Sheridan Grade School

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Dear Parents, Students, and Staff Due to the extreme cold temperature and the additional snow that we are expected to receive, coupled with the snow blowing and drifting over our back roads, Community School District Unit #2 will be scheduling a Remote Learning Day for tomorrow, Tuesday, February 16th. There are several school districts around us that have already scheduled for an alternate-day tomorrow and I believe there will be more adding to that list soon. If you have any questions about tomorrows Remote Learning Day, please email your building principal directly and/or your teacher. I received many positive reports since out last spontaneously scheduled Remote Learning Day so I am confident that tomorrow should go as well, if not better. Lastly, we are mandated to offer food service tomorrow so if you are interested, please email Debbie Fuchs directly (dfuchs@unit2.net) tonight or early tomorrow morning. It would be preferably to email her tonight so that our cafeteria staff will have more than enough time to prepare for the requests. Thank you for your time and consideration. It is greatly appreciated. Spencer Byrd-Superintendent

No School on Monday February 15 in observance of President’s Day!! See everyone on Tuesday!

Congratulations to the winners of the PTO Valentine’s Day coloring contest!!! Kinley Borris, Elli Dierzen, Matthew Taft, Caroline Wallin, Cecilia Musser, Elly Schmoker-Ochoa, Elaina Collins, Payton Johnson, Kinley Smith GREAT JOB!!!!!

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Dear Parents, Students, and Staff, I want to remind everyone that this Friday, we have a SIP afternoon scheduled. Historically, we have one SIP afternoon every month to provide teachers and administrators the time they need to work on their School Improvement Plans. However, first semester, many of our scheduled SIP afternoons were canceled due to COVID. This semester, as we continue down our path toward normalcy, we would like to do our best to honor the remaining SIP afternoons that we do have scheduled. So, this Friday, the MS and HS will release their students at 11:15 and the ELE schools will release their students at 11:35. If you have any questions or concerns, please call or email your building principal directly. Thank you ! Spencer Byrd-Superintendent

The weather has turned on us!🥶❄️ Please be prepared! Bus delays may occur due to weather conditions. Contact the school if your student is in need of any of these items, we can help!

This is a reminder that the 2021 Illinois Parent Survey opened on Feb. 3, 2021. The survey window will close on April 2, 2021, so please plan survey administration accordingly. Link for parents to take the survey: http://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/ The survey opens Feb. 3, 2021 and closes April 2, 2021. If you have any questions, please call 5Essentials Client Services at 1-866-440-1874. Thank you in advance for your participation. Sincerely, UCHICAGOImpact

E-Learning

Notification from: Serena CUSD #2 (Admin) Dear Parents, Students, and Staff, It appears that we are receiving the bad weather as predicted earlier. The roads are extremely icy and dangerous this evening. I would recommend not traveling this evening, unless absolutely necessary. Several local school districts have already declared full Remote Learning Days for tomorrow and I believe there will be many more joining the list from this point forward tonight. Therefore, we will be implementing our approved E-Learning plan tomorrow declaring tomorrow a full Remote Learning Day, Friday, February 5th. If you have any questions or concerns about learning expectations, I would recommend emailing your building principal or teachers directly. Also, if you are in need of food service tomorrow, please email Debbie Fuchs directly tonight or tomorrow morning to place your order at dfuchs@unit2.net. Pickup time will start at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning at the HS cafeteria. Hopefully, the roads will be cleared by then. Regardless, drive safely and cautiously if you are in need of food service tomorrow. Spencer Byrd-Superintendent

Dear Parents, Students, and Staff, As I hope you know by now, all after school activities, clubs, and athletics have been canceled for this evening due to weather. That includes the home boys basketball games planned for this evening. We will do our best to reschedule the games for a later date as soon as possible. Since my first communication was sent out this morning, I have had a few people ask me, “What is the difference between a snow day and a e-learning/emergency remote learning day?” Snow Day: A snow day is a day where the school is closed due to inclement weather. Therefore, the teachers and the students essentially are off, due to the weather. The school is officially closed for the day. However, the negative aspect of calling a snow day is that snow days must be made up at the end of the school year, essentially extending the school year into the summer. Historically, that has been our only choice and each school district has historically had to add five Emergency Days to the end of their school calendar for unexpected closures, such as a snow day. Our school calendars are submitted to the ROE each year for approval and the ROE confirms that we have these five Emergency Days listed. Typically, most closures are due to weather but on occasion, a school could conceivably close for “other” reasons, such as a busted pipe that floods a hallway or classroom overnight for example. Therefore, in the past, the superintendent would then call for an Emergency Day. The school would then close, and the one day would be added to the end of the school year extending the school year into the summer. On those days, Emergency Days, no academic work was expected to be completed by students and/or teachers at home. Now, this year, we have another option to consider, a new option. E-Learning Plan and/or Emergency Remote Learning Day: The board recently approved our E-Learning Plan proposal a few months ago. This new plan empowers us, for the first time ever, to utilize this new option of calling an E-Learning Day/Emergency Remote Learning Day whenever necessary. We can now use this option for whatever the reason, Covid, snow day, busted pipe, etc. The advantage of calling an E-Learning Day and/or Emergency Remote Learning Day is that these days do NOT have to be made up at the end of the school year. Teachers and students receive credit for doing academic work while at home. The only other significant difference between an old Emergency Day/Snow Day, when compared to our new option, Emergency Remote Learning Day, is that on Emergency Remote Learning Days we are required to offer food service. On a typical snow day, we are not required to offer food service. I hope this answers your questions and helps to clarify the difference between these two days. Janice and I will be monitoring the weather this evening and we will keep you posted if we feel we need to alter the schedule for tomorrow. Spencer Byrd-Superintendent

Winter Spirit Week!!! February 8-12! Best dressed winner in each class Monday-Thursday!!!

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Good Morning! Just a friendly reminder about some upcoming dates. On Friday, February 12 we will have an early dismissal at 11:35 for School Improvement Day On Monday, February 15 is President's Day, so there will be No School. Please stay safe and have a great day!

REMINDER!!! There will be a PTO meeting on Monday, February 1 at 5:30 in the multipurpose room. Please use the South parking lot entrance. Thank You!

Dear Parents, Beginning February 3, students and teachers across Illinois will have an opportunity to participate in the ninth annual statewide Illinois 5Essentials Survey. This survey is designed to generate a detailed picture of the inner workings of your child’s school. As a parent, this opportunity will allow you to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness in a survey about your child’s school. On behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois 5Essentials Survey will be administered online by UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago. The survey gathers data related to five indicators that can predict important student outcomes, including improved attendance and larger test score gains. These five indicators that affect and predict school success are: Effective Leaders Collaborative Teachers Involved Families Supportive Environments Ambitious Instruction Prior research in more than 400 schools has shown that schools that were strong on at least three of these “5Essential” indicators were 10 times more likely to improve student learning gains in math and reading than those that were weak on three or more Essentials. All teachers and 4thth through 12th grade students will be responding to this survey. 5Essentials Reports will be generated for schools if their teachers and/or students meet the response rate threshold of 50 percent. These reports will be sent to schools and districts in May 2021 and will also be included in the State School Report Card. Additionally, your district has chosen to provide the optional Parent Supplement survey. If at least 20 percent of Sheridan Grade School parents complete this survey, a parent supplement report will also be generated. The parent data will not be reported on the State Report Card. Your participation in the parent portion of the survey will help us understand the conditions at your child’s school and guide improvement. Your identity and survey responses will be kept completely confidential and will never be connected to you or your child. The Illinois 5Essentials Survey for students and teachers will be conducted February 3, 2021 through April 2, 2021. The Parent Survey Supplement will be conducted during that same timeframe. To take the survey please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and select the appropriate survey to begin. For more information about the Illinois 5Essentials Survey, or to view previous years’ Reports, please visit https://www.5-essentials.org/illinois. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact 5Essentials Client Services at 1-866-440-1874 or impact-surveys@uchicago.edu.

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