The Franklin Flyer
November 10, 2023
April 5, 2024
Mark Your Calendars:
March 25 - April 1: Spring Break
April 2: Students return from Spring Break
April 10: PTA - Night of the Stars Auditions 2:40 - 5:00 PM
April 11: 24-25 Kindergarten Parent Orientation 6:00-6:45 PM & PTA Meeting 7-8 PM - in person & Zoom
April 23: STREAM Night 3:40 - 5:30 PM
April 24 : PTA - Night of the Stars Dress Rehearsal 4:00 - 6:00 PM
April 26: PTA - Night of the Stars Show 6:30 - 8:30 PM
May 2: PTA - Holi Celebration 3:30 PM
May 6-10: Teacher and Nurse Appreciation Week
Absences
Please remember to call in or email absences by 8:45 AM. You can call our student absence line (847) 318-4390 (ext 1) is available 24 hours a day, or email Mrs. Linda Berleth at lberleth@d64.org.
If the absence is illness related, please also make sure to include Franklin's nurse, Mrs. Queta Karstens, at qkarstens@d64.org.
Franklin Office Hours
School office hours are from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
School Hours
School Hours (M, T, Th, F): 8:50 am - 3:30 pm
Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Lunch: 11:35 - 12:30
4th and 5th Grade Lunch: 12:05 - 1:00
Wednesday School Hours: 8:50 am - 2:40 pm
Wednesday Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Lunch: 11:05 - 12:00
Wednesday 4th and 5th Grade Lunch: 11:35 - 12:30
Half-Day Kindergarten Hours
Kindergarten Hours (M, T, Th, F): 8:50 am - 11:35 am
Kindergarten Wednesday: 8:50 am - 11:05 am
Meet some Heroes!
Special Invitation to meet Medal of Honor Recipient Aly Lunch and General Mukoyama, the first Japanese American to make General on Saturday, April 13th, 1pm, at the Prospect Park Solomon Cottage
Franklin's First STREAM Night will happen on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Please remember registration has closed at this time. Registration is required to attend. Registered families, please watch your emails for more details about STREAM Night and we look forward to seeing you soon. Questions? Please contact Victoria Wilson, Instructional Technology Coach at vwilson@d64.org.
Registration for Worlds of Wonder - Summer 2024 is now open!
WOW registration will close on Monday, June 3rd, 2024.
Classes for students who have completed K-3 will be held at Washington Elementary School, while classes for students who have completed 4-7 will be held at Lincoln Middle School.
Session 1: Wednesday, June 12 - Friday, June 28 (No School Wednesday, June 19)
Session 2: Monday, July 1 - Friday, July 19 (No School Wednesday July 3, Thursday, July 4, or Friday, July 5).
2024 Proposal: The Future of our Facilities
Dear D64 Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break. It’s hard to believe we are in the final stretch of the school year, and we’ll soon be promoting our 8th graders to their respective high schools!
For the past six months, we have been taking a hard look at our Master Facilities Plan and the needs our students and staff have now and in the future. Through many meetings with staff, community stakeholders, law enforcement, and our architects, we have identified areas where our safety, security, health, critical infrastructure, and, in some cases, classrooms are not meeting our current and future needs. Our school district has done everything possible to address these issues without our current budget, and we are at the point where we are considering doing major renovations in these areas with additional funding in the form of a referendum in the future.
The School Board will make a decision later this summer about which path we will take forward, and to be transparent about our needs, we are hosting the following community engagement events, where I will lay out the issues we face and our proposed solutions. Each one of these sessions will include time for Q&A. If you plan on attending any event, please RSVP so we can plan and have the proper setup.
We have also designed a webpage that provides information, past presentations, and other useful tools that we want to share with you. To help our community better understand the state of our facilities, we have made video tours of our buildings, the first one of which is a look at Lincoln Middle School. Those resources can be found at d64.org/2024proposal. As we continue exploring this possibility, you can always reach out to me directly with any questions at bcollins@d64.org.
Our schools are community resources that have existed for nearly 100 years (Roosevelt, Field, and Lincoln will all turn 100 soon), and we want to protect our buildings, protect our children, and preserve our future.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ben Collins
Superintendent
Park Ridge-Niles District 64
Please send a change of clothes with your children for all K-5 students. It is helpful to have a change of clothes in the event of spilled water, accidents, or an unexpected incidents. Clothes should be labeled with your child's name and can be kept in your child's locker.
For the health and safety of our students and community, no pets are allowed on school property. We realize the beautiful weather increases the amount of families who are walking. However, we ask that you please leave your dog or cat at home. Properly identified service animals are always permitted.
Please take a moment to review the contacts section of your ParentPortal. Any adult who has approval for after school pick-up or emergency pick-up for illness/injury should be listed. Franklin staff will not release students to adults who are not listed on the ParentPortal.
Chromebooks
As a reminder, each Franklin student will be issued an iPad (grades K-1) or a Chromebook computer (grades 2-5) as part of the District’s one-to-one digital learning program. Students will receive their devices during the first week of school. Your child will also be assigned a Google account to access Google Apps for Education and other digital resources at school and to explore further concepts introduced in class at home. The devices and their applications are technology tools that provide all students access to digital content and higher levels of individualized instruction.
You can find more information about the 1:1 Initiative, Chromebooks, and the other technologies available to our students here.
Drop-off of Student Items/Lunches
If your student forgets something at home, an adult may drop off items at the Franklin front office. Our front office staff will message the classroom for your student to pick up these items during a break in student instruction. The teacher will send the student to the office when it works best in the classroom schedule.
Visiting Franklin
All visitors to Franklin must have a valid state ID or driver’s license. Identification is entered into the Raptor identification system. This process only takes a short time to complete. Once you have clearance, the office staff will print a visitor pass for you and attach it to a lanyard you must wear throughout the building. The office will hold your ID until you return to the office and return the lanyard. We appreciate your support as we proceed with this district-mandated safety procedure for the safety of our students.
Student-Parent Handbook
Franklin Elementary School and all District 64 schools follow policies and practices reviewed and implemented by the District 64 Board of Education. Please review the D64 Student-Parent Handbook before the start of the school year.
You can find frequent updates or snapshots from our days at Franklin on Facebook and Instagram! Follow us at
Facebook: facebook.com/FranklinD64
Instagram: franklin.d64
PTA Updates
Last Call! Sign up for Night of the Stars Performances Ends Today 4/5
Click here to sign up and mark your calendars for the following dates:
Tryouts: Wednesday, April 10, 2:40 - 5:00 PM - Franklin Gym (Performers will be given a 15-minute time slot once participant list is finalized, they will NOT need to be in attendance the entire time)
Rehearsal: Wednesday, April 24, 4:00 - 6:00 PM - Emerson Middle School
Night of the Stars: Friday, April 26, 6:30 - 8:30 PM - Emerson Middle School
Volunteers receive VIP seating and free tickets for their family members: There are many different ways to help with this fun event - from talent management to stage crew to set up and tear down. More details and sign up available on PTA Membership Toolkit
Questions?? Reach out to Danielle Kastner (dcpkastner@gmail.com) and Natalie Packer (nataliebergcm@gmail.com) for questions related to auditions, and Camille DeCicco (camille.decicco@gmail.com) for questions about volunteering.
Learn about and celebrate Holi, the Indian Festival of Colors
The Franklin PTA is partnering with sibling duo Kabir & Sahana (3rd grader & kindergartener) to share the Festival of Colors, Holi, with the Franklin community on Thursday, May 2nd at 3:30pm after school. Holi focuses on accepting one another, loving our families, and having a fun time together!
This event will be held on the Franklin blacktop after school and a parent chaperone is required. Different colors of chalk will be thrown and therefore you may want to consider bringing a change of clothes or even towels for your car if you are driving to this event. Below is a picture of a Holi Celebration. We look forward to seeing you there!
Please visit our Membership Toolkit to register. There is no cost to participate.
First STREAM Night at Franklin: This event is being run by our wonderful LRC team and they will set up the stations and provide instructions for volunteers. They are also looking for hallway directors and welcome directors - these would be people, who could point visitors to specific classrooms and stations, as well as provide welcome information to families as they come in.
Volunteer shifts are only 20 minutes long and were designed to do as a family so that you can also then enjoy the rest of the event and visit the other stations.
- Reach out to Ms. Wilson with questions: vwilson@d64.org, more info below.
Many Thanks to our Retiring Staff! Please help us spread the word to both current and former students. We have several teachers retiring this year at Franklin, and we thought it would be special to have any of their former students send a message, wishing them luck in their retirement, sharing their favorite memory, or even just an update on what they're up to.
This year’s Franklin retirees include:
Amanda Hernandez
Mary Lally
Julie Majeski
Chris LoPresti
Mary McCabe
Brian Kabat
Some of these teachers have taught at Franklin for as long as 33 years and we are hoping this message can be spread so that we can collect messages and good wishes from as many families as we can. If you are able to do this, please email franklinretirees@gmail.com
We would like to make this a nice memory for them. Thank you so much!
Yearbook Photos
Our kids LOVE seeing themselves at all of the fun events throughout the year in the yearbook. Please make sure to submit photos from each of these events.
Email photos for each of the following categories to the specific link below:
GLAM Club: notification.photos.298362892@treeringphotos.com
Chess Club: notification.photos.298362889@treeringphotos.com
100th Day of School: notification.photos.313532031@treeringphotos.com
Band/orchestra: notification.photos.298362884@treeringphotos.com
Book Club: notification.photos.298362888@treeringphotos.com
Girl Scouts: notification.photos.298362865@treeringphotos.com
Science Olympiad: notification.photos.313520763@treeringphotos.com
Valentine's Class Parties: notification.photos.298362871@treeringphotos.com
Staff Lunches
The PTA offers teachers and staff members an option to purchase lunch on Mondays from Spuntinos via franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com. Families are always welcome to show their appreciation for a staff member by purchasing a Monday lunch on their behalf. If this is something your family is interested in doing, please refer to Membership Toolkit for more information. Questions about teacher and staff lunches can be directed to rebeccavanpoucke@gmail.com.
