Conference Day 2&3

Day 2 at the Annual IASA Conference included a "new superintendents" workshop, vision 20/20 workshop, a workshop on impending insurance changes, and a rather gloomy forecasting presentation from the Illinois State Board of Education. In the ISBE presentation, it was announced that next year we may be looking at a more severe proration of our state assistance. Currently, we are funded at 89% of the state rate of approximately $6100/student. Next year it may drop as low as 85% and there is no guarantee that the State will not lower the foundation level from $6100ish. This combo would be disastrous for us and all schools downstate. This morning (Day 3) I am attending a technology 1:1 workshop that focuses on Google Chromebooks. The Chromebook is the device we are currently leaning towards deploying in the near future. After this workshop - it is back in car and up to Astoria for a Common Core Workshop.

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IASA Annual Conference Report 1

Today, is the second day of the Annual Illinois Association of School Administrators Conference. The conference is held in Springfield, Illinois. There are 800+ school district in Illinois and it would appear that most of those districts have sent their superintendents to this conference. Yesterday, I attended a workshop with superintendents from our western Illinois region, as well as superintendents from the Chicago area and other larger districts. It is very informative to listen to the issues that affect rural and large districts in different ways. Each day has keynote speakers and breakout sessions. I have attended a financial workshop and student growth model breakout session to this point. Today, we are hearing about the IASA's new Vision 20/20 plan to make the voice of school leaders, teachers, students, and parents the sounds that our legislature listens to. This program is an exciting change in the mindset is public education leadership from reactive to proactive. I will share more on this initiative over the next few years.
Have a great day!


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Great Homecoming Weekend

I just wanted to congratulate our kids on a great homecoming weekend. The high school administration noted how much fun the students seemed to have during the week. They were very involved and energetic during the different spirit days. The volleyball team was victorious on Thursday and the football team won a great game over North Fulton on Friday. I attended my firsat South Fulton homecoming dance on Saturday and was very impressed with our students’ behavior and appearance. It looked as though they were having a very enjoyable evening.  

This afternoon we have been experiencing some severe weather around the area. The storm that blew-up quickly this evening was pretty fast and intense. As I went out to check on the weather and get the football teams inside before it got worse, I was reassured by the fact that the coaches were already bringing the kids in. They had started heading in at the first sign of lightning. As the clouds began to swirl a little, the JH FB coaches had the players in the halls preparing for the worst. As a parent of an athlete and supervisor of staff, I was pleased with and appreciative of the decision making of our football staff. It just goes to show you that we do put the safety of our students and student-athletes first. Let’s hope the weather calms down for the rest of the night. Have a Safe Evening

Elementary School Parent Resources

I have attached a copy of a letter I am sending home on Wednesday with our elementary students: We are sending a Home and School Connections newsletter home this week. These newsletters are excellent resources for parents of young students. They provide ideas, insights, and strategies that you may find useful in your day-to-day educational interactions with your children. We hope that you take the time to read the newsletter and share the information with your student(s). We will be sending home a new version each month. In addition, we will send home special “themed” editions throughout the year.

Come and Enjoy Lunch with Your Student!!

National Take Your Parents To Lunch Week Dear Parents, Grandparents, and Guardians, To celebrate National Take Your Parents To Lunch Week (10/14-18), we are going to try something new. We are extending a lunch invitation to the parents and guardians of our elementary students. If a parent or guardian is unable to attend, a grandparent would be a welcomed lunch partner. Due to our limited cafeteria space, we have to get a little creative with scheduling. We will split each grade’s participation over two days. Opportunities for having lunch at school with your student(s) are as follows: October 15, Tuesday: 11:00 -11:30 Kindergarten 11:30 -12:00 Second and Fourth Grades 12:00 -12:30 Fifth Grade October 16, Wednesday: 11:00 -11:30 Kindergarten 11:30 -12:00 Second and Fourth Grades 12:00 -12:30 Sixth Grade October 17, Thursday: 11:00 -11:30 First Grade 11:30 -12:00 Third Grade 12:00 -12:30 Sixth Grade October 18, Friday: 11:00 -11:30 First Grade 11:30 -12:00 Third Grade 12:00 -12:30 Sixth Grade Contact the school if you did not receive the invitation that was sent home with students. We look forward to seeing you in the lunchroom.

Friday's School Improvement Day

As many of you are already aware (if you aren't - your kids are!)we will be dismissing early on this Friday, September 27th. Students will be released at 11:30 and 11:40. The purpose of a School Improvement Day is to provide some guidance, skill development, training, and or professional development to our staff. The goal of these trainings is to create a more informed and better prepared staff. This Friday, the staff will participate in training on an online gradebook. Once the staff has had a couple of months to practice with the new gradebook, the gradebooks will go live online. Once this happens, parents and students will be able to check grades in real-time at any time of day. Each parent and student will have a unique log-in and password that will allow them to see only grades and attendance figure for themselves and their child(ren). We are excited about his new technology, but we want to make sure we have a working knowledge of all the "bells and whistles" before we open it up to the parents. Also, the elementary staff will receive training on food allergies and Epi-Pen use. We have two other dedicated School Improvement Days scheduled for February and March. The February training will focus on content delivery, core subject alignment, and other instructional practices. I hope this helps you understand what we do here at VIT on School Improvement Days. Have a great day.