I visited Tammy Kaspari's (Gr. 4) class this week and was greeted, as I am from time to time, with questions about my job and what it is that I actually do...I LOVE that question, because it provides an opportunity to help the kids understand how hard everyone works before they even arrive.

All of the professional development, team collaboration, planning, scheduling, student services and sectioning goes unseen by most. All of the operational components of budget, food service, transportation, buildings and grounds and personnel rarely enter the minds of our students.

So when the kids ask me what I do, I tell them I don't really DO anything...but I try to create a system that supports all of the work of everyone else so that YOU can give your best to the kids so THEY can give their best everyday.

The other thing I tell them is that I spend alot of my time planning for the future. While the calendar says January, we're working on the budget, staffing plan, construction, curriculum, and professional development for this Summer and next school year. We're working on our 5 year Strategic Plan and charting our course. This is always an exciting part of the job, but it is also bittersweet.

As you know, one of the members of our team will be leaving at the end of the year to take on her new role as Superintendent in Salt Creek. I am so happy for Amy as she begins a new chapter in her professional career. We will miss her positivity and student-focused leadership. We know how lucky the Salt Creek community is and are grateful for the time and service Amy has shared with all of us.

We've also heard some news from other colleagues who will be retiring and off to new adventures too. We wish our friends best wishes for a well earned retirement and thank them for their service!

Lastly, this is also the time when I ask that you share any thoughts or requests for a change in placement next year. Please complete the form found below in the Human Resources section to share your thinking.

Best wishes,

Don

District 23 Equity Audit

District 23 is conducting an Equity Audit this year to identify strengths and needs as we develop our next Strategic Plan. We invite you to share your thoughts and perspective be completing the following brief needs assessment. All responses are confidential and surveys are due by January 20, 2023.

Give it a Rest Challenge

Welcome to 2023!  The start of a new year is always a great time to work on some healthy new habits, and we are excited to introduce to you a new Wellbeing Challenge, Give it a Rest, available through the EBC Wellbeing Portal: Navigate! The challenge is focused on achieving proper rest as it’s a major foundation of health and wellbeing. Over the course of the 4 week challenge, you will learn best practices for scheduling sleep, limiting late-night screen time, and more. Choose to snooze!

Key Dates:

• Registration for the challenge is open the following dates: January 9^th  – 29^th, 2023 (Click HERE to log in or join the EBC Wellbeing Portal then click on the MORE INFO button next to the Give it a Rest challenge).
• The challenge runs from January 23^rd to February 19^th, 2023, with one week to record after the challenge ends.

A little more about the EBC Wellbeing Portal: Navigate!...

If you have not already checked out this portal, now would be a great time. It is an excellent resource for all of your health and wellness needs and contains information regarding all of the benefits provided by the district, including the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Teledoc, BCBS Rewards, Identity Theft, and much more. Log in or register today at ebcwellbeing.livehealthyignite.com

January 2023 Healthy Habits Newsletter

Retirement Now and Later

Are you considering retirement this year? As stated in  Board Policy 5:112  regarding post retirement service recognition, "the Board of Education wishes to recognize long-term dedicated service to the School District. To that end, for those employees with 15 or more years of service, who retire giving notification to the Board of Education by February 1 of the year they retire, will receive a stipend equal to $125 for each year of service to District 23".

If you plan to retire and want to take advantage of the post retirement service recognition award, your letter of intent must be turned in to the Superintendent by February 1, 2023.

Also, if you are considering retirement, you should contact your pension plan provider as soon as possible.

Click  here  for a short video from TRS explaining how to begin the retirement process.

Click  here  for information from IMRF explaining how to apply for your pension.

Please contact Carrie Vergil in Human Resources if you have any questions about the retirement process.

OMNI 403(b) 2023 Universal Availability Notice

For those of you saving for retirement in the future, the UA notice provides employees with information on what a 403(b) plan is, how they can contribute, what providers to which they can contribute, and the amounts they can contribute annually. Click on the link above to access the notice.

2023-24 Staffing Input Form

As we begin planning for the next school year, it is helpful for me to gather as much information as possible into the many variables related to staffing. 

The purpose of this input form is to provide you the opportunity to give me feedback about your assignment for the 2023-2024 school year or any other relevant information. Please note that all assignments are made by the building principal and that sharing this request does not guarantee nor indicate likelihood of being granted a change in placement. Your feedback will be taken into consideration however, and is helpful in understanding the positions for which a voluntary transfer might be desired. The feedback you give in this form will be kept confidential and will only be shared if a change is likely or necessary.

Thank you for taking the time to provide me your feedback. Don

Passport to Learning - Request for Presenters

Are you interested in sharing your ideas with your colleagues? We want YOU to be a presenter for an upcoming D23 Passport to Learning Session! What’s “Passport to Learning,” you ask? It’s differentiated professional development for D23 teachers, by D23 teachers. This is a great leadership opportunity to share the love! We will have several opportunities to present including our next Teacher Institute Day in April. Please use the form below to tell us about your proposed session. You will be notified by email if your session was approved for presentation. 

If selected, Passport to Learning Presenters will be paid 30.00/hr for 2 hours to plan this session.

Click here to submit your idea for a Passport Session 

No Summer Bridge but Consider Applying for ESY! 

Unfortunately, we will not be able to hold a Summer Bridge program this year. We WILL be holding our ESY program and we would love your support! 



WOULD YOU RATHER….

Apply to work the 2023 District 23 Special Education Extended School Year Program!  Click THIS LINK for more information!

IAR Test Prep

As many of you know, I hate the heading of this section. I truly believe that if we are doing our thing, teaching to the standards, that’s pretty much all the test prep you need. I stand by that too! However, you may want to take a little time for your students to get oriented with the platform ( such as scroll bars, drag & drop, accessibility features and most importantly how to keep writing even though the box is small - the box expands…so keep writing!).   Here’s the Pearson site where you can show your kids around the platform prior to testing.  Please don’t take a lot of time doing this, we just want to make sure they are set up for success when they take the test in March.  

Illinois Assessment of Readiness - Home

STEM Grant Opportunities for Teachers

Recently I did a curriculum update for our D23 PTO which was a really nice way to talk to the parents about all of the great things we are doing. The parents always appreciate how hard we are working to make sure we provide a high quality education. Keeping the parents informed is one of the best ways to keep that home to school connection strong. 

During this meeting one of the parents reminded me that there is a great opportunity for STEM grants available for classroom teachers through the PPG Foundation.  Our own Iwona Hauschild at IKE has been one of the grant beneficiaries. She was able to purchase Osmos, coding kits, etc. Please always keep in mind that any grants should always be in alignment with our district curriculum. 

Click here for more information on the PPG Foundation Grant 

Cybersecurity Awareness Training Reminder

Did Javvad teach you a lot about hackers and phishing scams?! Did you win the (unfortunately, metaphorical) million in the Human Firewall game?! If you haven’t completed the cybersecurity awareness training, do, as this is a required (and important!) part of using our domain! Here is a link to the Google Doc that has all the info! Thanks for taking your time with this important step for your safety and that of the district! Let’s continue to grow in our “Thinking before Clicking!” 

Speaking of Clicking . . . 

We have an additional group with which we are working on phishing, through our insurance consortium. These campaigns will feature no training afterward; this is simply for data purposes, looking at click rates. So, while I can’t say when the email will come out (and maybe it already did!), continue to use what we have learned together, including the prevalent mindset of “Thinking before Clicking.” Thanks, as always, for your vigilance and prudence in gauging what is safe and what is questionable! 

PSA on Kids’ Use of Roblox

Do your students play Roblox? Do you have kids at home that play? If so, I highly suggest reading this article about the safety challenges and scams that are out there. Upon reading the article, you might say, “Wait, why does the company not have a better system to discourage scams?” That is a great question, and that is a relevant question for many technology companies, regardless of their product, today! This is also an opportunity to teach kids about “Thinking before Clicking!”

In Living Color

“You can do what you want to do, in living color!” (Remember that show?!) Well, when it comes to copying, though, we just need your help in making sure we are strategically copying in color. Currently, we are running over our monthly allotment for color copies. I will continue to monitor this; for now, will you just make sure if you don’t need something in color, you print it in black and white? 

Yearly Emails to Reset PAN Password (for IAR Testing)

For our staff friends in grades 3-8 that either proctor the IAR test or support students in taking it, look for an email from PAN (Pearson Access Next) the week of Monday, February 13. This is when we plan to push out the update-your-passwords/access-your-account emails to you. We just want you to be on the lookout so you know it is not Spam or phishing. Questions, let Chris and Vanessa know! (If you receive an email earlier than the aforementioned week, the system may have pushed it out early. Feel free to check with me, Chris, if that happens!)

Reminder about iPads for New Students

When there is a new student, if there is an extenuating circumstance (usually second-language needs) that is communicated to us by the principal, we can have the iPad ready on that student’s first day. For any new student, though, based on the starting date entered in PowerSchool and the various programs that sync and rollover, most accounts can’t be ready to go until the second day a student is here, which is when most new students that come during the year will receive their iPad. If on the second day things are not working, please do put in a ticket!

Getting Emails about Account Updates?

You likely have been getting messages to your personal email about different accounts you have updating their terms and policies. A suggestion: when you get these, do take a look! Some of these updates are in response to pressure on companies to be more transparent with what they do with your data and information. There are some choices you have with some of your accounts to limit what is done with your information. Also, for a moment of zen, do know that some companies update their rates and rewards. Did you see (here) that Starbucks updated their reward tiers? If you have been saving the 150 points for a free specialty coffee, redeem those soon, as it will soon take 133% of that amount for a free specialty coffee. Yikes!

Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)

We want to share with you an update we are sending to all parents about free or low-cost internet. Feel free to share this with parents too if they ask you! 

Do you need help paying for your monthly internet cost? Please see this opportunity from Xfinity, with low-cost and potentially free internet options! Need this in Spanish? Click on "ES" in the top-right corner to translate the Xfinity page! 

¿Necesita ayuda para poder obtener acceso a Internet mensualmente? Por favor chequee esta oportunidad que esta dando Xfinity, que son planes a bajo costo y en muchos casos tienen opciones de internet gratis! 

To Infinity (Visions), and Beyond (School ERP Pro) 

Infinite Visions is now School ERP Pro! The biggest changes, which are mostly cosmetic, will likely affect administration. We just wanted to let you know here if you were looking for IV and saw School ERP Pro!

Moment of Zen

As we continue to work on “Thinking before Clicking” and staying safe online, I had to share what was possibly the laziest phishing email I have received this year. What’s wrong with it? The sender’s email, BCC’ing me, the text of the message, the subject line, the attachment . . . it’s all bad! Also, remember “Smishing,” phishing attempts through texts?! Um, I don’t even have an account with this bank. And, what professional bank would use all caps?!

Also, as a final moment of zen, check out the math-inspired Dad joke.

Welcome Danny!!

Daniel Vergil recently joined the D23 family as our new maintenance technician. He is newer to the maintenance field but is eager to learn and is doing a fantastic job. We are excited to have him on the operations team! Please join us in welcoming our new maintenance technician.