January 6, 2025

Do you have a child entering kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year? All eligible children turning five years old before Sept. 1, 2025 can be enrolled in free, full-day kindergarten at one of Barrington 220’s elementary schools. Our elementary principals will hold in-person information sessions on Monday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. at your neighborhood elementary school. If you plan to attend, please complete this form by Feb. 1. 

In addition to full-day kindergarten at each of our eight elementary schools, Barrington 220 also offers three optional kindergarten programs. These include our innovative Kindergarten Lab Program (K-Lab) at Barrington High School, the Spanish Dual Language Program, and the Chinese Immersion Program. Visit the Kindergarten Information page for program-specific Round-Up dates.

Student Services Hosts Special Education

Parent Advisory Sessions

Barrington 220 Student Services and Support will offer four Special Education Parent Advisory Group educational sessions in early 2025. Open to parents and guardians of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), these sessions will provide an opportunity to discuss strategies, resources, and advocacy efforts aimed at improving educational experiences for students with disabilities. 

The session dates, speakers, and topics are as follows:

Jan. 16: Darcy Kriha, partner at Kriha Boucek and Barrington 220’s legal counsel, will lead a session on special education law.

Feb. 13: Marni Johnson, Lead Consultant for North Shore Special Education Consulting, will lead a session on determining appropriate services for your child.

March 13: Tracy Walsh, Barrington 220 Student Services TOSA, and Ben Thullen, Assistant Principal at BHS, will lead a session on trauma-informed care.

April 17: Kelly Key, Barrington 220's Assistive Technology Coordinator, will lead a session on technology options for students.

All sessions will be held from 6-7 p.m. at the Barrington 220 District Administrative Center in the Board Room. Parents and guardians of students with IEPs may register for individual sessions by completing this form before Jan. 10.

Half-Day and Full-Day Attendance Requirements

Barrington 220 values student attendance. For a student to have a successful experience, the student must be present in class. Any absence from school is a missed learning opportunity for your child. Each month we're sharing attendance facts with you in our Attention to Attendance section. This month’s focus is on half-day and full-day attendance requirements.

For students in Kindergarten and First Grade:

• 120-240 minutes of instruction constitutes half-day attendance
• Four hours (240 minutes) or more of instruction constitutes full-day attendance

For students in Grades 2-12:

• 150-300 minutes of instruction constitutes half-day attendance
• Five hours (300 minutes) or more of instruction constitutes full-day attendance

Students who are in attendance for fewer minutes than required for half-day attendance will be marked absent for the full day. If consistent attendance is a challenge for your student, please reach out to your student's principal, assistant principal, counselor or teacher for support.

BHS Fine Arts, the Orchesis Dance Company and the Fine Arts Boosters will host Giordano Dance Chicago and dancers from several area high schools for a collaborative dance performance on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Richard C. Johnson Auditorium at BHS. This tradition at BHS allows high school students to work and perform with professional dancers. Tickets are available now through the online box office! 

Barrington 220's Special Olympics basketball team will take on Hersey in their annual matchup on Friday, Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. at Hersey High School. T-shirts will be sold for $5 to raise money for the Special Olympics program. Come out and support our student athletes—and be sure to wear red!

All K-5 students are invited to our Maker Madness Family STEM Event on Saturday, Feb. 8! We invite your entire family to come and enjoy self-paced activities for students in grades K-5. Activities will include: making buttons with the Barrington Area Library, building the tallest paper towers, engineering a safe landing device, and using some of our STEM tools to design, build, and test a grabbing "claw" device.

This event will be held at Prairie Campus. To maximize participation, we are hosting two sessions for this event: Session I from 1-2:30 p.m. and Session II from 3-4:30 p.m. Registration is limited, and will close when filled. A registration link will be shared with elementary families in early January.

We hope students are returning from winter break rested and refreshed! To help ensure a smooth transition back to the school routine, we’re sharing BStrong Together’s ten tips to support mental health and wellness. From regular check-ins to problem-solving strategies, each tip is a good reminder that can help build healthy habits. For additional ways to support students, visit www.bstrongtogether.org.