christine Spittler--2nd Grade Teacher

Kudos to DJ Altick and Mix Master Bailey for initiating the first ever Phish Friday during 7/8 Indoor Recess! It was a joy to see everyone Bouncing Around the Room and enjoying the tunes! Thanks, gentlemen!

Kudos to Oner Medrano for doing everything possible to support our students, including climbing a snowy mountain earlier this week! Oner's care, calm demeanor, and thoughts partnership are appreciated more than words can express.

Kudos to the Stanton Guiding Coalition team for being open to new, taking risks, being collaborative, and leading with care, grace, and student centeredness.

Kudos to Kim Husko for being an incredible thought partner...were we really connecting telepathically during GC earlier this week?

Kudos times a bazillion to Matt Shannon and the entire Stanton family for their support and flexibility while I had to be out the first couple of days after Thanksgiving Break. I can’t thank all of you enough!

Kudos to Michele Burgess, Jill Becmer, and the ENTIRE Stanton team helping to create a welcome environment for 77% of our families to be present for our Student-Teacher conferences! What a success!!!

-Tom Cardamone--Principal at Stanton

I want to give a special shout out to Nicole Brinkman for showing incredible patience and professionalism with one of our students. Despite the difficult challenges she faced, she remained calm and consistent. Way to go Nicole!

I'd also like to recognize Matt, Erica, Chad, Ashley, and Sam. Whenever a classroom calls for help, they drop everything to step in without hesitation.

And of course, this is not to overlook our amazing teachers and paras who show patience and care daily.

It truly takes a special kind of heart, and a lot of patience and strength, to take on a role like this and you do it with such grace each and every day. You're all rock stars and I applaud you. Thank you for all you do!

-Jenny Sundell--Administrative Assistant at Lotus

Thanks to Jillian and Kim for helping me facilitate an IEP meeting while I was out helping my daughter post surgery thanks for jumping in!

-Lynn Smolen--Student Support Coordinator

Thank you Fiona for always providing such awesome tools for the preschool team that we can use with our circle time.

-Laura Faro---Blended PreK Teacher

Kudos to Mr Mark and his spelling ability, the man has MANY hidden talents

Kudos to Admin, our staff meeting was a lot of fun this week.

Kudos to Mrs Brnot and the Penny Wars experience, the amount of toys bought is VERY impressive to see.

Kudos to Mr. Altick and the daily laughs you provide for me. Your humor (and shoe game) are impressive.

-Dan Miller--PE Teacher at Stanton

Thank you to Nicole Brinkman for the car seat!

Kudos to Chef Tyler Fish for the delicious chocolate chip banana bread!

-Michele Burgess--Administrative Assistant at Stanton

Thank you for everyone having grace with the schedule changes in my class!! It takes a village.

Thank you Lorenz for helping me so much this week and all the weeks coming up to this.

Thank you Kim R for all the work on these IEPs!!

Thanks Kim V and Alana for changing your schedules to meet my kids.

-Sherry Tietjen--Special Education Teacher at Lotus

Thank you to Matt Peters for giving me very helpful feedback, support, and tools to continue growing as an educator :)

Thank you to Nicole Brinkman and Sam Gatyas for always being there for my students in big and small ways. Your attention to the students' emotional wellbeing makes all the difference!

Thank you so much to the entire 4th grade team and Ms. Mary Honea for supporting me and my class when I was unexpectedly out on the Monday after Thanksgiving Break!

-Serene Madison--4th Grade Teacher

I would like to thank Sonia Miller for taking down the Veterans Day Wall for me. It was a nice Monday morning surprise! She even returned all the pictures to the teachers' mailboxes and organized the wall decorations. Sonia is so helpful, kind, and funny. She always goes above and beyond in all that she does for the Lotus staff. We are very lucky to have her!

-Joan Kantenwein--Reading Interventionist at Lotus

Kudos to Sam G. for being such a support in my room with our student! You have been a huge help and I appreciate it so much.

Kudos to Janene for stepping into my room during her own lunchtime to help my students with their writing as I was working things out with another student. Meant so much to me!!!

Kudos to Nicole B. for really lifting me up when it was needed! You’re such a great support and helped lift my mood when it was needed most. I appreciate you!!!!

-Lili Tosado--3rd grade teacher

Donna Saranzak: thank you for taking the time to re-laminate all the Codes for Kindergarten. Very much appreciated.

Kelly R- You have the kindest heart and we are so lucky. Thanks for ALL that you do everyday for us and the students. It is such a joy to work with you.

Don & Russ: Thanks for making the parking lot and sidewalks clear & safe.

Custodians : Thank you so much for helping me keep the library clean :), I know we make a mess sometimes.

PTA: HUGE THANKS.... for allowing students to get a free book for Book Buddies.

Sue P - thanks for keeping us sane and in the loop with our afterschool clubs. I know it is not an easy task to keep up with. We appreciate you and Jen every minute on the homefront!

Sonia and lunch crew: thanks for being so supportive everyday... from getting Breakfast Club packed up every Tuesday am to attending to everything that comes up!!

-Kim VanHoorelbeke--Library Paraprofessional

Thank you to all my Lotus family who have shown the family spirit while I dealt with a hard, personal situation. I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else!

Special thanks to Lili and Teri for being such good flexible team players and taking in kids at times as needed.

And thank you to Stephanie Kolk for being such an encouraging coach for our friend! You go above and beyond for him.

-Emily Reczek--3rd Grade Teacher

I would like to give a kudos to the fifth grade team for helping me with the materials they are using and being there when I need any help.

-Melissa Rattner--Special Education Teacher at Stanton

MAJOR kudos to Oner Medrano for being an awesome extra support for my math kids!!! Like I told you already, your help is saving my sanity 5th grade appreciates all that you do!!

-Jessica Lieber--5th grade Teacher

Kudos to the amazing people (to many to name) who made Breakfast with Santa a big success. We couldn’t do it without any of you. I was so happy to hear all of the compliments. Thanks again!

-Sue Giandonato--Kitchen Lead at Stanton

Huge KUDOS to everyone who helped with Santa's Breakfast!!!!! What an amazing event because of the efforts of SO MANY D114 hands!

Thanks to Sonia, Sue, Al, Emily, and Yvette for all the TLC toward my kids and me as we tried to help with the Santa Breakfast serve! We had a BLAST with you!!!!

Karen Brnot--you are a rock star!!! Thanks for all your leadership, time, and care shown with NJHS and especially this week's efforts for Toys for Tots and Santa's Breakfast!!

Thanks to Matt Shannon and the Stanton 5th Grade Team for meeting to work even better together.

To Jill and Michele at Stanton for the laughs about the "flip" we saw!

I so appreciate our Admin Team and everyone's sense of humor. We laugh literally every day almost to tears...it's so fun to work with you all!

-Heather 💙

Absences
I know that we're heading into "sick season", so I have a few requests...

1. If you know you're sick, please put in your absence ASAP. This helps us plan for coverage more effectively. The more we have to react to in the morning, the more crazy the start to the day for everyone.

2. If scheduling personal tasks, it would be amazing if you could try to avoid THURSDAYS AND FRIDAYS whenever possible.

3. If you are asked to cover for someone, please know that you're being asked as part of a bigger plan to meet the needs of kids. Unless there's a truly extraordinary situation, you are expected to say YES when asked. We only ask when it's the best answer for kids.

Also, please know that we continue to work to build a sub pool...and so does every single district. We will continue to recruit and onboard subs, as we know days with lots of coverage shifts cause stress for everyone.

Please direct any questions to me about this. Principals and Associate Principals are charged with creating the plans that best meet the needs of our students. If you have questions or issues with this, they should come to me for discussion.
Thanks!

LOTUS SPIRIT WEEK

Referral GPS--Reminder!
We are committed to creating a culture of well-being of students, staff,
parents, and community. In an effort to continuously support this
commitment, the district has entered an agreement with Referral GPS.
ReferralGPS is a web-based service focused on assisting our students,
staff, and community in finding local mental-health and substance use
related treatment. The service compliments the districts existing
systems of support as a tool for student service teams and families to
connect with treatment. Along with a searchable database of treatment
options, Referral GPS provides Care Navigation to assist families in
triage, appointment setting, and follow up care.
School families may access Referral GPS in two ways:
1) Contact Student Services (social workers, psychologists,
counselors) to seek out treatment options.
2) Visit this link at https://referralgps.com/find-help/D114 to
search for treatment resources or connect with a Care
Navigator anonymously.

ReferralGPS takes into account all types of private and public insurance
including PPO, HMO, Medicaid, Medicare, and families who are
uninsured or underinsured. The platform also filters by age, gender, zip
code, and special requests.
ReferralGPS is available for use by district students, staff, and families at
no cost. All information entered on the ReferralGPS tool is completely
confidential and securely stored.
If you are interested in seeking counseling-related services at this time,
please consider visiting https://referralgps.com/find-help/D114 or
reaching out to the Student Services team.

Field Trips

If you are planning for a field trip, please remember:

All field trip requests must be submitted to the principal no later than the 15th of the previous month of your trip.

Example: Trip is in March, Form must be in by February 15th. This allows time for approval and our drivers to select trips.

1. Complete the Field Trip Request Form.

2. Submit the form to your Principal for approval.

2. Principals, if approved, submit to NATALIE UDSTUEN to arrange transportation.

Work Orders

When you have something you need the Facilities Team to handle for you, please complete a Work Request. Be sure to include the LOCATION in the "summary" field.

Absence Reporting

Please refer to this document for all things absence reporting. Please send any questions to Maddie Mercado or me.

THANKS!

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!

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.

Stay informed by reading the Region 49 Newsletter

Burroughs Education Association

$2,500 College Scholarship funded by Woodruff Johnson Evans & Haugen. Applications are accepted from October 1 through January 31. The winner will be announced in March. Scholarship Information

AND...don't forget

See what your membership has to offer! Go to ieanea.org to see all of the happenings and most up to date information on union matters. Go to ieanea.org/benefits/ to explore discounts and deals that are offered to you with your membership.