An Update from Supt. Harkin

Notable Dates and Events

News and Announcements

• Our Commitment to Safety: Updates Regarding the Swatting Incident at DCHS

District Highlights

• Strategic Plan Update
• Invitation to Apply for the Parent Advisory Council (PAC)
• Parents and Guardians Invited to Attend Family and Community Network Meetings
• Update on Meal Service Participation and Food Quantities
• Technology Information: When to Use Schoology vs. PowerSchool
• Technology Update: Remote Ticketing System
• IHSA Partners with Officially Human to Restore Respect to Game Officials
• Reminder: Communication Guidelines and Tips

Note of Appreciation

Student Recognitions

School Highlights

District 300 would like to remind families of the following notable dates and events:

Monday, September 4:

• Labor Day – No student attendance.

Thursday, September 7:

• Family and Community Network meeting – Online safety will be discussed; to learn more, please see the “District Highlights” section below.

Wednesday, September 13:

• Late Start – For all K-12 students; September 13 will be a non-attendance day for preschool students.

Thursday, September 14:

• Family and Community Network meeting – Individual education plans (IEPs) and Section 504 plans will be discussed; to learn more, please see the “District Highlights” section below.

On August 30, Dundee-Crown High School was the victim of an act known as “swatting.” As previously communicated, according to Education Week, swatting is “a term that refers to filing a false report with the aim of stoking chaos and provoking a large law enforcement response.”

In this specific case, the Dundee-Crown main office received a phone call on Wednesday morning from an individual who made a serious threat against the school. School administration placed the school into lockdown and immediately called law enforcement, who responded to the scene and enacted their safety protocols. After a thorough investigation, law enforcement secured the building, determined the threat was unsubstantiated, and cleared the school for students to return.

Managing a situation of this significance and scale requires a great deal of support, and I would like to thank several specific groups.

• First and foremost, I would like to personally thank our remarkable Dundee-Crown students. You responded to this situation with exemplary maturity, cooperation, and composure. I am so proud of the genuine compassion and support you demonstrated to each other through this challenging event.
  
  
• I would like to thank our dedicated Dundee-Crown staff. Your actions during this event demonstrate the high level of care and concern you have for our students’ physical and emotional wellbeing.Your commitment to student safety is evident and appreciated.
  
  
• I would like to thank our parents, our guardians, and our community for your support throughout Wednesday’s event. I fully understand how stressful this situation was for our stakeholders, and I am sincerely appreciative of your patience and understanding as the district worked with law enforcement to address this issue.
  
  
• And, I would like to thank our law enforcement agencies and our emergency responders. The district has a tremendous amount of gratitude for your commitment to ensuring the safety of our students, our staff, and our community.

On Wednesday, parents contacted the district with questions regarding the event. I would like to provide all stakeholders with responses to these questions.

Q. Are counseling services available for students affected by the lockdown?

A. Yes. District 300 has ensured resources, including counseling support, are available to students affected by the lockdown.

Q. Was the person who made the swatting call a District 300 student?

A. Based on the information provided to the district by law enforcement, we do not believe the swatting call was placed by a District 300 student. As this is an ongoing criminal investigation, District 300 cannot provide any additional information regarding the status of the individual who placed the swatting call.

Q. Have other Illinois school districts experienced “swatting” incidents?

A. Yes. As NBC 5 Chicago reports, at “least 36 different schools across Illinois have been impacted by a swatting incident since January - that includes 17 schools in the Chicago area and 19 more across the state.”

Q. When the district partners with law enforcement to address a crisis event, who ultimately is in charge of the scene?

A. From the moment District 300 contacts law enforcement to the time the crisis event is resolved, District 300 works at the direction of law enforcement. The district fully trusts and supports our law enforcement and emergency response agencies through this process, and we offer complete cooperation and assistance whenever needed.

Q: There was a photo circulating on social media of what appears to be a body being loaded into an ambulance outside the school. Was anyone loaded into an ambulance during Wednesday's event?

A. No. District 300 can confirm that nobody was loaded into an ambulance at Dundee-Crown on Wednesday, August 30.

Q There were rumors circulating on social media that gunshots were fired at Dundee-Crown High School? Is there truth to that?

A. No. There were no shots fired at Dundee-Crown High School before, during, or after the event.

Q. Were any other District 300 schools placed into a lockdown or shelter in place?

A. Perry Elementary School entered into a shelter in place due to its proximity to Dundee-Crown High School. All Perry Elementary School families received two communications: one announcing the school entered into a shelter in place and one announcing the shelter in place had been lifted. No other schools were placed into a lockdown.

We have received messages from families, whose students do not attend Dundee-Crown or Perry, reporting that they were informed their child’s school was placed into a “soft lockdown.” On August 30, no District 300 schools implemented a “soft lockdown.” Please note: “soft lockdown” is not a term that District 300 uses as part of our safety protocols.

Q. When there is an active lockdown at a school, do all District 300 parents receive a notification?

A. No. When a school initiates a lockdown, our district protocol is to send emails and phone calls exclusively to parents/guardians who have students enrolled in that specific school.

To provide additional context, if a school enters into a lockdown (or a shelter in place), parents of the affected school will receive at least two communications: one announcing the school has entered into a lockdown (or a shelter in place) and one when the situation has been resolved.

During a lockdown, the district’s resources are focused on addressing the situation and supporting the school involved. Our director of school safety works in partnership with law enforcement to gather accurate information that can be communicated with affected families.

In the event of a legitimate crisis, the district will need to communicate specific instructions to parents of the affected school, such as picking up their child at a reunification site. Additionally, the district may also need to communicate specific instructions to parents of students enrolled at the reunification site regarding alternative student dismissal procedures.

In these types of scenarios, parents who are directly affected may have inquiries or encounter complications requiring them to communicate with a district staff member. By focusing our communications on the parents of students enrolled at the affected school, District 300 can ensure a more effective response.

Q. When a lockdown has been lifted, can all District 300 families receive a notification?

A.Yes. When a lockdown is over, the district will send a recap message to all District 300 families.

Please note: There may be a delay between the time a lockdown is lifted and the time all District 300 families receive a communication as district staff focus on providing resources to students and making adjustments to school activities, operations, transportation, and extracurricular activities for the remainder of the school day and ensure that accurate information is provided.

Q. If my child does not attend a school that is in a lockdown, how can I remain informed before a recap message is sent to all District 300 families?

A. When lockdowns and crisis events occur, all parents and guardians can find the latest information on the D300 safety alerts webpage. Please note: There will be a slight delay between the time parents of students enrolled in the school impacted receive these messages and the time information is posted on this webpage.

As we begin a new academic year, I am excited to highlight the important role the Strategic Plan plays in our district.

Approved by the Board of Education in August 2022, the Strategic Plan was carefully developed with extensive feedback from our stakeholders, and I’d like to thank all who contributed. Your insights have been invaluable as we developed a comprehensive plan that guides our district’s decisions and actions toward achieving our central mission: to provide engaging and inclusive educational experiences that empower and equip all students to discover, innovate, and succeed now and in the future.

District 300 remains committed to the five goal areas of our Strategic Plan:

Goal 1: Develop the Whole Child – District 300 will provide engaging and inclusive educational experiences that empower and equip all students to discover, innovate, and succeed now and in the future

Goal 2: Ensure Individual Student Growth and Achievement – District 300 will ensure all students have the ability to access coursework that aligns with their individual strengths, interests, and needs

Goal 3: Develop Great Staff and Leaders – District 300 will ensure staff have the resources, professional development, and opportunities needed to perform at their highest potential

Goal 4: Engage All Stakeholders – District 300 will ensure all parents, guardians, students, staff members, community members, and taxpayers have a voice in guiding the district’s decision-making

Goal 5: Use District Resources Equitably and Efficiently – District 300 will ensure every student receives sufficient resources to have the same opportunity to succeed

In order to achieve these strategic goals, we must focus our work and track our progress. To focus our work, the district has broken down our goals into 16 priority tasks, which can be viewed on the second page of this PDF document. These priority tasks are where the district will focus our actions and resources throughout the 2023-24 school year.

To track our progress, each priority task has an associated Key Performance Indicator (KPI), allowing the district to closely measure our progress toward completing all the milestones within each priority task. For updates on Key Performance Indicator progress, please click here. (Please note: As the new school year has just begun, Goals 1, 2, and 3 do not yet have updated KPI progress).

Throughout the academic year, I will provide regular updates on our Strategic Plan’s progress. Future update messages will include notable accomplishments for each priority task, as well as the progress we’ve made toward achieving the associated KPI.

Your continued support and engagement are crucial to our strategic plan’s success and I look forward to providing updates throughout the remainder of the academic year.

I am excited to invite all interested parties to apply for the District 300 Parent Advisory Council (PAC).

The District 300 Parent Advisory Council provides families a forum to learn about District 300 operations, policies, initiatives, and Board of Education functions. Participants will also express feedback on existing policies and those currently under review. While the group’s input and participation will factor into district recommendations, it is not a decision-making body.

Research shows that a school district’s success depends on developing structures that encourage meaningful family and community engagement. This engagement can significantly impact student learning and success (Blank, Berg, & Melaville, 2006; Bryk et al., 2010; Marschall, 2006). Specifically, family engagement should be systemic and integrated into a school district’s operational structures. To effectively achieve this, family engagement must be incorporated into a school district’s strategic planning and grounded in existing systems and processes (Weiss et al., 2010).

Meeting Overview: PAC meetings will include presentations from District 300 administrators who will provide overviews of their respective areas. PAC participants will share feedback with District 300 administration with the goal of shaping programs and initiatives that lead District 300 toward our mission: providing engaging and inclusive educational experiences that empower and equip all students to discover, innovate, and succeed now and in the future.

Applicant Qualifications: To help ensure equity in both opportunity and voice, we are using an application process and seeking no more than two applicants from each school. Listed below are the qualifications for a PAC member. Each member should have the ability to:

• Attend a majority of the PAC meetings

• Listen respectfully to all views

• Express views respectfully

• Seek to understand the viewpoints of others

• Allow all voices to be heard

• Seek to find common ground

• Understand that recommendations must encompass the entire district

• Understand that proposals must be aligned with legal requirements

Deadline: Applicants interested in serving on the PAC must complete this Google Form by Friday, September 8.

Meeting Dates: All PAC meetings will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the following Wednesdays:

• September 27, 2023

• October 25, 2023

• November 15, 2023

• January 24, 2024

• February 28, 2024

• March 20, 2024

• April 24, 2024

• May 29, 2024

Meeting Topics: Meeting topics will be developed at the first meeting and will align with the District 300 Strategic Plan.

References:

Blank, M. J., Berg, A. C., & Melaville, A. (2006). Growing community schools: The role of cross-boundary leadership. Washington, DC: Coalition for Community Schools.

Bryk, A.S., Sebring, P.B., Allensworth, E., Luppescu, S., & Easton, J.Q. (2010). Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Marschall, M. (2006). Parent Involvement and Educational Outcomes for Latino Students. Review of Policy Research, Volume 23, Number 5 (2006). The Policy Studies Organization.

Weis, H.B, Lopez, M.E., Rosenberg, H. (2010). Beyond Random Acts: Family, School, and Community Engagement as an Integral Part of Education Reform. Harvard Family Research Project. Retrieved October 16, 2021, from https://sedl.org/connections/engagement_forum/beyond_random_acts.pdf.

District 300 will host two Family and Community Network meetings in September.

The first meeting will take place Thursday, September 7 and will focus on online safety. During the meeting, John Hummel, chief technology officer for District 300, will present information on safe social networking, protecting personal information, cyberbullying awareness, and more.

The second meeting will take place Thursday, September 14 and will focus on what parents and guardians need to know about individual education plans (IEPs) and Section 504 plans. This meeting will be presented by Laura Knittle, a partner who represents K-12 school districts in all areas of education law with the firm Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani.

Both of these meetings will take place from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the District 300 Central Office, 2550 Harnish Drive, in Algonquin; parents and guardians are asked to please register here.

For more information about the Family and Community Network, please visit www.d300.org/D300-Parent-Groups.

District 300’s new food service provider, OrganicLife, has seen a 13% increase in meal preparation since the first week of school.

To accommodate this increase – and to ensure that all students throughout the school day have the same meal options – OrganicLife is implementing the following:

• Mitigating any food shortages before they happen through daily communication

• Adjusting the quantity of prepared food each day

• Reviewing food orders and meal counts each day

• Conducting weekly meetings with the lead kitchen staff at all schools

In addition, OrganicLife has brought in additional support staff and is adding two lead kitchen staff positions to address specific school needs.

Thank you for your patience as OrganicLife implements these measures to ensure the last student in line for meal service has the same options as the first student in line.

In District 300, parents and students have access to two important resources:

• PowerSchool: The district’s Student Information System (SIS). A SIS is a centralized record system that manages student data, including enrollment and course registration, attendance, and final grades

• Schoology: The district’s Learning Management System (LMS). An LMS is a centralized online education hub where educators create and manage lessons, assign quizzes and assignments, and grade student work
  
  

In an effort to assist our parents and guardians with navigating these resources, the District 300 technology team would like to share the following chart detailing when to use Schoology and when to use PowerSchool:

For more information about PowerSchool, please visit www.d300.org/PowerSchoolSIS.

And for more information about Schoology, please visit www.d300.org/Schoology.

District 300’s Tech Support Form allows families to submit a ticket for technical support on a variety of topics, including:

• Parent password assistance for PowerSchool and Schoology

• Troubleshooting student Chromebook issues, such as a device not powering up

• Issues pertaining to student access to a digital resource or web application

• Other technology-related issues

Our new Tech Support Form provides prompts to guide our users when submitting a ticket. However, if an inquiry doesn't seem to match any of the pre-generated prompts, users may select the "Other Requests" prompt and then the "Issue Not Listed" prompt to continue.

Any communication regarding your technical support ticket will come from D300 Tech Support at support@d300.incidentiq.com, and users will be able to respond to any of these emails to have their comments added to the respective ticket they submitted.

District 300 is excited for spectacular athletic seasons this academic year. To help maximize the experience for our students, staff, parents, guardians, and spectators, we are joining with the IHSA in requesting that all game officials be shown respect during athletic contests.

To further this mission, the IHSA announced earlier this summer that it has partnered with Officially Human, an organization seeking to “restore respect to game officials and recognize them as authorities on the fields and courts.”

To learn more about Officially Human and its partnership with the IHSA, please click here.

District 300 would like to remind parents and guardians that we emailed “Communication Guidelines and Tips” to all families on August 15.

These guidelines and tips included:

• Communication Guidelines for Parents and Guardians

• How to Use “Let’s Talk” to Communicate with District 300

• Contact Information for District 300 and our Schools

• RCS Message Information

• Tips to Optimize Communication with District 300 and our Schools

• How to Remain Informed of District and School Information

• Submit a Note of Appreciation for a District 300 Staff Member

To view the Communication Guidelines and Tips message, please click here.

As a reminder from our August 15 message, District 300 is proud to once again provide an opportunity for families to recognize staff members who have made a positive impact on their child’s educational experience through our Note of Appreciation program.

Submitting a Note of Appreciation is easy. Simply access the short Note of Appreciation submission form by clicking here. Then, identify the staff member you would like to recognize, and provide a few sentences about what makes that person remarkable.

Note of Appreciation submissions will be printed out and hand delivered to respective staff members.

Your words of appreciation can go a long way toward supporting our hardworking teachers and outstanding staff!

Hampshire and Jacobs high schools have each received a $16,000 Project Lead The Way Engineering grant.

Grant funds will be used to support the expansion of the STEM engineering pathway programs at Hampshire High School and Jacobs HIgh School, programs that have already been established at Dundee-Crown High School.

According to pltw.org, funds will help provide students with real-world learning experiences where they will be able to use the same tools and software as engineering professionals. Students will also be equipped with career readiness skills and prepared to succeed by practicing skills such as collaboration, teamwork, and communication in the classroom.

Through this initiative, students enrolled in the engineering pathway program will be able to earn college credit/dual credit, scholarships, internships, waived tuition, and more.

In addition, the funds will allow teachers at both HHS and JHS to receive related training and have access to a nationally recognized curriculum from PLTW for the next two years.

Dundee-Crown High School has announced its 2023 Athletic Hall of Fame inductees.

The five inductees are:

• Jeff Halsema from the Class of 1999, who played soccer as a four-year starter and a three-year All-Conference Fox Valley player; he still maintains Dundee-Crown’s overall scoring record for soccer
  
  
• Kenny Long from the Class of 2007, who was a pitcher for the school’s baseball team when it won consecutive regional titles in 2006 and 2007; Long also pitched on Dundee-Crown’s Class 4A state tournament team in 2007
  
  
• Anthony Manfrin from the Class of 2011, who still holds the 1,600- and 3,200-meter track and field records at Dundee-Crown; he also won numerous Fox Valley Conference cross country championships and took sixth place in the Class 3A boys state cross country championship in 2009
  
  
• Mike McKibben from the Class of 2000, who played basketball and scored a career 1,521 points, the most of any male player in Dundee-Crown history; he was also a three-time All-Conference Fox Valley basketball player, additionally winning a Class AA sectional high jump title in track and field (please note: Hall of Fame member Gary Gliesmann scored 2,011 for the Irving Crown High School basketball team before Irving Crown and Dundee Community high schools merged to form Dundee-Crown High School)
  
  
• Mike Szczepanski from the Class of 1981, who participated in basketball and track and field and helped lead the school’s basketball team to a 14-0 Fox Valley Conference record and a 26-2 overall record, additionally setting the school’s high jump record at 6 feet, 6 inches, which still holds today

The Athletic Hall of Fame inductees will be recognized Saturday, October 7 at the Golf Club of Illinois in Algonquin.

District 300 congratulates the Class of 2023 Athletic Hall of Fame inductees from Dundee-Crown High School!

Jacobs High School has announced its Class of 2023 Athletic Hall of Fame inductees.

The four inductees are:

• Ben Albano from the Class of 2010, who played football and baseball all four years; as a baseball player, Albano hit .533 as a senior with 16 home runs and 67 RBIs, setting a Fox Valley Conference record for homers
  
  
• Scott Cahill from the Class of 2011, who was a varsity golf player all four years; Cahill was named a Fox Valley Conference Player of the Year three times and finished in the top 20 at the Class 3A boys state golf championship both his junior and senior years
  
  
• Jamie Grabowski from the Class of 2000, who earned Jacobs its first and second state titles in school history; Grabowski placed first in the floor exercise at state in 1999 as a junior and then placed first in vault at state the following year as a senior; Grabowski also placed second in the floor exercise at state as a senior and third in all-around
  
  
• Danny Trevor from the Class of 2010, who participated in soccer and track and field, earning seven varsity letters; Trevor’s track and field accolades include winning three back-to-back Fox Valley Conference titles in the 110-meter hurdles, a sectional title in the 300-meter hurdles, and qualifying for state both his junior and senior years

An Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony was scheduled to take place tonight – Friday, September 1 – in the JHS auditorium, followed by recognition during half time of tonight’s varsity football game.

District 300 congratulates the Class of 2023 Athletic Hall of Fame inductees from Jacobs High School!

In addition to these scheduled messages, I will continue sending communications as needed regarding urgent matters (such as safety issues and weather-related events that may impact school operations), notable updates, and timely information.

District 300 students, staff, parents, and guardians are settling into the 2023-24 school year, and I have already seen incredible engagement in our classrooms.

I look forward to an impactful school year, as well as sharing this year’s student and staff successes in future update messages.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Dr. Susan Harkin

Superintendent

susan.harkin@d300.org