Pierce Downer This Week

Pierce Downer Families,

Upcoming Drills

This upcoming week, our students will be participating in a fire drill and severe weather drill. These drills are meant to help students feel prepared if there is an emergency.

Nominate Outstanding District 58 Staff for Distinguished Service Awards!

The Education Foundation of Downers Grove District 58 is calling for nominations for its annual Distinguished Service Awards program. The award honors exceptional District 58 staff and teachers who have positively impacted the lives of students and the community.

The nomination process seeks individuals who consistently go above and beyond in their roles, positively influence children, demonstrate sustained dedication to education, care for the “whole child,” earn respect from peers and superiors, and serve as role models for fellow employees. To nominate a staff member or teacher, please review the Frequently Asked Questions and complete the Nomination Form by March 29.

Completed forms can be emailed to District58DSA@gmail.com or mailed to DSA Chair Mia Churma at the District 58 Office, 2300 Warrenville Road, Suite 200NE, Downers Grove, IL 60515

The Education Foundation will host the award ceremony at 4 p.m. May 15 at O’Neill Middle School.

With that being said, please do not hesitate to reach out. You can email me at LWagner@DG58.org or call the Pierce Downer Main Office at 630-719-5860.

As always, WE are PD!

Dr. Leland (Lucky) Wagner

Parent Survey Information:

As a reminder, parents are invited to take the District 58 School Environment Survey here. The survey should take just a few minutes yet provides valuable information that guides our school improvement efforts. All responses are anonymous.

In addition, parents are also invited to take the Illinois State Board of Education’s 5Essentials Parent Survey. This survey gathers data related to five indicators that can predict important student outcomes. Your identity and survey responses will be kept confidential and will not be connected to you or your child.

Student Survey Information:

Additionally, grade 4-8 students will be asked to participate in a 5Essentials student survey sometime between Feb. 23 and March 22. A District 58 email was sent to all parents/guardians about the surveys and the student’s 5Essential survey on Monday, February 12.

District 58 opened its online registration for returning students for the 2024-25 school year. Parents are asked to please submit their child’s registration by Monday, April 8. To begin, go to https://www.dg58.org/family-resources/registration and click on “Returning Student Application” and follow the prompts in the step-by-step instructions.

District 58 encourages families to register their student(s) promptly, as early registration helps the District determine its hiring, staffing, classroom, and transportation needs for the upcoming school year. While registration is occurring in February, March and April, an invoice won’t be sent until after May 1. Thank you for your help in supporting a smooth transition to the next school year!

If you have technical questions during the registration process, please contact District 58’s Technology Help Desk by filling out a Technology Help Ticket or calling 630-719-2768. For general registration questions, please contact your school office.

New this year, all registration will be conducted online. If families cannot complete the process online, they can call or visit their child’s school and the process can be completed there. District 58’s preschool registration is also open and is accepting applications at www.dg58.org/preschool.

On Wednesday, March 6th, the Cup Stacking Clubs from Pierce Downer School and Whittier School faced off for the FIRST DG58 speed stacking event. This competition saw students facing off in the 3-3-3, 3-6-3, and the full cycle. The students had so much fun and parents were able to see all of the practice put into work. At the end of the tournament, Pierce Downer was victorious!

Thank you Mr. Filus for making it such a success!

It is amazing how far technology has come over the last decade and continues to advance. I recognize the value technology has not just in education, but our world. However, I am hoping we can work together to remind students that during the school day, personal electronic devices should be turned off or silenced and out of sight. This includes wearable devices if they become distracting to the learning environment. Students should not be using phones, Apple Watches, or other devices to send or receive text messages or phone calls during the school day.

We are pleased to report that Tuesday, March 19 will now be an in-person/regular school day, instead of an e-Learning Day. The school day was originally scheduled as an e-Learning Day because several District 58 schools were scheduled to be used as polling places. District 58 closes its buildings when its schools are designated as polling places to provide for the safety and security of its students and staff. After numerous conversations with the DuPage County Election Board, the District was notified that none of its schools will be used as a polling site for the Primary Election on March 19, 2024. Therefore, students will be in school on that day instead of having an e-Learning Day. The District has no control over when its schools are designated as polling places but will continue to advocate that locations other than District 58 schools be utilized.

Congratulations to Ms. McGarry on being the latest PD Cup recipient! Ms. McGarry is one of the nurses at Pierce Downer School, who also supports other buildings in District 58. She is always willing to help support not only our students who are feeling sick or injured but is regularly providing guidance and clarification for our staff and families. She also serves as a valuable member of the IRT and building Safety and Threat Assessment Team.

Thank you Ms. McGarry for ALL that you do!

District 58 strives to create a culture of well-being for students, parents, staff and community. To further support this endeavor, the District has invested in an additional support service through ReferralGPS.

ReferralGPS is a service providing assistance to our community in finding local mental health and substance use-related treatment resources. The service compliments the District’s existing systems of support as a tool for student service teams and families to connect with treatment. Along with a searchable database of treatment options, ReferralGPS assists families in triage and appointment setting.

School district staff and families may access ReferralGPS in two ways:

1. Contact Student Services (social workers, psychologists, counselors) to seek out treatment options

2. Visit this link at https://referralgps.com/find-help/DG58 to search for treatment resources or connect with a Care Navigator anonymously

   
   

The platform has the ability to filter by mental health concern, clinician gender/specialty, location, and insurance acceptance. The service is available for all types of private and public insurance options including PPO, HMO, Medicaid, and families that are uninsured or underinsured.

ReferralGPS is available for use by district students, staff, and families at no cost. All information entered on the ReferralGPS tool is completely confidential and securely stored.

District 58 is pleased to continue using the Raptor Visitor Management System in all of our schools to strengthen our program of campus safety for students and faculty. Part of keeping students and faculty safe is knowing who is in our buildings at all times. The Raptor system will better allow us to screen visitors, contractors, and volunteers in our schools and provide us with a safer environment for our students and staff. Community High School District 99 currently utilizes the same platform on its campuses.

Upon entering a district building, visitors will be asked to present photo identification, such as a Driver’s License, which can either be scanned or manually entered into the system. If a parent or guardian for any reason does not have a US government-issued ID, the school staff member can use any form of identification and manually enter the person’s name into the Raptor system. The Raptor system will check to ensure that registered sexual offenders are not entering our school campuses without our knowledge. The Raptor system checks the visitor's name and date of birth for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. The registered sex offender database is the only official database checked by the Raptor system. No other data from the ID is gathered or recorded and the information is not shared with any outside agency. Once entry is approved, Raptor will issue a badge that identifies the visitor, the date, and the purpose of his/her visit. A visitor’s badge will not be necessary for those who visit our schools simply to drop off an item in the office or pick up paperwork.

The safety of our students is our highest priority and the Raptor visitor management system allows us to quickly identify those that may present a danger to our students. Thank you in advance for your understanding and your support in enhancing the school safety protocols in our district.

March 15

Report Cards go home

March 21

Student Council Spirit Day: Wear your favorite band t-shirt

March 25-29

NO SCHOOL: Spring Break

District 58 has partnered with Safe2Help to give students a safe and confidential way to report potential threats or crises. Safe2Help was launched by the State of Illinois in December 2020 and aims to help prevent suicide, bullying, school violence and other threats to school safety.

With Safe2Help, students can connect with a trained crisis professional during their own crisis, or to report a potential threat. Students can submit a Safe2Help alert via the following ways:

• Website: https://app.safe22helpil.com
• Text: SAFE2 (72332)
• Phone: 844-4-SAFEIL (844-472-3345)
• App: "Safe2Help Illinois" app available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store
• Email: HELP@Safe2HelpIL.com

All alerts are responded to by a trained Safe2Help crisis professional. Safe2Help is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

District 58 staff are not the initial responders to the alert and will receive each alert after the Safe2Help professional provides support. District 58 staff will review alerts sent by Safe2Help during regular school hours, unless the nature of the alert necessitates immediate school action.