Carpenter student Genevieve Suh and School Technologist Ben Pfander are the D64 Shining Stars for April! It was great to recognize these two outstanding individuals at the April School Board meeting. 

“Any day you get to see Genevieve at Carpenter is a better day because she is someone with such a positive attitude. She uplifts other people around her. She's so helpful."

“Ben is always quick to respond to staff requests for support. He embraces learning and problem-solving in his role as a technologist at Carpenter." 

Thank you to Genevieve and Ben for being such great members of the Carpenter and D64 community! 

Read more on our website.

News From The April 17 Regular BOE Meeting

Student/Staff Recognition

Those Who Excel Awards - We had six of our seven Those Who Excel Award Winners in attendance as we celebrated their awards from the Illinois State Board of Education. Read about our winners here. 

Science Olympiad - On April 5, 118 4th- and 5th-grade students competed in the Science Olympiad. Check out our story to see all of the medal winners. Congratulations to all who participated! 

Educator Appreciation Week - Starts on May 5. This is always a great week and an excellent chance to celebrate all of our staff! “It takes a lot of people to get through the school year, and if you’re looking to brighten up one of your educators' days, just send them a quick note. To them, it makes a huge difference, and they very much appreciate it,” said Superintendent Dr. Ben Collins.  

Middle School Schedule 2026-27

The School Board approved a new middle school schedule, which will start in the 2026-27 school year.

Accompanying Middle School Review Resources

• View the presentation slide deck from Dr. Samantha Alaimo, Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning.
• Read the Middle School Review Memo

The new middle school schedule was designed to address the identified areas for growth, particularly in reading and math achievement, while preserving the valued aspects of our current middle school experience. Many key components of the middle school day will remain the same, including the start and end times, teacher prep and team times, and the length of the lunch and recess periods. We will continue to offer four core content areas and maintain 12 elective choice slots for seventh and eighth graders, along with sixth-grade exploratory classes. The teaming philosophy and homeroom/advisory periods will also remain in place to support student well-being and development.

The primary changes involve moving to a common bell schedule for all grade levels and shifting all classes to a trimester system (with the exception of Health). This allows core and elective periods to be more evenly spread throughout the day, addressing feedback about the large blocks of core classes. We are increasing the instructional time for ELA and Math to 80-minute periods to provide more focused learning in these critical areas, while Science and Social Studies will have 40-minute periods. Although there will be three 40-minute elective periods instead of four, we have restructured offerings to ensure that students still have 12 pure elective choices between seventh and eighth grade, as opposed to the current model, which includes some required electives and core teachers teaching elective classes.

Next steps: 

2024-25 School Year - We will begin creating mock schedules and testing their functionality in the PowerSchool Scheduling system. 

2025-26 School Year - Staff will engage in professional development to prepare for the schedule & programming changes. A Parent University will be held for families to better understand the changes.

Click here for more information from the meeting.

Upcoming Board Meetings

The following are the next Board meetings:

• May 1, 2025 - 7:00 p.m. - Special Meeting (Organizational Meeting) - Hendee Rooms at Jefferson
• May 15, 2025 - 7:00 p.m.

Looking to catch up on past meeting highlights? A summary of each meeting is available on our Current Board News webpage.

Please confirm meeting dates and times on the Board meetings webpage.

It's fun to visit our schools and see how different classes are counting down the days until summer! Earlier this week, one elementary school student asked me, "Can you believe we've already been in school for more than 150 days? I can't!"

Me neither!

These last few weeks are packed before the last day of school on Thursday, May 29.

We still have a lot to celebrate and even more students to acknowledge, which brings us to the Young Author Award Winners.

Congratulations to these incredible creatives for earning the District Award for their Young Author Manuscripts!

The Young Authors Contest is an independent, voluntary, at-home project for students interested in writing and publishing their work for others to read.

Excellent job from this year's winners!

• Kindergarten - Lilly Figura - The Bird And The Penguin - Franklin
• 1st Grade - Claire Abplanalp - The I Can Club - Roosevelt   
• 2nd Grade - Cora A. Young - The Devastating Story of Indigo and Scarlet - Franklin   
• 3rd Grade - Valerie Hejza & Katherine Smith - The Table of Memories - Carpenter   
• 4th Grade - Erik Abplanalp - When You Wish Upon An Elf - Roosevelt   
• 4th Grade - Madeleine Mason - Can't - Washington   
• 5th Grade - Delaney D. Young & Haera E. Kim - The Super Spies: The Case of the Missing Jewels - Franklin   
• 6th Grade - Ravah Islamoglu - Notes From Space - Emerson   
• 7th Grade - Kamila Yenhalycheva & Manisha Mugunthan - Gemini Rising - Emerson   
• 7th Grade - Sephina Ali - Tomorrow - Lincoln   
• 8th Grade - Gioia Dini-Baima - Angel Dance - Emerson

Judith Snow Award Deadline Is Next Week

District 64, Emerson/Lincoln, and their PTOs have partnered to find two 8th graders at each school who have had a positive impact on the school to be awarded the Judith Snow Ethical Leadership Award. 

Do you know an 8th-grade student who has demonstrated ethical leadership? If so, visit d64.org/judith-snow-awards.

The application and recommendations are due by Friday, May 2nd.

Learn more about the Judith Snow Award and view the student application.

On Friday, May 23, at 9:00 am, D64 will conduct a Timely and Meaningful Consultation (TMC) meeting. The meeting will be held in the Hendee Rooms at the Jefferson Early Childhood Center at 8182 Greendale Ave., Niles.

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the District’s plan for providing special education services to students with disabilities who will attend private and home schools within District 64’s boundaries for the 2025/26 school year. 

If you are the parent of a privately placed or home-schooled student who has been or may be identified with a disability, and you reside or have a child that attends school within the District 64 boundaries. 

If you have questions, please contact Alicia Schmeisser, Director of Student Services, at 847-318-4332 or at aschmeisser@d64.org.

Healthy Living Month enters the home stretch!

Next week's focus is how we spend our free time. Students are challenged to spend their free time this week in activities that do not require using a device with a screen (reading a book, taking a walk, playing a board game, playing a sport, etc.).

📵 Week 4 (April 28-May 4): Screen-Free Week

Rainbows for All Children Peer Groups – Fall 2025 Registration

The next season of peer groups will begin after the new school year starts, in September 2025. Please complete this form, (link below), to register your child(ren) and/or to be added to our communications list. This free program meets every Tuesday from 5:30–6:30 PM at Park Ridge Community Church.

You can register by following this link.

Rainbows offers a safe and supportive space for students in 1st–8th grade who are experiencing grief due to the loss of a loved one or a changing family dynamic, (such as divorce, deployment, or separation). Trained facilitators guide children in sharing their feelings and learning healthy ways to cope and communicate.

If you have general questions or are interested in volunteering as a facilitator, please email rainbows64@att.net. Follow on Facebook for updates and resources: 

The Illinois State Board of Education has requested that we share this information with families regarding a survey they are seeking assistance with:

Illinois Special Education Parent Survey:

It is requested that parents of children with IEPs in the district use the personalized survey link and passcode mailed to them via US mail in January. If parents do not have the letter, they may use the link below to check if they are part of the survey population. They will receive an email response that will either include their personalized link and passcode, or they will be informed that they are not being surveyed and there is no further action required. The link is: https://measurement.welcomesyourfeedback.com/s/ISBE-Request . 

Comments and questions may always be directed to the Superintendent or Board members through these links:

Email Dr. Ben Collins, Superintendent or contact members of the Board of Education via email links.

Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 | 847-318-4300 | news@d64.org

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