April 2025

A Note from Ms. Palmer, KJHS Principal

Dear Kingsley families,

Recently, a nationally renowned literacy coach did some observations at KJHS. As she and I stood in the hallway observing passing period, she turned to me and said "Your students are doing great". And she was right; they are doing great. At our third quarter PBIS assembly, after students played floor hockey with the Bloomington Bison and threw pies at some staff members (with permission of course), I had the pleasure of announcing to the KJHS student body that we had accomplished something that hadn't been done in years. We, the Kingsley community, experienced a 30% reduction in third quarter referrals as compared to second quarter referrals. Moreover, we had 26% fewer referrals in the 2025 3rd quarter than in the 2024 3rd quarter. The students cheered and they should. It's an amazing accomplishment and we are so thankful for your role in making it happen. Your support and reinforcement of school behavior expectations is instrumental in creating a safe and productive learning environment at KJHS. Thank you for all you do to help us educate your children - here's to a strong finish to the school year!

Ms. Palmer

KJHS Updates

The KJHS Drama Club proudly presents...

Annie Jr!

That's right, for the first time in many years, KJHS is putting on a full musical performance! Our program has been growing at an excitingly rapid rate so we have a limited number of seats (375) available for each show. Online pre-sale tickets for the April 25 (6 pm) & 26 (2 pm) shows are available HERE. Leftover tickets will be available for purchase at the door, but there is no guarantee there will be any left. We HIGHLY recommend purchasing them online ASAP.

8th Grade Activity Night: May 2nd

Mark your calendars for May 2nd for 8th Grade Activity Night! This is an evening sponsored by the KJHS 8th grade families and is designed for the 8th grade students to be able to come and enjoy being together as a class before their time at KJHS comes to an end. The event will feature dancing, concessions, games, and more.

In order to put on this event, we need the assistance of our KJHS 8th grade families in the form of donations and volunteers. Below are lists outlining our needs. Please assist us in any way you can to create an evening our 8th grade students will never forget!

2025 8th Grade Activity Night Donation & Volunteer Sign Ups

2025 8th Grade Activity Night Amazon Wishlist

Stage and Cafe Curtains

KJHS is seeking individuals who have sewing talent/ability/willingness to help with constructing a new stage curtain as well as blackout curtains for the cafeteria windows. Interested in helping? Contact Elisa Palmer at palmere@unit5.org.

March Discipline Referrals

We are so excited to share that discipline referrals for March 2025 were down 25.7% as compared to March 2024. Thank you for all you do to help support KJHS in maintaining high standards for both behavior and academics!

End of Year Events

Believe it or not, it's time to start talking about end of year events. Here are dates to mark on your calendar...

May 2: 8th Grade Night (a night of games and dancing for the KJHS Class of 2025; tickets will go on sale mid-April)

May 8: 6th Grade Welcome Night (designed for incoming 6th graders and their families)

May 21: Field Day

PTO Dine to Donate Events: April 5 & 22

The KJHS PTO is sponsoring a fundraiser at Fannie Mae on April 5 from 11 am to 3 pm. Fannie Mae will donate 30% of the sale for any customer who shows this flyer.

The KJHS PTO is sponsoring a Dine to Donate at the Normal Buffalo Wild Wings on Tuesday, April 22. See the flyer for more details.

Yearbook Orders

2024-25 yearbooks are on sale now through April 7. Yearbooks are $35 and be ordered directly from Varsity's Yearbook Order Center. Kingsley's school code is 26314.

ISA Testing

KJHS 8th grade students will be taking the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA) in their science classes on April 8-10.

PTO Updates

The KJHS PTO is looking for a volunteer to serve as treasurer for the 25-26 school year. If you are interested, please reach out to the PTO Board at kjhspto@gmail.com.

The KJHS PTO has 1 remaining meeting for the 24-25 school year: May 12. Meetings begin at 6:30 and are held in the KJHS IMC or can be attended online via Google Meet.

KJHS PTO No Hassle Fundraiser: The KJHS PTO is asking for donations to help them support the KJHS students and staff throughout the year. Want to donate? Here's are the options...

Donations of cash or check (made out to KJHS PTO) can be submitted in the following ways:

dropped off in a sealed and labeled envelope at the school office
dropped off in the secured drop box located by the main entrance doors
mailed to KJHS PTO at 303 Kingsley Street, Normal, IL 61761

On-line donations can be made using PayPal to KJHSpto@gmail.com.

Please make sure to mark the donation as “For Friends and Family” so that a service fee is not deducted from your donation.

PBIS Updates

PBIS PRIDE theme for March was Integrity. Through this lesson and discussions in advisory, students and staff discussed how we can maintain our integrity when we come to school not at our 100% best. April's PRIDE theme is Determination and we will be discussing how to keep up our best efforts when things get hard.

K Cart Wishlist

The KJHS K Cart is a key component in the KJHS PBIS reward system. Operated by 8th grade BELT students, the K Cart provides the opportunity for students to use K Cash (earned by exhibiting appropriate behavior in the classroom) to purchase items such as fidgets, bracelets, candy, soda, etc. The K Cart operates 10 weeks a semester and costs approximately $1500-$2000/semester to operate. The KJHS PTO supports the K Cart with a generous $1000/semester donation and the remainder of the funds come from monetary and product donations. If you would like to donate to the K Cart, please visit their Amazon wish list or drop off cash/check at the KJHS Main Office. The K Cart began second semester operations on February 7 .

25-26 School Year Online Registration

Online Registration in Infinite Campus for the 25-26 school year is opening on March 31st. The process is the same as last year and information is available on the Registration Page.

Attendance Message via Talking Points

KJHS is working hard to improve student attendance rates. One of our efforts is a weekly message to stakeholders about attendance. This message is being sent out by Mrs. Schwarz (counselor) via Talking Points and is not directed at anyone in particular. If you get the message on a day your student is absent, please be aware that it is simply just an all school message and is not being sent to you because your student is absent. That is simply a coincidence.

KJHS Promise Council

Did you know that KJHS has its own dedicated Promise Council organization? The Kingsley Promise Council is dedicated to removing barriers to learning such as:

Meeting the physical needs of students when they stand in the way of academic achievement
Helping schools help kids - one child at a time
Providing adult mentors for students
Increasing opportunities for parental engagement

Get involved! We need your help to build a list of caring adults for the basic needs as they occur at Kingsley; examples include bus passes for transportation, food and grocery gift cards, hygiene products, gently worn clothing and household items.

If you would like more information or to add your name to the Shout-Out list, please contact co-chairs Susan Wright or Katie Ruder at promisecouncil.kjhs@gmail.com. You can also access the KJHS Promise Council Amazon Wishlist here.

KJHS Info

Attendance Matters

Attendance is key to academic success. Students who miss two days a month (that's once every other week) this year will miss...

20 days of school

30 hours of math

60 hours of reading and writing

Over one year of school by graduation

Want some more information or helpful hints in increasing your student's attendance? Start with these helpful strategies.

KJHS Social Media

Just a couple of updates re KJHS social media...

We are now actively posting to our Kingsley Junior High School Facebook page. Thank you for your patience as we worked through some of the changes with Meta taking over Facebook.
Postings on our social media are dependent on coaches and teachers sending information to Ms. Palmer. If you feel an activity is being left out, please reach to the coach or teacher and encourage them to send Ms. Palmer information/updates to post.

Social Probation

Attendance at extracurricular events is a privilege, not a right, and students who cannot maintain appropriate behavior during the school day forfeit the privilege of attending after school events at KJHS. As such, students who earn an out of school suspension or an in school suspension during the second quarter of the 24-25 school year will be placed on social probation for the remainder of the quarter and cannot attend any extracurricular events unless they are a participant in the event itself. Social probation may also be issued to students who earn lunch detentions for the same offense on multiple occasions. Issuance of social probation will be communicated to both the student and the family by the issuing administrator.

AP Assignments

Assistant Principal Dennis Larson (larsond@unit5.org; 557-4858) is the primary administrator for students in 6th and 7th grade while Associate Principal Sylvester Davis (davissy@unit5.org; 557-4962) is the primary administrator for students in 8th grade. If you have a concern about a behavior issue with your student, please contact your student's AP.

Counselors

Mrs. Kimberly Johnson (johnsonk@unit5.org; 557-4869) is the guidance counselor for students with last names starting with A-K; Mrs. Breanna Schwarz (shwarzb@unit5.org; 557-4869) is the guidance counselor for student with the last names starting with L-Z. Please contact your student's guidance counselor is you have concerns about any social or mental health issues.

Navigating Student Conflicts

Given the fact that we have over 700 students in our KJHS community, conflicts are bound to occur. If your student is experiencing an issue with another student and needs adult assistance to help work things out, please encourage them to complete the "What's Up Kingsley?" form. This will alert the adults in the building to the issue and we will direct the students involved to the KJHS resource best suited to the conflict. If your student is struggling to express the issue, please notify their AP and they follow up with your student.

Who Do I Contact at KJHS?

Knowing who to contact at KJHS about certain issues can be challenging. We hope this mini-guide helps as to who to contact first when you are needing assistance.

Absences (partial or full day): KJHS Attendance line (309-557-4456)
Classroom level issues (grades, behavior, etc.): Your student's teacher(s)
General questions about KJHS: KJHS Main Office line (309 - 557-4407)
Student information/registration updates: KJHS Guidance office (557-4899)
Sports related questions: Mrs. Menken (557-4862 or menkenk@unit5.org) or Mr. Davis (557 - 4962 or davissy@unit5.org)
Student behavior issues: Student's AP
- - - - 6th & 7th Grade: Mr. Larson (557-4858 or larsond@unit5.org)
        8th Grade: Mr. Davis (557 - 4962 or davissy@unit5.org)
Student emotional or social issues: Student's Guidance Counselor
- - - - Last Name A-K: Mrs. Kimberly Johnson (johnsonk@unit5.org)
        Last Name L-Z: Mrs. Breanna Schwarz (schwarb@unit5.org)
Student schedules: KJHS Guidance office (557-4899)
Student support services: KJHS Guidance office (557-4899)
Issues with KJHS staff member: Ms Elisa Palmer (palmere@unit5.org; 557-4574)
Curriculum questions: Ms Elisa Palmer (palmere@unit5.org; 557-4574)

Athletics & Clubs

24-25 Athletics

Kingsley Clubs and Activities

Incoming students & families often ask "how can my child get involved & participate in the Kingsley community?" Great question!

Off of the main page of the Kingsley website, there will be an extracurricular activities page once updates are completed. For students, we post club information in the daily announcements & on "What's Kickin' at Kingsley?" bulletin boards throughout the school. Here is a list of our current clubs:

Animal Club Flobinet Choir Not In Our School

Board Game Club GSA Percussion Club

Byte by Byte Club Jazz Band Pokemon Club

Chess Club Kingsley Bible Club Rubix Cube Club

Drama Club Kingsley News Speech/Debate Team

D&D/MTG Club Kingsley Stream Team Spirit Club

FCCLA Kingsley Student Council Tech Club

Fellowship of Student Athletes (FCA) Knitting/Crochet Club Yearbook

KJHS Book Club eSports Club Songwriting Club

Stream Team is Bringing KJHS Home Games to Your Home!

Want to enjoy KJHS home games from the comfort of your own home? Check out our Kingsley Activities You Tube page for live streams of all home events and enjoy how our student led Stream Team broadcasts each and every game!

Unit 5 Junior Athletics Instagram Account

Unit 5 Junior High Athletics now has its own Instagram account. You can follow all the Unit 5 Junior High Athletics action by following them at u5jhathletics.

Athletic Eligibility

In order to be eligible for participation in IESA athletic events, student athletes must maintain a grade of 1.1 or higher in all classes. Eligibility checks are done on the Friday of each week and, if ineligible, a student athlete cannot participate in any athletic contests from the Monday following the eligibility check through the follow Sunday. If a student athlete is ineligible, their coach will communicate that to them and a letter will be sent to their family.

Dates to Note

April

5: Fannie Mae Fundraiser (11 am - 3 pm)
8-10: ISA Testing (8th grade only)
17: Early Release Day (11:45 student dismissal)
18: School Improvement Day (No student attendance)
22: BBW (Normal) Fundraiswer (10:30 am to close)
25 & 26: Annie, Jr!

May

2: Early Release (11:45 am student dismissal)
2: 8th Grade Activity Night
8: 6th Grade Welcome Night (incoming 6th graders)
12: PTO Meeting (6:45 pm)
21: Field Day

Stay Up to Date!

24-25 Unit 5 Calendar

Be sure to mark school holidays, teacher institute days, and early release days on your calendar!

Daily Announcements are shown each lunch period daily & posted on the main page of the KJHS website.

Stay Connected

To stay connected to our Kingsley community, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, &/or Twitter.

You can also visit our school website for additional information. Please be patient as changes are being made to the website to ensure the most updated information is provided.

At any time you can also reach out by email to palmere@unit5.org

Unit 5 Info

Talking Points

McLean County Unit 5 has implemented a computer program called Talking Points that allows staff to communicate with families by text using their work computers. Occasionally, cell phones will label the messages as "spam". If you get a message like this, it is a legitimate message from a KJ staff member.

Unit 5 Podcast

Want to know more about Unit 5? Check out our new podcast, Inside Unit 5!

This monthly podcast is dedicated to highlighting information and news for Unit 5’s parents, students, educators, and community members.

Unit 5 Strategic Plan

Unit 5 has a new strategic plan, which will guide the district's decision making and priorities over the next five years. Unit 5 is committed to integrity, belonging, engagement, teamwork, and excellence and has the following areas of focus:

Inspiring a Culture of Learning
Creating Foundations for the Future
Building and Strengthening Our Community

Want to know more? Check out the Unit 5 2024-2029 Strategic Plan.

#KingsleyCARES

Student Council is putting on a dance from 3:45 - 5:30 in the KJHS cafeteria. The theme is "Winter Glow" and tickets are on sale now. Attendance is limited to 250 students and students with a 2nd quarter ISS or OSS will not be allowed to attend the event.

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