As a school, we strive to meet the needs of the whole child, including the social-emotional needs of every student.  Our teachers know your child by name and by need and we work hard to build relationships and understand all of our learners.  To better ensure we support every student, this year we will again be using a universal screener to help us ensure we have identified every student who may need additional social-emotional support.

The universal screener is a series of questions that staff members complete for the students they support. Students do not participate in the screener or receive direct feedback about the results. If your child has elevated risk factors identified through this screener, we would contact you directly to discuss how we can work together to intervene and support your student.  This is simply one additional way for our staff to make sure we are helping every student be successful.  If you have any questions about the screener, please feel free to contact me.

Please join us for our first meeting on Tuesday, September 17, 2019 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Professional Learning Center at 524 East Schaumburg Road. Our topic for this month’s meeting is “ACCESS and MAP: What do they tell me about my child’s learning?”  ACCESS is an assessment taken annually by English language learners and MAP stands for Measures of Academic Progress).  Childcare is available for children ages 3-5. To RSVP, fill out the form at the bottom of the event flyer and send it back to your child’s school by Sept. 12. If you did not receive a copy of the flyer, you can visit our website for more information and to view the flyer in English, Spanish, Polish and Japanese. You can also contact your child’s school for a paper copy of the flyer.

This year, we have two school-wide spirit days.  On Mondays, all students and staff should wear orange to start the week with a reminder about positive habits (Orange Frog). Fridays are Armstrong Spirit Days, so wear your Armstrong attire, PTA spirit wear, or blue/yellow for our school colors.

Please help us create a safe environment for students by not bringing dogs on school property, especially during busy arrival and dismissal times. We have students who are afraid of dogs, and some students have allergies to dogs as well. We also know that sometimes dogs can be unpredictable in how they respond to other dogs and large groups of students. For all of these reasons we do not allow dogs to be present on school property during arrival and dismissal time.  Thank you for helping us to create a safe and healthy environment for all of our students!

Armstrong’s PTA (Parent Teacher Association) is having a Dinner Night Out at Garibaldi’s Restaurant, 2346 W. Higgins Road, Hoffman Estates from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. on September 26, 2019.

A portion of the sales will help support the Armstrong PTA.  You can dine in, carry out, or have your food delivered!  Mention this fundraiser or show them the flyer that was handed out to students.

Thank you for supporting Armstrong’s PTA!

The District 54 Education Foundation is partnering with Lou Malnati’s for a fundraiser on Wednesday, September 18, 2019. Eat at or order from Lou Malnati’s Schaumburg (1 S. Roselle Road) or Lou Malnati’s Barrington Road (357 S. Barrington Road), and 20 percent of total sales will be donated to the District 54 Education Foundation. You must bring in or mention the flyer, which was also sent home with students, at the time of your order.

The District 54 Education Foundation ensures that all District 54 students have the same opportunities by funding breakfast programs at the schools so students can begin their day ready to learn, grants to students with financial need so they can participate in extracurricular activities, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programming!  You can learn more about the District 54 Education Foundation by checking out the website.

You send your children to us every day with the expectation that will we not only teach them, but also keep them safe. I can assure you that this is a trust that the District 54 staff does not take lightly. Our focus as a school district is prevention.  Each year the entire District 54 staff is trained on our crisis prevention and response plan, which was developed in coordination with our local police and fire departments. We review these plans each year with all of the fire and police departments that serve our schools because we work cooperatively to keep students safe.

In addition, as required by the Illinois School Code, our schools participate in fire, severe weather, bus evacuation and emergency response drills throughout the school year to ensure our students and employees know what to do should an emergency occur.

In an emergency, every phone number associated with your child’s record will be called using our notification system. We will also email parents/guardians and provide information on our website and social media.

While your natural instinct as a parent in an emergency is to go to your child’s school or to call the school office, please understand that doing so many significantly impede the response capabilities of our local emergency responders. In addition, it is sometimes necessary to evacuate students to another location.

We appreciate your cooperation and promise to communicate with you as soon as possible. Please be patient as our first priority will be the safety of our students and staff.

We also focus on prevention by forming relationships with our students to provide support when they need it, and so that they feel comfortable reporting to us when they hear or see concerning behaviors.  Please reinforce this with your children at home. Let them know that they can also come to you when they feel unsafe and remind them that they should report any suspicions and concerns about school safety.

I hope this letter reassures you that we take the safety of our school community very seriously. Should you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Superintendent Andrew DuRoss or your Principal Diana Lipman.

District 54 is hosting its annual Run to Read, which will be held on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019 at Dirksen Elementary School in Schaumburg. The day includes school mascot races at 7:30 a.m., 100-yard and 400-yard dashes for children at 8 a.m., a 5K run at 9 a.m. and a 1-mile family walk at 9:15 a.m. You can register at any time, even the morning of the race!  The Run to Read is an awesome opportunity to promote healthy living by encouraging your children to exercise, or even better, by joining them on the walk or run. The event also supports our goal of collecting 1,000 children’s books for every classroom in District 54. To register, visit sd54.org/runtoread.

Schaumburg Parent University (SPU) is designed to involve more parents in the life of the school, to strengthen family relationships, and to improve parenting skills that will ultimately result in improved student success academically, socially and emotionally. There are two evening programs scheduled for September. Please note that childcare is always available and interpreters are available upon request.

Fostering Healthy and Productive Parent-Child Communication:  5:30 – 7:00 p.m. on September 30, 2019

This interactive seminar, led by Dr. Nirmeen Rajani, Clinical Psychologist at Psychology Center Schaumburg, will teach parents and children/adolescents effective parent-child communication strategies. Ages 10-17 and parents welcome.

These events will take place at the District 54 Professional Learning Center, 522 E. Schaumburg Road, Schaumburg. Please register online. For more information, contact Meg Kwak at 847-357-2154 or spu@nullsd54.org

You can pay your students fees through your parent portal account.  This includes your $50 consumable fee, optional instructional device insurance (grades 3-8 only), and milk.  If you believe your student will qualify for the Free Lunch Program and therefore will qualify for a fee waiver, do not pay the consumable material fee at this time. Applications for the Free Lunch Program are available online and in the school office.  The consumable fee will increase by $15 if payment is not received by November 15, 2019, $25 if not received by February 1, 2020, and $35 if not received by April 1, 2020.  If you would like to purchase instructional device insurance but do not have the option to do so through your portal, please contact our school office for assistance.  Instructional device insurance must be purchased before the date of device issuance.