As families and staff prepare for winter break, we wanted to share a few helpful updates and reminders:

The Schools of 58 Family Handbook contains important information about District policies and procedures. Each school year, parents/guardians are required to sign off that they have reviewed the handbook and agree to all policies, procedures and notices outlined in it. This year, the District asks parents to electronically verify that they have read the handbook. Please follow the below steps to complete this task:

Thank you for your cooperation! During registration last spring, some families requested a print copy of the handbook. The District mailed these handbooks earlier this fall. If you received a print copy, please still complete the digital signature form.

District 58 has many Internet safety measures in place to help protect students. Visit the District's Internet Safety page to learn more about content filtering, student email, student YouTube access and more.

Having a strong pool of available substitute teachers is integral to District 58's ability to keep schools open. In the past month, the District increased sub pay and recruited new qualified substitute teachers. The District also hired one-to-two floater substitutes to work at each building on a daily basis. These efforts have helped significantly decrease the number of unfilled positions in the District's buildings each day.

The District continues to seek substitute teachers. Learn more and apply at www.dg58.org/subs.

This week, the Education Foundation of Downers Grove District 58 donated 150 $50 grocery store gift cards and 10 $100 grocery store gift cards to District 58 schools! Funding for these gift cards came from the Foundation's COVID-19 Family Support Fund. Principals, social workers and secretaries will provide these gift cards to low-income District 58 families, as well as to families who were negatively affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To date, the Education Foundation's COVID Family Support Fund has raised over $14,000 from individuals and local businesses. The Foundation will continue to purchase grocery store gift cards throughout the winter and spring to assist District 58 families who are struggling. If you would like to make a donation to this fund, please click here. If your family is struggling financially and would benefit from a grocery store gift card, please contact your school's principal or social worker.

District 58 is pleased to announce that El Sierra School will receive a State of Illinois “Build Illinois Bond Fund” grant totaling $180,000 for the construction of a new playground. El Sierra plans to use the grant funding, in combination with the school’s playground fundraising efforts, to build a new playground. Construction began last week (see photo from demo day!), and the playground is expected to be completed in May 2021 if the weather cooperates.

“I am very proud of the dedicated District staff and El Sierra community members who worked hard to design and fundraise for their school’s dream playground, and I am very grateful for the State’s support of this important project,” said Superintendent Dr. Kevin Russell. “The new El Sierra playground will give students new imaginative and interactive opportunities for play. It will serve as a major asset to the El Sierra community for many years to come!”

Click here to learn more about the El Sierra playground grant.

Superintendent Dr. Kevin Russell is no stranger to District 58's classrooms! Although his visits look a little different now during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Russell still tries to visit classrooms (including remote classrooms!) to build relationships with staff and students, as well as to witness the fantastic learning that occurs in our schools! Yesterday, Dr. Russell made socially-distant visits at five schools. During the visits, he sought staff feedback on the District's instructional learning models and observed hybrid learning in action! Here are some highlights from those visits!

Get in the holiday spirit with the District 58 Instrumental Team! These talented teacher musicians created a coordinated virtual performance of the holiday classic, "Sleigh Ride"! Click the image or click here to view this festive video.

The Downers Grove Roadrunners Soccer Club generously fulfilled holiday wish lists for more than 130 District 58 students in need. Last week, they delivered more than 600 gifts to District 58 schools for these children.

This is the 10th straight year that the Roadrunners have donated gifts to District 58. THANK YOU, Roadrunners, for your generosity, your time and your support. District 58 appreciates it very much.

The Downers Grove Junior Woman's Club coordinated a community mask drive and donated 200 masks to District 58!

In addition, the local Downers Grove Loyal Order of Moose recently delivered a large box filled with new hats, gloves and scarves to District 58.

Most of these donations have already been circulated to schools and put to good use.

Thank you, Downers Grove Junior Woman's Club and Downers Grove Loyal Order of Moose for your continued generosity and support of District 58 students!

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act provides students experiencing homelessness with educational services. In general, children living in motels, transitional housing, shelters, the street, cars, abandoned buildings and other inadequate accommodations may be considered eligible for McKinney-Vento services.

Through McKinney-Vento, eligible children have the right to attend their school of origin (school last attended or school attended when child lost permanent housing) or attend the school that best serves their temporary living situation. Children also are eligible for immediate enrollment, transportation, free lunch, fee waivers and other services. Learn more about McKinney-Vento. If you need help, please contact Homeless Liaison Jessica Stewart at 630-719-5824.

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