Friday, March 14th, 2025

Friday, March 14th, 2025

Dear Ivy Hall Families,

We hope that you are signed up for a spring Family Educator Conference in order to check in with your child’s teacher about their progress next week. Please see detailed information below on how to sign up for a conference and if you run into any issues, please reach out to our front office and ask for Lori Mackay, our administrative assistant.

The 5Essentials survey for parents is open and our goal is to reach 20% participation! The 5Essentials is used for school improvement purposes and more information can be found below.

As a reminder, next week has a unique schedule due to conferences, please see the upcoming dates below.

Have a great weekend,

Mike Senatore

*Upcoming Dates*

  • Monday, March 17th
    • Wear green or something lucky! Green is also associated with generosity as we donate to those in need.
  • Wednesday, March 19th
    • PTO Special Lunch
  • Thursday, March 20th
    • Early Release
    • Family Educator Conferences
  • Friday, March 21st
    • No School
    • Family Educator Conferences
  • Monday, March 24th - March 30th
    • Spring Break - No School

NEW *5Essentials for Parents*

It's a race against the clock and Kildeer is our first school to hit our GOAL of 20%! Each school must have 20% of its parent population take the short 5Essentials Survey by March 28th-- in order to receive their results. These results are crucial as all KCSD96 schools use this data for planning for the coming school years. Parents and guardians, please take 5 minutes of your time to complete this survey. Parent identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child.

Please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and select the appropriate survey to begin. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact UChicago Impact Survey Support at 1-866-440-1874 or [email protected].

Here are the parent response rates for schools in Kildeer Countryside CCSD 96:

  • Country Meadows Elem School: 5%
  • Ivy Hall Elem School: 4%
  • Kildeer Countryside Elem School: 22%
  • Prairie Elem School-Buffalo Grove: 5%
  • Twin Groves Middle School: 1%
  • Willow Grove Early Learning Center: 19%
  • Woodlawn Middle School: 3%

NEW - *IAR Testing*

As required by the State of Illinois, students in grades 3 - 8 take the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) each spring. This year the district will be administering the IAR to students within a window between April 2nd to April 8th. The Illinois State Board of Education does not offer an opt-out. Instead, it is considered a refusal as this is a required test by the state. Parents and guardians, please note that this test is highly important and is on par with assessments like the ACT and SAT. Additionally, this is an opportunity to build your child's test taking skills prior to attending high school. Please encourage your child to get a good amount of sleep during the window, and continue to eat nutritious and nourishing breakfasts.

NEW - *Student Council Food Pantry*

We are beyond fortunate and extremely thankful for the generous collection of food items provided by the students at Ivy Hall Elementary School! These food donations were distributed to approximately 80 families in need in our community last Tuesday through the Food Pantry. The collected food items supplemented fresh produce, bakery items and meats to provide for those families dealing with food insecurities. As the cost of food has increased, so has the need in our community. The Food Pantry operates through generous donations from community members. Any, and all, donations are always appreciated. Thank you again to the Ivy Hall Elementary School community for your generous contribution. Your generosity impacted many families.

REPEAT *Ivy Hall Citizenship Award*

We are very excited to announce that we will be launching the Ivy Hall Citizenship Award this month. The Ivy Hall Citizenship Award is a brand new recognition progam and it intends to honor students for their overall conduct, behavior, academic effort, and service to others within the Ivy Hall School Community. We are conducting a “soft launch” of this award program this school year with intentions of recognizing students from each grade level for every trimester next school year.

Students can be nominated by staff members to be recognized through this program. The criteria for staff nominations include academic effort, behavior, positive interactions with others, leadership, and service to others. Students who are selected for this award will then be recognized through a formal certificate, parent notification, and small ceremony.

We are very excited to recognize our students through the Ivy Hall Citizenship Award. Students were introudced to this award this past week and our first award winners will be announced during the week of Monday, March 17th. This program will be used in addition to our existing PAWS program which seeks to recognize students for following the K triple R (Kind, Respectful, Responsible, and Ready) on a daily basis.

REPEAT - *Toys*

I wanted to take a moment to provide a friendly reminder about toys at school. Please remind your child that there are no toys allowed at school. This includes Pokemon cards, any fidget items that make noise or are distracting, stuffed animals (unless it is a classroom reward), or any other toy item. The reason they are not allowed is they can be distracting in the classroom environment and we have seen a number of personal items from students that are lost so it is best to keep them at home.

REPEAT: *Family Educator Conferences Sign Ups Begin March 6th*

Family/Educator Conferences are right around the corner! Once again, we are using Meet the Teacher as our scheduling platform for conferences on Thursday, March 20th (5:00-8:30) and Friday, March 21st (10:00-1:30). Sign ups begin at 3pm on March 6th.

All conferences are virtual via Meet the Teacher’s platform unless you contact the staff members and notify them.

Elementary school families: When you open the Meet the Teacher platform, you will see your child's classroom teacher in the list of available conference sign-ups as well as some specials teachers, special education teachers, and related service providers if your child sees them during a school day.

Middle school families: When you open the Meet the Teacher platform, you will see one of your child's core teachers in the list of available conference sign-ups as well as exploratory teachers, special education teachers, and related service providers if your child sees them during a school day.

Please sign-up for a conference with any staff member listed who you would like to see. Meet the Teacher Conference Sign Up will close at 4:00 pm on Monday, March 17th. After that, you must contact the building administrative assistant at the school.

Click on the link below to sign in to Meet the Teacher or copy and paste it into a browser: https://kildeerdistrict96.meettheteacher.com

For those who may be trying to sign-up for a conference using a mobile device, please know that you may encounter issues navigating the platform. For best results, it is recommended that you try to access the link on a laptop or computer.

Families with multiple students in KCSD96 may experience issues when trying to switch between sign-ups. To mitigate any problems, please try using a different browser or logging out between sign-ups.

REPEAT: *March 4th Student Registration Opens*

Student registration for the 2025-26 school year opens on March 4th. Parents and guardians of new Kindergarten students (who have submitted all required documents) and returning KCSD96 students will be emailed a link to register their child for the 2025-26 school year.

Complete registration by April 15 to receive a $20 Early-Bird discount. Families with returning students who register after April 15 will pay the standard registration fee. 

Registering early helps us to plan for the upcoming school year.

Registration fees paid by April 15 for the 2025-26 school year are:

  • Early Childhood Blended Tuition: $2,870 (or $335.07 monthly)
  • Kindergarten: $90
  • Grades 1-4: $110
  • Grade 5: $120
  • Grades 6-8: $135

Families new to District 96 can find more registration information here: https://www.kcsd96.org/about/registration

If you have any registration questions, please contact [email protected].

REPEAT *Kindergarten Registration*

Spread the word– Kildeer Countryside School District 96 is excited to welcome kindergarteners for the 2025–2026 school year! To ensure all students have the opportunity to build a strong and consistent educational foundation, children who are five years old on or before September 1st of a given school year will be enrolled in Kindergarten. Children who are six years old on or before September 1st of a given school year will be enrolled in first grade. In addition to the information below, we have more details on our website.

Registration Timeline:

  • STARTING NOW: Begin the registration process by emailing all required documents to Cristina Castro, Administrative Assistant at Willow Grove Early Learning Center, at [email protected]. If you have a student currently enrolled in Pre-K at Willow Grove, you do not need to resubmit these documents.
  • March 4, 2025: The district will send online registration links to families with approved documents.
  • March 18, 2025: Dual Language Program Virtual Parent Night from 6-6:30pm. This is for parents of incoming Kindergarten students who are interested in learning more about the program. Meeting link to be provided.
  • April 15, 2025: Early Bird Discount Ends for Registration. Dual Language Lottery due date.
  • April 29, 2025: Virtual Dual Language Lottery at 5pm. Meeting link to be provided.
  • April 30, 2025: Complete registration by this date to attend the Kindergarten Kick-Off event at Willow Grove Early Learning Center. Registered families get the sign-up right away once they are fully registered.
  • May 14, 2025: Kindergarten Kickoff will be held at Willow Grove. This event is sign-up only for families who are fully registered by April 30. Students will receive a free t-shirt!

Required Documents:

  • Child's birth certificate, passport, or visa
  • Parent/guardian driver's license or passport
  • Recent (within 30 days) mortgage statement, signed lease, or property tax bill
  • Recent (within 30 days) utility bill
  • Completed Enrollment Form, Residency Form, and Home Language Survey (available in multiple languages)

Please review the Health Requirements and submit the necessary health forms by the specified due dates.

For questions, contact Cristina Castro at [email protected] or call (847) 541-3660.

REPEAT *Incoming Kindergarten Dual Language Parent Night Opportunity

Interested in having your child obtain a bilingual education? The KCSD96 Spanish/English Dual Language Program is a unique and enriching opportunity in our region-- providing an opportunity for students to develop a deep academic proficiency in two languages. In the Dual Language Program, 50 percent of the academic curriculum is delivered in Spanish, and 50 percent of the academic curriculum is delivered in English.

If families are interested in the Spanish/English Dual Language Program Lottery, they must indicate so during the virtual registration process starting in March. The deadline is April 15th. The lottery will be hosted virtually on May 5th. For more information, please visit: https://www.kcsd96.org/curriculum/dual-language-lottery

KCSD96 will be hosting a Virtual Parent Night from 6 to 6:30 p.m. on March 18, 2025, for parents of incoming Kindergarten students who are interested in learning more about the Dual Language Program. To RSVP and receive the virtual meeting link, please complete this form.