About the cover photos: Left: Fairmount students in Alyssa Reinholz’s 4th-grade classroom solved an escape room puzzle to find a magic word as part of their St. Patrick’s Day fun. Right: Students in Claire Armbrust’s 2nd-grade class at Fairmount make models of the earth.   

Throughout this publication, you will see the following color-coded dots beside each article. The dots represent which strategic goal the article addresses:

• Focusing on Learning • Connecting the Community • Securing the Future

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All schools will be closed Monday, March 27 through Friday, March 31 for spring break. School will resume Monday, April 3. In addition, the District Office will be open March 27-30 and closed on March 31. Enjoy your time off!

For the 20th consecutive year, District 58 earned the highest rating for Financial Recognition from The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). The rating is for the District’s 2022 School District Financial Profile. All Illinois school districts receive an annual rating from the ISBE, which considers several financial indicators including fund balance to revenue ratio; expenditure to revenue ratio; days of cash on hand; percent of short-term borrowing ability remaining; and percent of long-term debt margin remaining.

As we plan for next year, families may be thinking about partial enrollment, early admission and early acceleration. May 1 is the deadline for any of these three requests. Partial enrollment is a rare scenario in which a student would not attend school for the full day (this is most often seen in highly competitive sports training programs.) Requests for early admission to kindergarten and first grade must be communicated prior to May 1; procedures for general admission to kindergarten and first grade, as well as exceptions to these procedures, are outlined in board policy 7:50. Procedures for acceleration in math prior to 3rd grade are outlined here. While all three of these situations are rare occurrences, please know that all requests must be received by your building principal prior to May 1 to be considered. For questions on any of these procedures, please contact your building principal or Justin Sisul, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. 

The Downers Grove Junior Woman’s Club (DGJWC) recognized seven O’Neill and Herrick Middle School students for excellence in creative arts at a reception March 9 at Community Bank of Downers Grove. 

From 30 submissions from local 7th and 8th grade students, the following awards were presented: 

• Best in Show - Eye of the Tiger, Oscar Sather, 7th grade, Herrick
• First Place, 7th grade - Eye, Mikaela Ellis, Herrick
• Second Place, 7th grade - Mother Nature's Disapproval, Claire Seagraves, Herrick
• Honorable Mention, 7th grade - Leaves, Camryn Tallarico, O’Neill
• First Place, 8th grade -Ellie, Briley Steffes, Herrick 
• Second Place, 8th grade - Tiger, Alice Klibanov, Herrick
• Honorable Mention, 8th grade - Walk of the Earth, Neda Masiulionis, O’Neill 

"This program is a favorite tradition for our Club,” said Lindsay Garrity, president of DGJWC. “The opportunity for local students to be recognized for their creativity is important to us. We are always amazed by the incredible talent in our community.” The winning artwork will be on display through March 31 at the Community Bank of Downers Grove, 1111 Warren Avenue.

Herrick students in Advanced Math classes placed 3rd among 60 middle schools in the ICTM (Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics) State Math Contest. It was the second contest that Herrick had competed in. The competition consists of both a team and individual components.

Herrick’s top two teams consisted of:

Team 1 received 19 out of 20 possible points: Lily Zdebski, Tala Nehme, Owen Henrikson, Rian Patel and Zachary Wessels. 

Team 2 received 18 out of 20 possible points: Reece Hollweck, Max Canner, Olivia Tan, Nicole Liu, Matthew Joseph, Gianna Mocia, Cecelia Nelson, Priyanka Gupta, Lucia Walley, and Nathan Inboriboon.

Competing as individuals, the following students were recognized for placing in the top 10 out of the 80 Herrick students who took the exam.

Perfect scores: Nicole Liu, Olivia Tan, Max Canner, Zach Landman, Zachary Wessels, Sajan Komanduri, Raymond Curran, Luke Figliomeni, and Nathan Inboriboon.

Top Ten individual honors: Reece Hollweck, Matthew Joseph, Philip Moawad, Owen Henrikson, Vivian James, Peyton Cable, Peyton Szydlowski.

As a result of their 3rd place finish on the second contest, Herrick moved up to 4th place overall.

There is one remaining contest and the students have their eyes set on the championship. Congratulations, Herrick Mathematicians!

The Downers Grove District 58 Festival of Music is a culminating celebration of the district's music program as well as Music in Our Schools Month. Students from both Herrick and O'Neill Middle School Bands, Choirs and Orchestras performed together at Downers Grove North on March 15. Check out more photos from the event here.

March 13 Business Meeting

During its March 13 Regular Meeting, the Board heard reports on the staffing plan for the 2023-24 school year and middle school conceptual designs. The Board also approved bids for school playgrounds and summer work and a contract with RGM Consulting to facilitate a new Strategic Plan for the District. Read more.

March 20 Workshop Meeting

The Board held a Workshop Meeting to discuss a new Strategic Plan and its potential focus areas and a timeline. The current Strategic Plan from 2017-23 is retiring. The Board began by highlighting the success of the last Strategic Plan. The Board has identified five potential key areas of focus for the new plan and will send a survey out in early April to gather stakeholder feedback. Additionally, Dr. Russell and Strategic Planning Facilitator Dr. Robert Madonia will host stakeholder input meetings on April 6 at O'Neill Middle School in the Professional Development Center. The staff session will be held from 4-5 p.m. The community session will be held from 6-7 p.m. Read more.

Looking ahead: The Board’s next regular business meeting will be held on Monday, April 10 at 7 p.m. at Village Hall. The Board will hold its Policy Committee at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, April 18 at O’Neill Middle School.

District 58 includes relevant e-flyers in the Communicate 58 newsletter and online. Learn more.

• First Annual St. Baldrick's Event March 26 
• Breakfast with the Bunny April 
• Easter Egg Hunt April 8
• Healthy Kids Running Series
• DG Downtown Spring Break Staycation