This January and February all English Learners (ELs) will take the state mandated ACCESS (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners) assessment to measure English Language Proficiency. In D76 that means that over 350 of our students will be testing their English Language Proficiency in the areas of Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. The state mandated Assessment takes approximately four hours to complete and takes place over several days. Typically, the Illinois State Board of Education provides the assessment results in August which then allows school districts to make EL placement decisions. If you have any questions about the ACCESS Assessment please feel free to contact Associate Superintendent, Dr. Steve Juracka at sjuracka@dist76.org.
Facilities
D76 is well underway planning for Summer 2022 facility projects. Some of the important projects this summer will focus on a new maintenance and storage facility and a new boiler plant at West Oak Campus. These facility projects will go out to bid in January and depending on the results, will be presented for approval at the February Board of Education meeting.
Finance
D76 is proud to announce that it has received a preliminary financial profile score of 3.8! We received Recognition status, which means that the “district requires little/no review or involvement by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE)” in regards to its financial health. ISBE uses a score of 1-4 to measure a school district’s financial health. The score is made up of several important financial metrics such as fund balance to revenue ratio, expenditure to revenue ratio, days cash on hand, percent of short and long-term borrowing ability. ISBE compiles that data to form a final “profile score”. This is the ninth year in a row that D76 has received the profile score of “Recognition”. We are proud of this distinguished recognition and continued focus on fiscal responsibility.
Instructional Technology & Communications
At our January Parent University Mr. Eric Hansen and Deputy Francis Foy provided an in-depth and informative virtual presentation on the theme of Cybersecurity Best Practices and Social Media Awareness for Families. Throughout the presentation families obtained knowledge on the topics of social engineering, strengthening account device security practices, online safety and cyberbullying. In addition Mr. Hansen and Deputy Foy shared a variety of supportive resources that are available on our Parent University website.
STUDENT services
This month we will be starting a pilot of the DESSA Social Emotional Universal screener. We have one teacher per grade level trialing the program. Each teacher will complete an online survey for each student in their class. The results of the screener will allow us to continue and enhance our SEL (Social Emotional Learning) lessons to meet the differing social emotional needs of our students.
During the week of February 7th, we will be starting our 2nd session of our after school program. Students will continue to qualify for the after program based on set criteria and who need additional support and resources. WOMS continues to offer a tutoring program for all students. For students that qualify, families will be contacted with the date and times of the program.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- Tuesday, February 1 - Board of Education Meeting, 7 PM
- Wednesday, February 2 - BPAC Meeting, 6 PM
- Monday, February 7 - Late Start for Students - 90 minutes
- Wednesday, February 9 - Parent U: “Understanding the Difference between a 504 and IEP”
- Friday, February 11 - Early Dismissal for Students/Teacher Institute
- Friday, February 11 - End of Trimester II
- Tuesday, February 15 - PTO Meeting, 6 PM
- Tuesday, February 15 - Board of Education Meeting, 7 PM
- Friday, February 18 - Report Cards Distributed
- Monday, February 21 - Presidents Day Holiday - NO SCHOOL
