MMM: Monday Morning Memo--August 31--LOOK UP for Week 3!

Our Look Up Essential Standards!

Kudos to Russ for helping build tables in Prek. And dealing with complicated pieces lol

Kudos to Sammie for helping out on our first day and with Arrival and dismissal for pre-K And whenever I needed someone to be there, she was there!

To the whole pre-K team for a great first two days!

-Corrine Corona--Blended PreK Teacher

-Katy Gardner for the birthday dunkin great way to start a morning!

-Cathy Jawnyj for the birthday lunch, It was delicious and so appreciated

-Sam Mock for the birthday starbucks the day after so I could keep on celebrating

-The Whole Stanton Family (students and staff) for making me feel so loved on such a big birthday

-Meghan Reimers for coming up to talk about a student who seemed to be struggling, that was so insightful and extremely helpful

-Dayja Wydzierzecki--6th Grade ELA and Social Studies Teacher

Thanks to Kim Mack and Jillian for helping our newest Stanton student get connected and join our soccer team.

-Lynn Smolen--Student Support Coordinator at Stanton

Kudos to Mary Honea for helping upload all things IRLA into Drive folders so teachers can access what they need without having to go through SchoolPace. Such a huge help in making resources easier for everyone to find and use!

Kudos to every single adult in the building for showing up during our first week and jumping in wherever needed to support students, teachers, transitions, routines, and all the little things that make a big difference. It truly took everyone!

Kudos to Alana, Fiona, Karen, Abbey, Kelly, Joseph, Joan, Sam, and Caitlyn for spending hours with me tightening up our MTSS system and helping us get clearer about how supports flow into SST. I really appreciate the collaboration, problem-solving, and willingness to work through all the details together.

Kudos to Joan for for counting every single cold read in IRLA and helping us figure out how to determine students’ independent reading levels for screening. A huge lift that gave us much-needed clarity and made the process stronger for everyone!

-Erica Barraza--Associate Principal at Lotus

Mary Honea and Ms. Gina for laminating and making copies! It is very much appreciated, and we are so grateful for all your help!

Stephanie Kolk for being an amazing team lead and working so hard to keep us all on track.

Caitlyn Fenton for being an awesome mentor and always being willing to jump in and help answer any questions. We truly appreciate you!

-Kaitlyn May--4th Grade Teacher

Thank you, Kim VanHoorelbeke, for creating the templates for our lunch periods and helping us get everything organized and running smoothly!

Thank you, Maddie Mercado, for all of your support and for taking the time to connect with me on several different topics. I really appreciate your help and collaboration!

A big thank you to Kristie Paul, Sue Pinkawa, and Jenny Sundell for all of your hard work with registration and the countless other things happening behind the scenes to get our school year up and running.

Shoutout to Mike Szotek for always being there to help with all of my tech needs!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by our Sip & Spill this week! It was great having a chance to connect, catch up, and enjoy some time together. We’re already brainstorming what our next event might be!

A huge shoutout to our entire staff on a great first full week of school! Thank you for the energy, positivity, and care you’ve put into creating a welcoming and positive learning environment for our students. It’s been a great start to the year!

-Matt Peters--Principal at Lotus

Kudos to Karen Lobodzinski for supplying a delicious Starbucks coffee supply to the Stanton office. WE WILL BE CAFFEINATED!

Kudos to Jill Becmer, who came up with a brilliant solution for our bells!

-Michele Burgess-Administrative Assistant at Stanton

Kudos to Dan Olson, Kaitlyn Goorsky, and Cynthia Cool for making a new student’s soccer dream come true!

Kudos to Connor Macko for being an amazing and supportive partner for a colleague over the first two weeks of the school year!

Kudos to Matt Shannon and Lynn Smolen to diving into year two with care, structure, and intentionality. Our First Wednesday morning meeting was a HUGE success!

Kudos to EVERYONE for a phenomenal Curriculum Night! It takes a village, it takes care, it takes love, it takes time. THANK YOU!

Kudos to Jill Becmer for coordinating and running the first ever Stanton Activities Fair during lunch on Friday!

Kudos to Meghan Reimers and Kim Mack for the organization and intentional planning to make our Community Building lessons and care for our students and staff to be amazing!

Kudos to all involved in MAP testing: Matt, Tyler, all small group proctors, everyone who created sessions...all the things!

Kudos to our Fall Sports coaches for bringing the enthusiasm and motivation to encourage so many of our students to be involved beyond the classroom!

-Tom Cardamone--Principal at Stanton

Kudos to Erica, Matt, Chad, Jenny, Sue and my team for all your kind words and checking in on me this week. This week has been very tough to manage with life life-ing and it truly takes a village.

Kudos to Dina, Fran, Candace, Mary, and Amy for helping with Kindergarten letter writing, and cutting pages. The copies and hand writing has been SUPER helpful for us.

Kudos to Mary for doing lots of copies for Kindergarten:)

Kudos to all who helped at the start of the year with Kindergarten. I know the beginning of the year can be chaotic, but we appreciate all your help at the beginning of the year.

Kudos to Colleen for fixing my bag and sewing it back together!

-Adisyn Illg--Kindergarten Teacher

Kudos to Jill Becmer for all of her hard work planning, seeking feedback, and facilitating the Fall Coaches meeting at Stanton.

Kudos to Michele Burgess for setting the tone this year with her diligence on attendance; making sure our students are present at school and connecting with parents to help get the students to school on time.

-Matt Shannon--Associate Principal at Stanton

*Specials (Erin-CJ, Jacob, Frank, Alexa, Chad) for helping through every grade level during PBIS Assembly the first day, allowing us to do it during your time.

*Sonia for helping in the presentation and prep all day long.

*Ms. Michelle Mattes, all the Para's and anyone who popped in to assist.

*Mrs. Roland who played "Rocky" to say welcome to the kiddos their first day

*THANK YOU..So very much appreciated as it took a village tackling that on the first day!

Kudos to ALL..

*Jacob & Frank- It was a pleasure working with you. The students are super excited and so lucky to have both of you as their teachers.

*Alexa - your room looks AMAZING, can't wait to see all their masterpieces you bring out in them.

*Sue - thanks for doing the labels for me.

*Amanda (family) - thanks for all the toy donations for the PBIS Store.

*Sam G. - Thanks for taking on CICO for our school. :)

-Kim VanHoorelbeke--Library Paraprofessional at Lotus

Kudos to:

Our PreK team and everyone who played a part in such an amazing start for our PreK kiddos!!!!

Chad, Erica, Melissa, Lora, Corinne, and Livia for staying LATE on Friday to help us make a plan for 2 new kids!

Kim VanHoorelbeke for showing grace when I mess stuff up and being an awesome thought partner.

Connor Macko for stepping up to start the year.

Niccole Culbertson--so glad you're back!

Dan Olson, Kaitlyn Goorsky, and Jillian Rejczyk for a soccer miracle that will absolutely change a kid's life!

Jill Becmer for making all things athletics and clubs at Stanton better every year!

-Heather

Please send me your "Look Up" kudos by Friday at 4PM to add them to the next Monday Memo! THANK YOU!

Try some of these to keep LOOKING UP as we turn the calendar page to September!

ROE Site Inspections

Mark your calendars! Our site inspections will be done on SEPTEMBER 8 at both sites!

Here's an updated document to clarify expectations. This includes that Stanton DOES NOT need outlet covers.

Any questions? Reach out to Heather or to Natalie Udstuen

Spirit Wear!!!

Spirit wear is here! You have two stores you can purchase from. The first site is for District employees only and the second one is for our district parents. Please feel free to order for either or both sites. Here are the links:

https://district114staff.itemorder.com/shop - District Only
https://d114parents.itemorder.com/shop/home/ - For Parents and Staff

Orders are due by September 20th and Items will be delivered the week of October 5. If anyone has any questions, please contact Sue Pinkawa. Thank you, Sue, for coordinating this!

Stipends--Clubs, Coaching, and More...OH MY!

Interested in sponsoring a club, coaching a sport, seeing what opportunities are out there?

Check out this stipend folder and read this letter for information!

ATHLETIC COACHES PLEASE READ: There is a new timeline for applying for coaching positions. Coaches should apply prior to their season, and coaches will be notified as follows. Please contact Jill Becmer, Athletic Director, with any questions, please.

Early Fall: Cross-Country, Volleyball, and Soccer

Applications accepted through July 15, 2026
Announcement of Coaches by July 30, 2026

Late Fall: Boys Basketball, Cheer

Applications accepted through September 1, 2026
Announcement of Coaches by September 15, 2026

Winter: Wrestling, Girls Basketball, Scholastic Bowl

Applications accepted through October 1, 2026
Announcement of Coaches by October 15, 2026

Spring: Track

Applications accepted through November 1, 2026
Announcement of Coaches by November 15, 2026

Staff Device Upgrades

In an effort to streamline device replacement and get all students and staff into a predictable replacement cycle with devices that remain under warranty, we have a plan for making sure all devices are up to date, under warranty, ready to roll...all within our budget!

25-26--All support staff devices we replaced.

26-27--Lotus certified staff, Lotus office staff, and District office staff devices will be replaced. 💥

27-28--Stanton, it will be your turn! 😀

What does this mean?

*Given the fact that we are on Google platform, staff will be provided with Chromebooks. Staff who cannot do their jobs without a PC will be provided a PC (meaning they require specific programs/software that will only run on a PC).

Here's what you need to know...

By the time you trade in your current device, you'll need to follow the steps below:

Moving from Windows Laptop to Chromebook

In preparation for the move from Windows Laptops to Chromebooks, users will need to transfer any school related documents (from Desktop, Documents, etc.) that you would like to keep for next year to your Fox Lake School Google Drive.

Before uploading files to your Google drive, please take some time to do some maintenance/cleaning up by deleting any old/unused documents, pictures, and videos. All copies of files or anything that is over 2-3 years old should be deleted, if it is not going to be used in the near future.

Any personal files, pictures, or videos can be saved to a personal external drive if you want.

If you need help with the steps above, Mike Szotek (Lotus) or Tyler Fish (Stanton) will be happy to help and can partner with you by appointment over the summer or upon our return to school in the Fall.

All LOTUS certified staff will be expected to complete the device exchange by TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15.

WELCOME, PATH TEAM!!!!!

We're thrilled to welcome our new PATH program team to D114!!!! In the STAR room at Lotus and The DEN at Stanton, we'll now be hosting specially designed therapeutic programming ON SITE!!!! Think of it as a therapeutic school where we would enroll kids when our programming wasn't enough to help them learn expected behaviors and coping strategies...BUT RIGHT IN OUR SCHOOLS!!!! For more information, please check out this brochure.

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!

Absence Reporting

Please carefully review this updated document with all you need to know about reporting absences during this school year!

Welcome back to all of our D114 staff! This year is off to a great start and we can't wait to see all the amazing things that will happen this year.

Your 2026-2027 EAFL Board is as follows:

Co-Presidents: Maureen DeVoss (Lotus) & Kendra Smeigh (Stanton)

Vice President (Certified): Jen Groot (Lotus)

Vice President (Non-Certified): Gina Crosthwaite (Lotus)

Secretary: Tasha Pfau (Lotus)

Treasurer: Renee Evans (Stanton)

Regional Rep: Kendra Logar (Lotus)

Lotus Rep: Misty Madula (Lotus)

Stanton Rep: *open*

Early Career Rep: Stephanie Kolk (Lotus)

If you need any assistance, or have any questions, please reach out to anyone on the board and they will be able to help or lead you in the right direction.

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.

Stay informed by reading the Region 49 Newsletter

A Fun Fall Event for all Members: Fall Fest Flyer

What: The Palatine and Libertyville IEA Offices are excited to invite you to our 5th Annual Fall Fest. An event and opportunity to grow your union knowledge, build skills, and connect with fellow educators

Where: Schaumburg Professional Learning Center 522 E. Schaumburg Rd. Schaumburg, IL. 60194

When: Saturday September 26, 2026, 9:00am – 1:00PM

One Click. Endless Possibilities. A Union Here for YOU!

This school year, turn your commitment into action. Visit the IEA Leadership & Justice Department website to explore equity-focused opportunities, request professional learning, and stay up to date on trainings, events, and ways to get involved. Together, we can lead with purpose and create schools where every student thrives!

Mark your calendar!

EAT OUT TO HELP OUT event!!!! Wednesday, September 9th from 4-7 at McDonald's Spring Grove! We hope you'll join us, grab some dinner, and support our PTA at the same time!

We will need YOU to help make the evening a success, so please take a moment to sign up for a time slot if you're available. 9/9/26 sign-up

Also, if you are new or haven't in the past and would like to volunteer please let me know what t-shirt size you are! I might be able to get those ordered prior!

Thank you all so much for your continued support! I can't wait to see everyone there!

Sylvia Queen

Vice President