EDISON Community News & Updates

November | 2025

Upcoming Events & Deadlines

11/5: Prospective Parent Open House

11/6: Nature Museum Field Trip (Grades K-2)

11/7: Career Fair (Grades 3-8)

11/14: Progress Report Distribution

11/14: GoCPS Application Deadline

11/14: PTO General Meeting

11/18: LSC Meeting

11/20: Coffee with the Principal (Grades 5-6)

11/20: Parent Book Talk (*Rescheduled)

11/21: Field Trip to Field Museum (Grades 5-6)

No School

11/11: Veterans Day

11/24 - 11/28: Thanksgiving Break

Important Links

Report an absence here.
Check out CPS' 2025-2026 calendar.
Check out Edison's school calendar.
Check out the Edison Family Quick Guide.

Congratulations!

Last week, Edison was once again rated the #1 elementary school in Illinois by U.S. News & Report! We were also named the #3 middle school in the state. Congratulations to the entire Edison community on this incredible accomplishment. It's wonderful to see our collective efforts recognized in this way!

Message From Dr. Valentine

Hello, Edison community!

Happy November! This is a short month but we have multiple parent and community events. I hope to see you there!

Please see the newsletter below for helpful announcements and updates. Here are a few that I'd like to spotlight:

Thrivers Book Talk: The book talk scheduled for 11/5 has been moved to 11/20 due to an unforseen scheduling conflict. Apologies if this presents an inconvenience for anyone!

Small Group Counseling: Our interim counselor, Ms. Boonstra, is organizing counseling groups for students who could use support navigating a divorce in their family, students who could use support with friendship and social skills, and students navigating illness or health issues in their family. If you think this would benefit your student, please contact Ms. Boonstra at aboonstra@cps.edu.

Fall Family Survey: The CPS SY26 Fall Survey provides families with the opportunity to give feedback on the academic calendars for the next two school years. Please review the drafts of the 2026-2027 academic calendar here and the 2027-2028 academic calendar here.

Gifted Site Conditions Survey: Chicago Public Schools is committed to providing high-quality programming for our students, and we routinely gather data on specialty program implementation through self-assessments. As such, the gifted department asks specialty schools to issue an annual survey about site conditions (the foundational systems and structures that support program implementation) at our school as they relate to Edison's gifted program, and invite you to complete the survey linked below. Participation is voluntary, anonymous, and should not take more than 10 minutes of your time. Please note, the family survey link also includes two additional short surveys from CPS that parents are encouraged to complete. If you’d like to participate, please plan to complete the survey by November 26. To access the Site Conditions survey,

Select the school your child(ren) attend
Select Parent, guardian, or caregiver of a current or former CPS student
Check the Specialty Program Site Conditions box at the bottom
Click here to see a visual of the directions mentioned above

OSP Training: The safety of our students continues to be of the utmost importance. The District’s Office of Student Protection and Title IX’s commitment to this endeavor includes providing training on preventing and reporting abuse to all Pre-K-12 CPS students. Parents have the right to opt-out of the Office of Student Protections and Title IX Student Training. If you choose to opt your child out please email your child's homeroom teacher prior to November 14th. If you wish to teach your child this material yourself, you can access the videos to the sessions on the OSP website at www.cps.edu/osp. Student Training covers the following five learning objectives using developmentally appropriate language in sessions that have been broken down by grade and are all around 30-45 minutes:

Students will understand CPS Title IX Policy and Discrimination Statement
Students will know who the Title IX Coordinator is, what OSP does, and how to get in touch with OSP
Students will understand what constitutes sexual harassment and bias-based harm
Students will be aware of the resources available to students who report sexual harassment, retaliation, or bias-based harm, including supportive measures pending an investigation
Students will know what to do if they believe they or other students have been subjected to sexual harassment or bias-based harm

Thank you for your help with this! As always, please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.

In partnership,

Karen Valentine, EdD

kevalentine1@cps.edu

Updates & Announcements

Parent Workshop: Thrivers Book Talk

November 20th, 6PM-7:30PM (In-Person)

Join us for an in-persin book talk on Thrivers: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine by Michele Borba, Ed.D. *Please note: this session was previously scheduled for 11/5 but has been moved to 11/20 due to an unforseen scheduling conflict.

Local School Council

Thank you to all applicants for the vacant parent representative position on the Edison's LSC! Every parent who expressed interest was highly qualified and would have been an incredible addition to the council. Congratulations to 7th grade parent, Erin English-Bailey, on being voted into the vacant position.

Intersted in parents and community members are invited to apply for the 2026 Local School Council. Elections will take place during parent-teacher conferences on 3/18 and elected members will begin their term on July 1st. You can find application information here.

State of the School Presentation

Edison's annual State of the School presentation will be embedded within the November LSC meeting. That meeting will be held at 6:00pm on November 18th in room 115. A recording of the presentation will be shared following the meeting. Login information for that meeting is included below.

November LSC Meeting

November 18th at 6:00pm

Call In: +1 518-547-0753‬

PIN: 546 016 876#‬

SNAP Benefits

Families impacted by changes to SNAP benefits can visit the We Got You Illinois website for a comprehensive list of food pantries, meal programs, and food distribution partners, including hours and locations, throughout Chicago and Cook County. Last week, Governor Pritzker signed an Executive Order to provide an additional $20 million in funding to support programs that feed hungry families during this time of increased need. Families can also call the Healthy Kids Hotline at (773) 553-KIDS (5437) for assistance in finding food options in Chicago.

This situation will not impact our students’ ability to receive meals at school. Every CPS student will continue to have access to free breakfast and lunch at school every day.

CPS Promotion Policy

CPS makes elementary school promotion decisions during the second week of June for students in grades 2, 5, and 8.

Promotion status is based on student academic performance as reflected by the final reading (2, 5, & 8th grade), math (5 & 8th grade only), science (5 & 8th grade only), and social science (5 & 8th grade only) report card grades.

Students who do not meet promotion criteria will be required to attend and satisfactorily complete Summer Bridge in order to be promoted to the next grade. See the full policy here.

Know Your Rights Workshops

If you are interested in attending a Know Your Rights workshops in the coming weeks, a full calendar of events with sign-up links is kept current on the Chicago Public Schools Immigration Resources website.

For a Know Your Rights training that you can watch on your own schedule, Ald. Scott Waguespack and Rep. Mike Quigley hosted a session with other local and state officials and lawyers from the Resurrection Project on 10/14/2025. That recording can be found here (the actual training begins around 29 minutes in).

50th Anniversary Logo Contest Winners (Tie)

Congratuations to the Van Allen family on their winning submission!

Congratuations to Rebecca Zemans on her winning submission!

Events, Opportunities & Resources

Wait Until 8th

"Wait Until 8th" is a pledge by the organization of the same name that encourages parents to delay giving their children a smartphone until at least the end of 8th grade. The movement, which has been supported by over 115,000 families, aims to protect children from the potential negative effects of early smartphone use, such as cyberbullying and increased anxiety. Edison does not sponsor this program but several parents have expressed interest in informally working with parents in their class to take the pledge as a group. You can find more information here.

Edison Regional Gifted Center | edisongifted.com