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Volume 17, Issue 18 | Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Pictured above: Left: Herrick did a fantastic job performing "Legally Blonde Jr." for their school musical on March 26 and 27. Right: Belle Aire students celebrated recent achievements during their recent all-school meeting, just prior to spring break.


Throughout this publication, you will see the following color-coded dots beside each story. The dots represent which strategic goal the article addresses:

• Focusing on Learning • Connecting the Community • Securing the Future 

• Building for Success • Cultivating Talent


Have feedback regarding Communicate 58? Click here!

District 58 calendar

Now-April 17

Illinois Assessment of Readiness testing window is open for grades 3-8; principals will communicate exact testing schedule


Now-April 30

Illinois Science Assessment testing window is open for grades 5 and 8; principals will communicate testing schedule.


Wednesday, April 9

7 p.m.: Northside 5th Grade Orchestra & Chamber Strings Spring Concert at Herrick


Monday, April 14

7 p.m.: Regular Board of Education Meeting at the Downers Grove Civic Center


Tuesday, April 15

7 p.m.: Southside 5th Grade Orchestra & Chamber Strings Spring Concert at O'Neill


Wednesday, April 16

7 p.m.: Northside 4th and 6th Grade Orchestra Spring Concert at Herrick

7 p.m.: Southside Elementary Band Concert at O'Neill

Thursday, April 17

7 p.m.: Northside Elementary Band Concert at Herrick

7 p.m.: Southside 4th and 6th Grade Orchestra Spring Concert at O'Neill


Friday, April 18

No School


Tuesday, April 22

6-7:30 p.m.: Spring Open House at Belle Aire, Henry Puffer, Highland, Lester, Pierce Downer and Whittier


April 23-25

Author Fest


Wednesday, April 23

7 p.m.: Northside Elementary Musical at Herrick


Thursday, April 24

6-7:30 p.m.: Spring Open House at El Sierra, Fairmount, Hillcrest, Indian Trail and Kingsley

7 p.m.: Herrick Chamber Ensembles Concert at Herrick


Click here to view the 2024-25 calendar.

Click here to view the 2025-26 calendar.

Congratulations, 2025 DSA staff nominees!

The 2025 District 58 Education Foundation Distinguished Service Award program received a record-setting 57 award nominations recognizing 52 staff members and two groups of staff (note: a couple of individuals were nominated by multiple people). This is double the number of nominations we typically receive! In addition, this year's nominees represent all 13 District 58 schools, including the Grove Children's Preschool program.


Congratulations to our 2025 DSA nominees!

  • Jennifer Abraham, El Sierra
  • Jamie Arendas, Kingsley
  • Audrey Barc, Pierce Downer
  • Andrew Biederman, Kingsley
  • Kate Blackburn, Kingsley
  • Erin Blank, Hillcrest
  • Kevin Bowser, Pierce Downer
  • Rachel Bush, Kingsley
  • Taylor Carroll, Indian Trail
  • Erin Contreras, Pierce Downer
  • Karina DeLeon, El Sierra
  • Susan Dillon, Grove Children’s Preschool
  • Sara Felker, Whittier
  • Kathleen (Kathi) Finley, Belle Aire
  • Christine Fiorenzi, Kingsley
  • Kimberly Fisher, Lester
  • Amy Freitag, Lester
  • Tara Fulton, Belle Aire
  • Megan Gilbert, Indian Trail
  • Stacie Hamilton, Indian Trail
  • Ashley Honn, Henry Puffer
  • Barry Kincaid, O’Neill
  • Kerri Kovarik, Hillcrest
  • Christine LaPointe, Hillcrest
  • Leah Lewis, Pierce Downer
  • Cindy Lopez, El Sierra
  • Rob Lube, Indian Trail
  • Julia MacKerell, Grove Children’s Preschool
  • Crystal MacNamara, Pierce Downer
  • Kathy Mahay, Herrick
  • Lara Marlowe, Indian Trail
  • Beth McIntosh, El Sierra
  • Kim McSherry, Grove Children’s Preschool
  • Eric Miller, Whittier
  • Geoff Neustadt, District Office/DSC
  • Annabeth Niemann, Fairmount
  • Sarah Pinkus, O’Neill
  • Katie Porter, Whittier
  • Cheryl Prescott, Grove Children’s Preschool
  • Haily Pribyl Shay, Grove Children’s Preschool
  • Carrie Redpath, Hillcrest
  • Christine Reynolds, Henry Puffer
  • Alyssa Reinholz, Fairmount
  • Michelle Rzepka, Hillcrest
  • Joanne Steichmann, Lester
  • Jennifer Tartaglione, Herrick
  • Jonathan Vidovic, Herrick
  • Lety VonKerens, Fairmount
  • Julie Walters, Highland
  • Allison Wrolson, Indian Trail
  • Eareen Yambao, Herrick
  • Taylor Zilleox, Hillcrest


  • Grove Children’s Preschool Special Education Team: Antoinette Belken, Kira Baltazar, Lauren Wilson, Cheryl Prescott, Karen Mulligan, Hannah Lamprecht, Kim McSherry, Maggie Michels, Susan Dillon


  • Kingsley First Grade BEST Team: Maggie Resillez, Lori Bjes, Mia Liebmann, Michelle Schmidt, Kate Blackburn, Jen Zamora, Lauren Hartelius 

The 2025 DSA nominees will be celebrated, and the two 2025 DSA winners will be announced, during an award ceremony on Tuesday, May 6.

District 58 celebrates its assistant principals and coordinators

In honor of National Assistant Principals Week, District 58 is celebrating its incredible assistant principals and program coordinators! These professionals truly go above and beyond serving our students, staff and community. Thank you for your dedication. We appreciate you!

Happy National Library Week!

This week is National Library Week! District 58 thanks the many teacher librarians who inspire students every day.


For example, when students from O'Neill's Dual Language Program visited the school library last fall, O'Neill Teacher Librarian Tasha Squires asked herself how she could better connect the students with reading. 


So, she set out to create an atmosphere that engaged multilingual students, offering them a wide variety of reading formats to choose from and presenting them with representation in the materials in the library. See the image above for an example!


"This has worked to welcome multilingual students into the library, and, more important, to keep them reading," Ms. Squires said.


Her work has paid off! Ms. Squires recently reflected on this experience and wrote an article that was published by Edutopia, an education resource website that is part of the George Lucas Educational Foundation. Check out her story here.


Thank you, Ms. Squires, for not only identifying ways to welcome multilingual students to the school library, but also for sharing your knowledge with the education community!

O'Neill student advances to National PTA Reflections competition

Lester and Belle Aire sixth graders earn State Honorable Mentions

The Illinois PTA Reflections art competition recently selected an art project created by Nora James, an O’Neill seventh grader, to advance to the National PTA Reflections competition. Her project, "Human Law," advanced in the Film Production category.

Only 27 students statewide advanced to this level of the competition!


The state competition also awarded State Honorable Mentions to two District 58 students. Ashley Erickson, a Lester sixth grader, received a State Honorable Mention for her art, “Beautiful in Every Different Way,” in the Dance Choreography category. Henry Haley, a Belle Aire sixth grader, received a State Honorable Mention for his art, “The Nature of Imperfection,” in the photography category. 


The students' artworks will be honored during a ceremony on May 17 in Champaign, Illinois. The National PTA will announce the national Reflections winners later this spring. Congratulations to Nora, Ashley and Henry!


Learn more.

Update on gifted and accelerated placement communications

Accelerated Communications: Grades 3-7

During the week of April 28, we will send communication to the families of all newly single- or double-accelerated students currently in grades 3-7, as well as the families of students who were invited to take an additional assessment but were not successful in that assessment. Any families of students in grades 3-7 who do not receive a communication by the week of April 28 should generally assume that their student will progress to the next sequential year of math instruction.


Gifted Communications

On Friday, May 16, we will send communication to the families of all newly eligible students for gifted programming. This will include students in third, fourth and fifth grade for next year's elementary program, and students in sixth and seventh grade for next year's middle school program. Students in grades 4, 5 and 7 who are currently in the program remain eligible for next year and will not receive a separate communication.  


Accelerated Communications: Grade 2

On Thursday, May 22, we will send communication to the families of all newly accelerated students in second grade. We wait for the spring MAP scores for second grade students to determine eligibility, which is why this timeline is delayed.  


Please don't hesitate to reach out to Liz Ehrhart at eehrhart@dg58.org in the Curriculum Office with any questions.

Parents and guardians invited to take Student Services Survey

District 58 invites parents and guardians to complete its Student Services survey. This optional short survey will help District 58 better understand the scope of its needs in the following service areas: guidance and school counseling services, psychological services, social work and health.



Thank you for your time.

Third and fourth graders invited to join the instrumental music program

Attention current third and fourth grade parents/guardians! Next year, your child will have the opportunity to begin playing a musical instrument!


Please view this document to read FAQs about instrumental music and the recruitment process. Please review this information and talk with your child about playing an instrument! Additionally, please add the Parent/Guardian Information Meeting to your family's calendar:


Parent/Guardian Information Meetings:



  • Beginning Orchestra Meeting (for 3rd Grade Parents): Tuesday, April 29 from 6-7 p.m. at Herrick Middle School


  • Beginning Band Meeting (for 4th Grade Parents): Tuesday, April 29 from 7-8 p.m. at Herrick Middle School

Preparedness in District 58: What are the District's active threat procedures?

In the Sept. 11 issue of Communicate 58, we shared links to our full four-part Emergency Preparedness series. Throughout the school year, we will also highlight parts of this series within this newsletter. Today, we highlight the final part of Topic 4, which discusses emergency responders at schools and threats outside the school day.


Other/Threats Outside the School Day: District 58 realizes that a large emergency responder presence at school is alarming to families. When this occurs, even during situations that do not fall in the above categories, the District or school will contact parents.


Examples include police presence due to a false alarm or a minor emergency.


Please keep in mind, police and fire personnel frequently visit our schools to conduct curricular safety lessons. Your school likely will not send parents a message when police or fire staff are at school for a scheduled visit.


In addition, District 58 takes threats received outside the school day very seriously. In these situations, the District will work closely with police to investigate the threat and evaluate whether the school is safe for students and staff. The District or school will send families and staff an email and, depending on the situation, a call and/or text message, with as much information as possible without jeopardizing an investigation or violating confidentiality.


Click here to view the full District 58 emergency preparedness series.


IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

State testing has started; encourage your children to do their best

Each spring, District 58 administers state-mandated assessments.


The testing window for the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (for third-through-eighth graders) is March 18-April 17.


The testing window for the Illinois Science Assessment (for fifth and eighth graders) is March 3-April 30.


Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Liz Ehrhart shared a message about this assessment, why it's important, and how we can support and prepare our students to do their best on it! Read her message here.


Thank you for your partnership! Principals will send their schools' specific IAR/ISA schedule to families.

Please complete registration for 2025-26 school year

District 58 thanks the 84% of returning families who completed 2025-26 student registration. If you still need to register your child for next school year, please complete this process as soon as possible!


To register your child, please log on to the PowerSchool Enrollment Portal. On the left-hand navigation menu, click "Returning Student Registration" and complete all forms. Afterward, please pay student fees in your PushCoin account. If you did not upload any required forms (for example, a required medical form) during the online registration process, please submit them at your soonest convenience.


For more detailed directions, please visit our Registration webpage.

Summer School registration is open

Limited spots remain open in District 58's Summer School program.


All art and kindergarten classes, as well as the second and third grade math/reading classes, have been filled. There currently are still spaces in the math/reading classes for other grade levels. Please click here to register.


Please visit our Summer Learning webpage to learn more about District 58's summer programming.


Registration is currently open for its summer Extended School Year program for students eligible through their IEP. Students eligible for this program will receive an email from their IEP team with more information.

BOARD OF EDUCATION

Looking ahead

The Board of Education will hold a Regular Meeting on Monday, April 14 at 7 p.m. at the Downers Grove Civic Center. The agenda will be posted on BoardDocs on Friday, April 11.


During the April 2 election, four community members ran unopposed for the District 58 Board of Education. These four individuals -- which include two incumbents and two newcomers -- will officially be sworn in and begin their terms during a special Reorganization Board Meeting on Wednesday, May 7 at 7 p.m. at the Downers Grove Civic Center.


Congratulations to the four recently-elected District 58 Board of Education members: Nicole Bernard, Melissa Ellis, Darren Hughes and Katie Thomas.

IN THE COMMUNITY

Community invited to Author Fest book signing on April 25

The District 58 Author Fest Book Signing and Photo Opportunity is back again this year on Friday, April 25 from 5-7 p.m. at Anderson’s Bookshop, 5112 Main St., Downers Grove. 


The favorite annual event is sponsored by the Downers Grove Area Council of PTAs with support from the Education Foundation of District 58 and the Downers Grove Junior Woman’s Club.


The event will feature three children's authors – Lindsay Currie, Nancy Churninn and Barb Rosenstock.


Earlier in the week, all District 58 first, third and fifth graders will meet with one of the three authors to hear insights about the writing/illustration process.


Twenty percent of every book purchased for the book signing at Anderson's will come back to the PTA Council to be used for future district-wide programming, including Author Fest. 

Community e-flyers

District 58 includes relevant e-flyers in the Communicate 58 newsletter and online. Learn more.


Downers Grove Grade School District 58

850 Curtiss Street, Suite 200, Downers Grove, IL 60515

Community Relations Office: 630-719-5805 I mhewitt@dg58.org | www.dg58.org

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