Here is the February 20th SIP Day agenda. Links will be added by the morning of 2/20. 

Congratulations to Tayler Musselman and Eric Stegemann on being named by the ISBE as recipients of the Award for Meritous Service! These awards are part of the ISBE Those Who Excel& Teacher of the Year program and recognize those educators who have shaped their school community for the better. Tayler and Eric will be recognized by ISBE at the Those Who Excel/Teacher of the Year banquet on May 18th. 

The January tardy data is now updated. You may notice that there is now a new tab: 1st hour tardies. Administration will be looking at this data over the next few weeks and developing a plan to address tardies to 1st hour. 

Here is the Winter Open House flyer that was sent out to KJHS families last week. Administration is working on their presentations and we will have hallway stations set up for families to leave positive message for the KJHS students. 

Current Staff Updates

We are excited to officially announce that Katie Winchester will be with us full time next year as we expand our chorus offerings to both 6th grade teams. In addition, Katie will be teaching a section of 5th grade band. 

John Ahlemeyer will be with us again next year as our family coordinator. We are so excited that his valuable service to Kingsley families will still be available. 

New Staff Updates

Administration is currently interviewing for our open positions. We hope to have good news for all current KJHS 24-25 staff openings by March 1st. 

The time has come to recommend students for summer school. Sessions will focus on math, ELA, and SEL lessons. Further details can be found in the district MS Summer School Plan. Recommendations are due by March 1st and can be recorded on the KJHS MS Recommendation Form. 

Data Day for the 3rd quarter is 3/8/24. Elisa will work with teams during February meetings to prepare recommendations. 

Congratulations to this week's Kingsley Kudos recipients! 

• Nikki Brienen

• Anita Holland

Has a fellow Cougar gone out of their way to help you? Have you seen a staff member who goes above and beyond to make Kingsley a better place to work and learn? Reward them by nominating them for a Kingsley Kudos! It's quick, painless, and brings joy to you and the recipient. 

The Beyond the Books Foundation provides funding for innovative academic programs in Unit 5 and District 87 and is now accepting applications for grants. 

GRANT TYPES AND FUNDING AMOUNTS …

• BEYOND THE BOX: One grant in an amount between $7500 and $10,000 will be awarded in this category for an exceptional proposal. The $7500 - $10,000 award is given by a private foundation to Beyond the Books Educational Foundation and BTBEF selects the winner.

• STANDARD: Grants awarded in this category are limited to requests for $801 to $5000. • MINI: Grants awarded in this category are limited to $800 or less.

You may submit applications with the same proposal in both the Standard and Beyond the Box categories. If you choose to do so, you must use the same title for both applications and within the Beyond the Box application, clearly explain how the extra money would be used. Only one of the two applications may receive an award.

The Beyond the Books bylaws require that approximately 15% of the total annual allocation be used to fund Mini Grants. Historically, this has resulted in a much higher percentage of Mini Grants being funded than Standard Grants.

Please find more information, rubrics, and details on how to apply at CLICK HERE.  

The application deadline is 6 pm, March 4. We strongly recommend not waiting until the last minute

As we discussed during our time together on 2/2/24, here is the tentative 2024 IAR schedule. We will do staff training during our time together on 3/4/24. 

Dr. Weikle will be doing a staff meet & greet on Monday, April 5th, at 8:00 am in MSR. 

Elisa will discussing the following items with teams during the February team meetings:

• SIP Root Word Initiative:  Implementation and Progress Monitoring

• Master Schedule Preferences

• Data Day Recommendations

Just a reminder that teachers and staff should not be using crowdfunding sites, such as GoFundMe.com and Classful.com, to collect funds for field trips, school clubs, school events, etc.  Use of these sites compromises the district’s internal controls of handling funds and usually requires funds to be funneled through a personal account before ending up in the school’s account.  The district has the ability to accept electronic payments through the Infinite Campus school stores.  If you would like to utilize the Infinite Campus school store, please contact Elisa and she will help you get it set up. 

Need ideas for providing supports and accommodations? Check out these resources! Thank you to Tayler Musselman for compiling this collection and to all of you who contributed to it! 

Congratulations to Team 6-1 for winning the Healthy Eating Challenge! We will do their official trophy presentation during our Team Kingsley time on February 20th. 

Here are the Instructional Technology Tips for February.

1. The PTO is selling Papa Murphy coupon cards for $5. If you are interested in purchasing one, please let Elisa know. 

2.  The Gobena Coffee Fundraiser is an ongoing one and an excellent opportunity to try some new, local coffee. 

3. Want to request PTO funding for a classroom project? Use this form please. 

The PBIS Celebrations Team has 2 all school raffles planned for the month of February. Many thanks to the KJHS StuCo for assisting with the lunch time logistics! 

From Dan Lamboley...

Thank you for taking the time to complete the Advisory survey as part of the January 8th Institute.  The results of the survey indicate that over 70% of staff prefer Advisory a move to a daily schedule with over half preferring 20 minutes at the beginning of each day.  A majority of staff also indicated a preference to move Advisory to a daily schedule starting with the 24-25 school year knowing there are other changes to the middle school schedule being considered.  With this in mind, middle schools will implement a daily 20 minute Advisory schedule that takes place at the beginning of the day with the start of the 24-25 school year. The Advisory planning group will begin to work on updating the Advisory lessons so staff can implement them daily, and will take into consideration feedback received from the survey. 

With regards to the other changes to the middle school schedule (bringing Foreign Language back to the middle school and removing the Language Arts period and making Lit./Comp. into an English/Language Arts period) they are still being considered and discussed, but implementation would not occur until the 25-26 school year.

If you have any questions about the changes to the middle school schedule, please contact Dan Lamboley.

I hope this semester is off to a great start for you and your writers! I have attached the testing window dates, prompts, and scores HERE as the next date is approaching. 

If you are a team that switches sections of students, you may want to meet as a team to score together so you can discuss student progress and recommendations. This will be helpful as you move forward in deciding if a student who flags on the benchmark should move on to the diagnostic to dig further.

All resources are located in our LA Google Classroom (code: hv3buze). In fact, if you have not checked that out lately, I would encourage you to utilize the dashboard for all things LA. 

Please reach out if you have any questions and stay warm! 

Sincerely, 

Janel Sebeny

From HR... 

District staff,

All absences beyond 3 days must be reported to Human Resources. To notify HR of an absence beyond 3 days, please email Molly Rohde, HR Coordinator. For a planned leave, please fill out the Leave of Absence Request form .

Applicable reasons to fill out the form are as follows:

• Personal illness (including surgery, maternity leave, or injury)

• Caring for an ill or injured family member

• Military caregiver leave / Qualified exigency leave related to a military family member

• Placement of a child through adoption or foster care

Human Resources will determine if the employee requesting leave is eligible under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and provide the appropriate documentation and counseling to the employee. If the employee is ineligible for FMLA leave, Human Resources will inform the employee of the applicable leaves they can use or request.

If you have any questions regarding this procedure, you may contact Molly Rohde, Human Resources Coordinator at rohdem@unit5.org or 309-557-4400 ext. 74044.

Employees requesting Emergency Leave, Family Hardship Leave, Parental Leave, Professional Leave, or any other leave outlined in their contract, must email their direct supervisor, Monica Wilks, Molly Rohde, and their union president for their leave request to be approved. 

With utmost respect,

Your Human Resources Team