Rondout School District 72

It’s “Book Swap” Time! May 19th Join the fun! Come recycle old books and get “new” books to read this summer. For every book you bring, you get to pick a book at the swap table! Click here to view/print the permission form to participate https://5il.co/18dex

Did you know that you can get free ebooks and audiobooks from our school library? It’s easy! Just log in through Clever or download the free Sora app and borrow digital books with your school library username. You can enjoy it on all major devices and tablets. And bonus! Your account is synced with Cook Memorial Library to browse and checkout titles from their collection, too! Click on the link below for set up instructions for our school digital library through Sora. Email Mrs. Jacob for your student username. https://rondoutsd72-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/robin_jacob_rondoutsd72_org/EXBcuVvRtU1GknzwP9OB5r4BRDtNs6zuWFnRL6rVU8IM6w?e=waSb6k

Do you have a pre-schooler ready to start kindergarten next year? Will your child turn 5 before September 1, 2022? Please contact the office to be added to next year's kindergarten class list. We ask that you share this request with neighbors in the district who have pre-schoolers. Kindergarten Orientation and Registration will take place in person on April 12th starting at 6:30 p.m. Questions? Email jenny.wojcik@rondoutsd72.org

On April 9th, we are sponsoring a Day of Humanitarian Service for our Families. There will be a series of activities set up that you can participate in that day. Activities will be set up from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will include service to support our community here at home as well as those in need impacted by the war in Ukraine. You can stop by for 15 minutes or stay for the entire time. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Calendar Highlights 22-23 https://5il.co/17aob Calendar Highlights 23-24 https://5il.co/17aod

Available to students in grades 5 - 8, please contact Mr. Williams if you have questions. Click below to view/print the track and field letter https://files.constantcontact.com/1e13fc15701/a77e03fc-7e06-40a9-9680-343e6ad871e4.pdf

Please note the following changes to this week's lunch menu. Thursday 3/3/2022 hamburgers will be served for lunch and Friday 3/4/2022 baked potatoes will be served for lunch. https://5il.co/16h4k

Dear Rondout Families, Late on Friday February 25, 2022, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) announced that it will no longer require people to wear masks on buses or vans operated by public school systems. This will take effect starting with our morning bus routes tomorrow, Monday February 28,2022. We will continue to follow our current bus route procedures and assigned seating. Olson transportation has been notified and has informed their drivers. Masks will continue to be recommended but not required. Each family is asked to discuss their decision regarding wearing masks on the school bus with their children. We also ask everyone to continue to be respectful of the individual choices made regarding masking. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. Thank you for your continued partnership as we navigate the continuously evolving landscape of living with COVID19 in our school and the community. Best regards, Dr. Jenny Wojcik

Want to join us in having a happy and healthy heart!? Last chance to jump on board and join our school's heart hero team! You won’t want to miss out on learning 6 ways from our heart heroes on ways to keep your whole heart healthy!! Be sure to share your page through text, email, or social media with family and friends and tell them about the CHALLENGE you took to stay healthy! They'll definitely want to cheer you on! https://www2.heart.org/site/TR?pg=company&fr_id=6319&company_id=346557

Dear Rondout Families, Faculty and Staff, Late yesterday, an Illinois judge ruled on a lawsuit filed by parents in over 150 school districts in the state that challenged state mandated COVID mitigations. While Rondout was not named in the suit, we are in the process of reviewing the implications of the decision on our district established COVID19 protocols. At this time we will continue to utilize the COVID19 mitigation protocols we have in place to provide the safeguards against COVID19 transmission within our educational setting for students and staff. I will keep you posted on any developments that may impact our district and appreciate your patience as this decision is reviewed. This ruling is complex and legal teams across the state are working on understanding its implications for all of us in Illinois schools. Thank you for your continued support of our students, faculty, and staff. Your compliance with the district mitigations we have in place have allowed us to maintain in-person learning for these past two years with minimal interruptions. Together we have met the challenges of putting student safety and learning first during our COVID19 journey. Those priorities will continue to be at the heart of our practices. Please be assured that we will be providing you with updates as they become available. Sincerely, Dr. Jenny Wojcik

The 3-5 Team is excited to celebrate Valentine’s Day on Monday, February 14th! Along with fun surprises throughout the day, students may create or purchase valentines to be distribute to classmates. Please bring valentines to school by Friday, February 11th, to allow enough time for quarantining before passing them out on Monday. Unfortunately, late valentines cannot be accepted. Please make sure that all valentines are non-edible and that there is one for each student in the class. Classroom teachers will be sending out class lists, if needed.

The K-2 students will celebrate Valentine’s Day with in class activities on Monday, February 14th. If your child would like to bring in Valentine’s Day cards for the class, please make sure they bring enough for all the students in their grade level class. We will have the cards quarantine prior to the Valentine’s Day party. Guidelines for the Valentine’s Day Cards: • Please do not address friends’ names on the cards • NO food or edible treats will be allowed • Please do not lick any cards to seal them – tape or stickers work great! • Put all completed cards into a Ziplock with your child’s name on the bag and return to school NO LATER THAN February 11th. • A card must be made for the number children in your child’s class We will be decorating a Valentine’s Day bag in class to bring home all the Valentine’s Day cards. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out. The K-2 Teachers, Ms. Tesar Mrs. Reynolds Mrs. Sweeney

Congratulations to this year’s Spelling Bee Champion, Mariana. After 16 rounds, Mariana clinched the title after correctly spelling Technique. Mariana will move on to the next round which will take place virtually on February 16th at 6pm. Let’s all wish Mariana luck. Another round of applause for our runner-up, Caitlyn. Caitlyn did an outstanding job and fought until the bitter end! Despite masks and social distancing, all of our spellers persevered to make Rondouts 2022 Spelling Bee a success! Congratulations to everyone! Looking forward to next year!

SAVE THE DATE! MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Kids Heart Challenge is virtually coming to Rondout 2/4/2022 - 2/25/2022! We are SO excited to partner with the American Heart Association to help our students start developing ways to keep their whole hearts healthy for their whole lives and to help spread the mission and the message of the AHA! Want to get a jump start on keeping that heart of yours healthy? Can't wait to celebrate happy, healthy hearts! Click below to sign up for the Voluntary Kids Heart Challenge! https://www2.heart.org/site/TR?pg=company&fr_id=6319&company_id=346557

Find a free COVID Testing Site: We have revised this information due to concerns regarding recent issues with pop-up fraudulent testing sites. Checking with your own medical provider and or use the testing locator on the Lake County Health Department Site will provide you with more reliable information. The link is provided here. Lake County Health Department Testing Locator https://www.lakecountyil.gov/4435/COVID-19-Testing

Due to the COVID surge, we will not be offering after school activities other than the BASE program until further notice. In addition all field trips will move to a virtual format to support student safety and staffing needs.

We have made special arrangements to provide return to school testing for staff and students who are in the testing roster. The Shield test will be administered by our partners at Passport Health as a preventative measure in order to have test results prior to students return to school after break on Monday January 10th. Staff and students who are on the roster may choose to come in during those hours to be tested. We encourage our students to come in for this quick experience. Parents are asked to wait for their child while they are being tested. If your child is currently not on the testing roster and you would like your student to be added to the roster to take advantage of this free service, please notify us no later than 1/5/2022 and return the Voluntary Shield Testing Rostering Permission Form to us. While advance notification is not required, it would be helpful to know who will be participating on January 7th. Please email the mainoffice@rondoutsd.72.org to let us know. We would like to thank Passport Health and the Shield organization for making this special testing opportunity possible.

On December 22, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. please join our prerecorded Winter Band Concert Zoom!

Parents and students don't forget about Cozy Day tomorrow (Friday)! Students should wear their coziest clothes to school and bring in the weekend in comfort. See you tomorrow!

Good Evening...Happy Wednesday... We will not be having a Parent Coffee this evening (December 15, 2021). Parent coffees will resume on Wednesday January 12, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. Happy Holidays. Looking forward to resuming our "Coffee Talks" in the new year.