Grace
School
News
End of the School Year: This is a reminder that the school board has approved the decision to make Friday, May 22, the last day of remote learning. So, just one more week of school. Here are some things to note for next week:

Chapel: The 8th grade class is preparing a chapel service for us, so Pastor Lyle will not be doing his weekly chapel service on Facebook Live. We will send a link to the whole school so you can watch this special service from the 8th graders next Wednesday.

Closing Chapel : Pastor Lyle and Pastor Costello will lead a live Closing Chapel service on Friday, May 22 at 11:00am. We invite everyone to be a part of this service, viewing it through the Grace Lutheran Church River Forest YouTube page. We will provide more information on how to access this towards the end of next week.

Pick-up of Personal Items & Drop-off of School Materials: Keeping everyone safe is our highest priority at this time. In order to best do this, we have determined that it is not good practice to allow our students and parents back into the building to collect their items. Instead, teachers will be using May 26 & 27 to organize the personal items of their students. On Thursday, May 28, from 9:00-1:00, families will be able to come to Grace to drop off Grace School laptops or iPads they have been using, as well as textbooks that need to be returned. At that same time, we will return personal items back to you. Here are a couple important notes for May 28.

  • Anyone that comes up to the building or is near others should be wearing a mask.
  • Please stand at the lines on the sidewalk to maintain proper social distancing.
  • Books that are being returned should be in a bag with your name on it.
- Teachers will supply each class with a list of what needs to be returned.
  • - Electronics being returned will be handed to teachers working at that time.

  • - In order to avoid long lines, we ask that you come at the following times, based on last name:
- A-C 9:00-10:00
- D-J 10:00-11:00
- K-R 11:00-12:00
- S-Z 12:00-1:00
  • Please do your best to adhere to this schedule. Items not claimed from 9:00-1:00 on May 28 will need to be claimed by appointment only because the building is closed.

COVID19 Task Force : A task force made up of teachers, members of the Elementary Education Committee, and parents is being formed to address a wide variety of issues related to COVID19 and the return to school in the fall. We will be working diligently in June to provide plans for what procedures we will need to follow when returning to school in our building, and ways to improve remote learning if we need to go return to it at some point.

Leaving: Two individuals that work with small segments of our student body will not be returning next school year. Ms. Bernier, our band instructor, has moved to Phoenix to be with her husband who was transferred down there several months ago. And Ms. Bell, our speech language pathologist from District 90, is retiring at the end of the school year. Here is a note from Ms. Bell:

Hello Grace Lutheran families,

I am reaching out to announce that I am retiring as the Speech Language Pathologist serving Grace School. I have been a part of the Grace community for 10 years and have been so blessed by that opportunity. Although I was only at Grace one day a week, I always felt like a part of the very welcoming Grace community.

I am looking forward to retirement but am also sad to be leaving such a wonderful group of students and parents. I thank all of the Grace students, parents, teachers and staff for giving me a truly remarkable place to work. I will always hold you all close to my heart.

With love and blessings,
Kathy Bell-Lansdowne (Ms Bell)


Open House: Earlier today, Grace Lutheran School hosted a Virtual Open House for prospective families with students going into PK-SK. A recording of this Open House will be available On Demand on our website early next week. A Virtual Open House for students going into Grades 1-8 is already available.
If you know a family that should consider Grace School for their children, please pass this information on to them, or have them contact Jordan Easton at 708-405-9472.


Have a great weekend. Enjoy the countdown to the end of school. Let’s end with a bang!
Bill Koehne,
Principal



Our mission at Grace Lutheran Church and School is to bring in, build up, and send out disciples for Jesus Christ.

Our school prepares children for a life of discipleship by helping them to grow in faith, knowledge, and character.
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Grace Lutheran Church and School | 708-366-6900 | www.graceriverforest.org