Updates from 86

Schedule for the Week of Feb. 15

All students and staff are off today (Feb. 15) in observance of Presidents Day. As a result, we have modified the schedule for the week (Feb. 15-19) as follows:

Tuesday, Feb. 16, will follow the Monday schedule - i.e., students in Learning Cohort A will be in person for early bird physical education and periods one through three.

Wednesday, Feb. 17, will follow the Tuesday schedule - i.e., there will be no Wednesday remote schedule on this day. Instead, students in Learning Cohort A will be in person for early bird physical education and periods 4/5/6, 6/7/8, nine and 10. They will also eat lunch on campus.

The schedules for Thursday, Feb. 18, and Friday, Feb. 19, will remain the same - i.e., students in Learning Cohort B will be on campus for in-person instruction on both days, and will eat lunch at school on Friday.

Students and staff who are on campus will be required to follow the district's health and safety procedures and protocols - e.g., performing symptom self-checks, participating in daily temperature checks, wearing face coverings, wearing IDs on a district-issued lanyard, adhering to the six-foot rule in accordance with social distancing guidelines, adhering to the rules and expectations regarding the flow of student and staff traffic in the building (e.g., hallways, stairwells, entrances/exits and classrooms), etc.

Students who are not scheduled to be on campus or are assigned to Learning Cohort R (R stands for remote) will engage in synchronous learning from home.

Below is the updated schedule for the week.

Schedule at Hinsdale South for the Week of March 1

Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South will be serving as vaccination sites again March 3-6. During these days, we will be partnering with Osco to administer the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to everyone who received the first dose Feb. 4-6 or on Feb. 10.

In order to accommodate the vaccination process, we will need to make the following changes to the schedule at Hinsdale South. Please note that these changes only apply to Hinsdale South because the vaccination event at the building will take place during the school day (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) on Friday, March 5. That is not the case with the sessions at Hinsdale Central, which are being held on Wednesday (remote learning day), after school on Thursday (1 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and on Saturday.

During the week of March 1, we will be swapping the Wednesday and Friday schedules at Hinsdale South.

On March 3, students from South who are in Learning Cohort B will be on campus for in-person instruction (early bird physical education and periods 4/5/6, 6/7/8, nine and 10). They will also eat lunch at school on this day.

On March 5, all students from South will learn from home. Teachers will let students know if their classes will be synchronous or asynchronous on this day. This decision will be based upon issues such as the teacher’s vaccination schedule.

The Monday, Tuesday and Thursday schedules at South will remain the same.

COVID-19 Data

Below is the COVID-19 data for the district as of Friday, Feb. 12.

Current number of positive cases among students and staff - 13
Current number of students and staff in isolation - 51
Current number of students and staff in quarantine - 45
Total number of positive cases among students and staff since the start of the 2020-21 school year - 305

You can access the dashboard where this information is being stored by visiting https://bit.ly/3d93aws.

Special Education Paraprofessionals

We are currently seeking individuals who are interested in supporting the growth, development and success of our students by serving as a special education paraprofessional for our district.

If you are at least 19 years old and have 60 semester hours of coursework or an associate’s degree, you can apply for a paraprofessional license through the Illinois State Board of Education (http://bit.ly/3tNgE93).

The starting salary for paraprofessionals in District 86 is $15 an hour. Individuals in these positions are also eligible for benefits. You can learn more about this opportunity or view our current vacancies by visiting http://bit.ly/2NlSpxZ.

Town Hall Webinar with Alumni

On Feb. 3, approximately 70 staff members from District 86 participated in a webinar with alumni from Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South who shared their truths, experiences, narratives and testimonials from their time in school, and offered their reactions to the equity statement that was created by district’s Culture and Equity Leadership Team.

The perspectives that our alumni provided during this event gave us valuable insight into how our current students may be experiencing our schools, district and community. We are also exploring ways we can incorporate what they shared into our classroom instruction and professional development opportunities to help improve the culture and climate in our buildings, and ensure that we are providing each of our students with what they need to meet their learning and well-being requirements.

Arts and Foreign Language Planning Grant

This year, the District 86 world languages department has engaged in a series of professional development opportunities that were made possible by an Arts and Foreign Language Planning Grant from the Illinois Arts Council.

You can access additional information about these opportunities by visiting http://bit.ly/2MTLpsk.

Candidates for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program

The following six seniors from District 86 have been named candidates for the 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.

Qing Dang - Hinsdale Central
Amer Goel - Hinsdale Central
Bilal Khan - Hinsdale Central
Sidh Leekha - Hinsdale Central
Aileen Yang - Hinsdale Central
Dhruv Vaze - Hinsdale South

The program, which you can learn more about by visiting http://bit.ly/31emBy6, was established in 1964 to "recognize and honor some of our nation's most distinguished graduating high school seniors." It was extended in 1979 to "recognize students who demonstrate exceptional talent in the visual, creative and performing arts." It was extended again in 2015 to "recognize students who demonstrate ability and accomplishment in career and technical education fields." Each year, up to 161 students are named Presidential Scholars, which is considered one of the nation's highest honors for high school students.

We congratulate our students on this well-deserved honor.

Latin Club

Below are updates from the Hinsdale Central Latin Club.

The members of the club had another strong showing during their second Certamen gathering of the year with their peers from Hinsdale South, Lyons Township and Benet Academy. The students from Central took first place at the novice (Latin I) and upper (Latin III/IV) levels, and second place at the lower (Latin II) level.

Latin Club members Yusuf Ahmed, Aiste Austravicius, Stella Dang, Lucas DiGuido, Jack Doppke, Alexander Hillman, Peyton Miller, Amelia Mo, Sarah Jane Nicholson and Maggie Risingerhad helped beautify the cafeteria at Central by painting a mural featuring Latin and Roman elements on one of the temporary walls that were constructed so the school could provide in-person lunch in accordance with COVID-19 guidelines and protocols.

Speech Teams

The speech teams from Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South finished in first and second place respectively during their regional tournament. They also had top three finishes in several individual events.

Hinsdale Central

Team - tournament champion in the Performance in the Round event
Jack Huber and Sophie Biancalana - tournament champions in the Dramatic Duet Acting event
Jack Huber - tournament champion in the Dramatic Interpretation event
Sophie Biancalana - tournament champion in the Oratorical Declamation event
Ajay Gupta - tournament champion in the Extemporaneous Speaking event
Noor Mryan - tournament champion in the Impromptu Speaking and Original Oratory events
Hayley Johnson - tournament champion in the Prose Reading event
Tess McArdle - second place in the Humorous Interpretation event
Katrina Geiersbach - second place in the Informative Speaking event
Alegra Waverley - second place in the Special Occasion Speaking event
Hayley Johnson and Nico Kiperman - third place in the Humorous Duet Acting event
Ella Sieger - third place in the Original Comedy event
Hari Rao - third place in the Radio Speaking event

Hinsdale South

Cameron Chamberlain and Eric Hardman - tournament champions in the Humorous Duet Acting event
Aamirra Myers - tournament champion in the Poetry Reading event
Cate Cianci - tournament champion in the Humorous Interpretation event
Francesca Whalen - tournament champion in the Informative Speaking event
Sofia Guerrero - second place in the Dramatic Interpretation event; third place in the Original Oratory event
Grace Cvengros - second place in the Oratorical Declamation event
Kathryn Tauber - second place in the Prose Reading event
Darrell Mondaine - second place in the Original Comedy event
Grace Corson - second place in the Radio Speaking event
Team - third place in the Performance in the Round event
Cameron Chamberlain and Darrell Mondaine - third place in the Dramatic Duet Acting event

We congratulate both teams on their tremendous success at the tournament.

Hinsdale Central Debate Team

The Hinsdale Central Debate Team earned several accolades during the recent Evanston Township High School Superb Owl Invitational, including:

Patrick Dugan and Heidi Angelopoulos - Octafinalists
Katie Parkins and Raina Jain - Octafinalists
Ajay Jejurikar and Chloe Attlan - Semifinalists and Silver Bid to the Tournament of Champions

We congratulate the team on its continued success.

Board Briefs

If you missed the edition of Board Briefs for the District 86 Board of Education meeting that was held on Feb. 11, please visit https://conta.cc/2N2MaQ3.