Dear Skokie Families,

Many of us commented today on it feeling as though we all crawled out of a cave this morning to seek interaction with other human beings and exposure to sunlight.  It just goes to show how hearty we've become when we see a 20 degree day as a heat wave.  Nevertheless, we still need to take care to encourage our students to dress appropriately, and keep an eye out for slick surfaces.  I hope you all stayed warm and safe in this dangerous weather, and are prepared for the inevitable snow melt that will happen this weekend.  Please continue to take care during drop-off and pick-up times as our snow banks have gotten quite high, making it difficult to see children as they exit cars and/or cross the street.  

When the weather makes it impossible to send your children out of the house to play, we often defer to entertainment in the house like technology.  This is a perfect opportunity to remind our families that while our school issued iPads are under strict content management while in our school buildings, this is based on the settings we have in place through our own wifi.  Once the iPads leave our schools and connect to your at-home wifi, it is possible that students are able to access a much wider band of content, unless you have put parent controls in place.  

Prior to issuing iPads to students, we ask all students and parents to sign off on a contract indicating the appropriate uses for this school-issued tool.  While it doesn't happen often, we do occasionally have to temporarily revoke iPad use for a student who has violated appropriated use of their device, treating this as a learning opportunity for building responsible use skills when accessing technology.  More often than not, students are savvy enough to keep questionable content off of their school iPads, but may experiment with using their own personal device (most likely a cell phone).  Our parents and schools become aware of this when content is shared amongst friends via group texts, Instagram, Snapchat, Music.ly, etc.  Given the time our kids are spending indoors on days off/weekends, this may call for a little bit more vigilance in checking on devices use behind closed doors or late at night.  I am proud of our students for the responsible ways in which they make use of our school-issued resources, and equally proud of our staff for making the most of teachable moments for our students as we help them to navigate the digital world.  

Finally, as we head into the weekend, ask your 5th or 6th grader about today's all school assembly which was jointly attended by Washburne students.  We used this afternoon to kick off our March events (as seen in the Dates to Note in the right-hand column of this newsletter).  It was a fun, spirited event, and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to come together as two student bodies in the name of three fantastic upcoming events.

Stay warm and safe this weekend as the temperatures rise.  Enjoy the time together with your family, and we'll look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday!

Most Sincerely,

Kelly Tess