The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) updated its joint guidance for schools yesterday evening. District 58 emailed all families and staff this updated guidance last night. This morning, the IDPH and ISBE published an updated FAQ sheet.

As we shared last night, District staff are working hard to review the new guidelines and assess which students and staff may be released from isolation or quarantine earlier than expected. We appreciate our families' patience as we work through this process!

District 58 remains committed to providing families and the community with up-to-date information about COVID-19 in our school district. Until now, principals have sent daily emails to families informing them of positive staff and student cases, including student grade. While we have received positive feedback around this level of communication, we have also heard from families that the volume of emails is high, and that parsing this information in paragraph form may not be the most efficient way for families to be kept informed.

To that end, starting Thursday, Jan. 12, 2022, the District will no longer send daily COVID-19 notification letters to families. Instead, the District will update its COVID-19 Dashboard with this same information by 4 p.m. each school day. The dashboard will continue to have weekly totals, but we will add a new page that includes daily counts for staff and students. You can navigate the multiple pages of the dashboard by clicking page numbers at the top left of the dashboard. 

To decrease the number of students required to quarantine at home due to being a close contact, District 58 is keeping bus windows cracked open though the winter. If your children are bus riders, please ensure they are dressed for cold weather.

Per guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education, when a student bus rider tests positive, fellow bus riders who were 3-6 feet from the infected student will not require exclusion if both the positive case and the close contact were consistently masked AND the windows were opened or HEPA filters were in use.

Save the date: District 58 will hold its winter parent-teacher conferences on the evenings of Tuesday, Feb. 1 and Thursday, Feb. 3.

Parents and guardians can sign up for conferences beginning on Jan. 21. The District will be using a new platform for conference registration. More information will be sent by the District next week. 

District 58 schools will administer the Measures of Academic Progress, or MAP, assessment this month to students in grades K-8. MAP is an untimed, adaptive test that adjusts each question's level of difficulty as a student progresses through the exam. The MAP assessment allows teachers and administrators to better pinpoint what a student knows and what a student is ready to learn next, which helps staff better differentiate instruction to each individual student's level.

In addition, students in grades K-2, along with select students in grades 3-8, will take the aimsweb assessment this month. Aimsweb is an assessment that measures early literacy. District 58 uses aimsweb data to identify each student’s current literacy level and to determine individual interventions to help each student succeed.

Questions about MAP or aimsweb? Contact your child's teacher or principal!

District 58 officially sold the Longfellow Center property to McNaughton Development for $4.155 million on Monday, Jan. 10.

The Longfellow Center was a District 58 school from 1928-1978. In subsequent years, it served several purposes and most recently housed half of the District 58 administrative team, along with its Curriculum, Technology and Buildings & Grounds offices.

District 58 has discussed the future of Longfellow since 1978. Recent school boards have explored selling the property and, as such, did not invest in its upkeep.

"The building was severely deteriorating, and repairing it and bringing it up to code was not feasible given the cost and the other urgent needs of the District," said Superintendent Dr. Kevin Russell. "Simply put, the cost to repair Longfellow was far too much and it would have significantly impacted the District’s ability to fund much-needed projects in our schools." 

After analyzing financial options, meeting with several stakeholder groups, and discussing the matter at public Board meetings, the District determined that selling the property was the most fiscally-responsible option. $3 million in proceeds will be used to fund critical facility projects during the summer of 2022. The remaining proceeds will be placed in a fund balance to help manage the low cash point in the year and, if needed, for emergency capital work.

District 58's administrative staff had been split between the Longfellow Center and Administrative Service Center. The entire team relocated to an office space located at 2300 Warrenville Road. District 58 has a short-term lease on this property, and is currently partnering with the Village of Downers Grove to potentially build a combined-purpose civic center for the long-term. The existing Administrative Service Center was retrofit to become District 58's new maintenance and storage hub.

Need to visit the District 58 Office? The administrative offices recently combined and moved to one shared space at the following address:

When you arrive, park and follow these instructions:

District 58 has been sharing one winter weather FAQ in recent Communicate 58 newsletters. To view all FAQs, please visit www.dg58.org/family-resources/winter. Today's FAQ: How does District 58 decide whether to close its school buildings due to weather?

District 58’s superintendent consults with a variety of resources — weather forecasts, neighboring superintendents, the bus company and the District’s Buildings and Grounds teams — to make an informed decision. The decision is based on many factors.

If the answer is yes to the first four questions, and if a wind chill warning has not been issued, most likely the decision will be to keep schools open.

Student safety is District 58’s top priority, but the District also understands that closing schools is inconvenient for students, teachers and families. The superintendent will make the decision as soon as safely possible.

District 58 thanks Evan's Elves (EM5 Fly High Foundation) for donating $1,250 in gift cards for O'Neill families in need last month.

The organization raised this money through a special "Evan's Elves" fundraising event at a recent Downers Grove South basketball game (pictured).

Evan's Elves, also known as the EM5 Fly High Foundation, is a charity organization formed in honor of Evan Melau, a former District 58 student who died, at the age of 15, in a tragic bicycle accident in 2020.

District 58 thanks the Downers Grove Junior Woman's Club for their continued support of District 58 families in need! This Thanksgiving, the club partnered with local restaurants and businesses--including The Outpost Mexican Eatery, the Omega and the Kim Moustis Group at Keller Williams Experience--to provide Thanksgiving meals to select District 58 families in need. The group also partnered with Woodridge Target to procure gift cards for holiday decorations.

"It brought tears to the mom’s eyes and the kids were so excited, they wanted to start decorating right away! It was such a touching night and definitely a success!" said Kerra Moeller, DGJWC CCA co-chair.

Finally, thanks to a combination of Woodridge Target donations and club member donations, the DGJWC provided holiday gifts for several District 58 families in need. Thank you very much for your support! Photo credit: Downers Grove Junior Woman's Club (some of the many gifts they donated!)

The Downers Grove Junior Woman's Club invites Herrick and O'Neill students to participate in the annual Junior High Art Contest.

All mediums of artwork will be accepted. Entries are due at www.dgjwc.org/awards-scholarships by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 4. Students must upload clear pictures of their piece, as well as their written interpretation of their piece, to be considered for the contest.

Winners will be notified the week of Feb. 21. More information will be posted at www.dgjwc.org/awards-scholarships soon. (Photo from 2019).