Six Mead Junior High School students have qualified for the National History Day competition June 12-16 in College Park, Maryland.

• Armaan qualified in the Performance category for his project entitled “Diplomacy at Fort Dearborn.” He prepared a one-man show about 10 minutes long where he portrayed four different historical perspectives during the War of 1812.
• Arun and Benjamin qualified in the Website category for their project focused on the O’Hare Expansion debate. They interviewed the mayor of Elk Grove Village and created a website detailing the many perspectives on expanding the airport. The website can be found at http://44339350.nhd.weebly.com/index.html.
• Kevin, Glenn and William qualified in the Documentary category for their project entitled “Illinois Secession during the Civil War?” Their documentary addressed the historical issues that faced Illinoisans as states began to secede from the Union.

Mead also qualified two exhibits and two research papers for the State History Expo. These Mead students earned superior ratings from all the judges. They are

• Teresa, Sarah and Jung-Yun for their exhibit on Internment Camps;
• Lisa, Anisha, Catherine, Kaitlin and Marianna for their exhibit on the debate between Chicago and St. Louis over the Reversal of the Chicago River;
• Kevin for his research paper on the Lincoln-Douglas debates; and
• Lisa for her research paper on the debate over charter schools. 

The theme this year was Debate and Diplomacy in History. About 100 Mead students worked from four to six months and competed at a local fair, a regional fair and the State History Expo on May 3. Professional educators and historians served as the judges.

According to http://www.nationalhistoryday.org, each year more than half a million students participate. Students choose a historical topic related to the theme, conduct research, analyze and interpret their sources, and then draw a conclusion about the significance of their topic. Students can present their work as a research paper, an exhibit, a performance, a documentary or a website.

Fairview music teacher Diane Sanfillippo has been selected to receive the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award at the 2011 Symposium on Music in Schools in June. Sanfillippo was chosen, by a panel of music professionals from a pool of more than 300 nominees representing 45 states, for her outstanding accomplishments and vision as a public school music teacher. One music teacher was selected from each state, for a total of 50 award recipients.

The Symposium will take place June 9 through 12 in New Haven, CT. In addition to the awards dinner, the Symposium will feature a variety of presentations, break-out sessions and concerts. As part of the award, Sanfillippo’s travel, room, board and conference expenses will be paid by the Yale School of Music through the Yale College Class of 1957 Endowment.

More information on the Symposium, the award and a list of other award recipients can be found at http://music.yale.edu/community/educators.html.

MacArthur School hosted the first annual district-wide Spanish Speech Contest. The competition is open to any District 54 student.

More than 50 students entered from several schools, both native speakers of Spanish and speakers of Spanish as a second language submitted speeches to the competition. Twelve students were selected as finalists and presented their speeches on a variety of topics to our guest judges who then asked them several questions in Spanish.

Category 1: Spanish as a Second Language grades 4-6

• 1^st place – Isaiah C., MacArthur
• 2^nd place – Sebastian F., Lincoln Prairie
• 3^rd place – Anna M., MacArthur

Category 2: Native Spanish Speakers grades 4-6

• 1^st place – Cristian C., MacArthur
• 2^nd place – Anna G., Lincoln Prairie
• 3^rd place – Helen A., MacArthur

Category 3: Spanish as a Second Language grades 7-8

• 1^st place – Lauren S., Eisenhower
• 2^nd place – Joey T., Eisenhower
• 3^rd place – Antonio V., Eisenhower

Category 4: Native Spanish Speakers grades 7-8

• 1^st place – Salvador S., Eisenhower
• 2^nd place – Carla G., Eisenhower
• 3^rd place – Lizbet C., Eisenhower

“The students were amazing,” MacArthur Principal Danette Meyer said. “We are hopeful to see many more applicants from all District 54 schools next year.”

Top 10 lists have become a standard part of American culture since they were introduced on late night TV. The news media, entertainment industry and many other groups have found the Top 10 List to be an effective way to communicate.

At the end of the year, these lists become even more popular and are used to quickly recap what has been accomplished. Looking back on this past year in School District 54, there is much to celebrate. Coming up with only 10 accomplishments worthy of celebration was not an easy task.

District 54’s Top 10 List for the 2010-2011 school year is as follows:

#10  Ten schools were recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education for successfully implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS). PBIS is a comprehensive system of support that has been found to decrease negative behaviors, reduce bullying and increase school safety.

#9  District 54 was one of only 73 school districts in Illinois that received the Bright Red Apple Award. This award is given to districts that provide students with an outstanding educational environment.

#8  Seven staff and community members received Those Who Excel awards from the Illinois State Board of Education, adding to an already impressive list of 55 recipients in the last 10 years. Additional honors – including the Hanover Park Mayor’s Choice Award for Educator of the Year, the Distinguished Music Educator Award and the Illinois Distinguished Communicator Award – were received by our staff members.

#7  District 54 is fortunate to have many incredible partnerships. For example, the Schaumburg Township Council of PTAs awarded 53 scholarships to students to help cover part of the cost to participate in summer enrichment activities and 12 college scholarships to former District 54 students. The Schaumburg Township Elementary School Foundation also awarded its largest number of grants to teachers to help fund innovative classroom projects and to students in need to help offset the cost of summer enrichment classes.

#6  Students from every school participated in a variety of academic competitions and brought home honors in the National Fluid Power Challenge, the Math Olympiad, You Be the Chemist, the All American Scholars Pop Warner Program for academically accomplished football players and cheerleaders, the National History Fair, the Japanese Speech Contest and the Spanish Language Competition.

#5  Our students also received recognition at the Sonata-Sonatina music festival, the American Heart Association’s Billboard Contest, the National PTA Reflections Competition, the Cook County Court Anti-bullying Slogan Contest, and many instrumental music and other fine arts competitions.

#4  District 54’s athletes who compete in Special Olympics continued to bring home a record-breaking number of trophies and medals in all 15 of the sports in which they competed.

#3  Two schools, out of only 16 statewide, were nominated by the Illinois State Board of Education to receive the National Blue Ribbon Award from the U.S. Department of Education. The winners have not yet been announced. In addition, one of our elementary schools placed third in a national competition sponsored by the Ministry of Education of Spain for the Spanish School of the Year Award, honoring the school’s long-term commitment to providing a high quality dual language program.

#2  Twelve schools made the Illinois Honor Roll and received the Academic Excellence Award in recognition of their high student performance. Nine schools were ranked in the top 100 elementary and junior high schools in the state.

#1  All 27 schools showed steady gains in reading, mathematics and science. Performance of every subgroup of students is at an all-time high with 16 of our schools meeting the Board Goal of at least 90 percent of their students meeting or exceeding standards. Three schools raised the bar even higher with 95 percent of their students meeting or exceeding state standards.

We are anxiously awaiting the results of the most recent round of state assessments and are predicting even greater gains in student performance. Our staff has plans well underway to make next year’s list of accomplishments even more impressive.

Thanks to our staff, parents, community and students for making 2010-2011 District 54’s best year ever!

Click here to read the School Zone Newsletter for May 2011, which contains a column from Board Secretary Karen Strykowski, as well as information about Run to Read on Sept. 25, the Foundation Golf Outing on June 13 and graduations on June 6.

Five Keller Junior High School students were honored for their award-winning entries in the Youth Education Committee of the Family Violence Council of the Rolling Meadows Courthouse anti-bullying slogan contest.

“This year Keller has taken a strong stand against bullying and making Keller a Bully-Free Zone,” Principal Sue Mayernick said. “In the fall we ran an Anti-Bullying Week during which we included activities, instruction, assemblies and parent meetings to increase awareness of what bullying is and how as a building we could work together to stop it.”

As part of these efforts, teacher Laurie Shless encouraged students to enter the slogan contest and 113 students (more than 20 percent of the building) entered.  The contest was designed to encourage youth to lead the way in raising awareness of bullying and finding solutions to this problem. The following Keller students were honored (District 54 policy allows for only first names on our website) for their slogans:

First place – Shreya – “Delete the bully, save the friends.”

Second place – Hazar – “Bullies never win, and winners never bully.”

Third place – Jessica – “Bullying is like a permanent marker. Whatever you’ve done, it’s there forever.”

Honorable mention – Lindsey – “Compare rude comments to crumbling up a piece of paper. You can un-crumble it, but the wrinkles will never come out. You can apologize but the sting of the comment stays forever.”

Honorable mention – Jacob – “Life is a matter of choices, bullying should not be one.”

Congratulations!

District 54 is getting ready to host its single largest event of the year – the annual Partners Club/Young Athletes track meet.

The event will begin with opening ceremonies at 10 a.m. May 19 on the track behind Eisenhower Junior High School, 800 W. Hassell Road in Hoffman Estates. Events will take place until noon followed by lunch for all athletes, their partners and volunteers. The meet will be cancelled in case of inclement weather.

“The Young Athletes portion of the meet is going to be exciting. This is the biggest District 54 Young Athletes event held during the school year” said Lisa Liesz, District 54 Special Olympics, coordinator of Young Athletes. “The athletes have been training all year. There will be more than 1,000 District 54 students, staff and volunteers participating in this day.”

Partners Club is based at several District 54 schools and includes students with disabilities with their nondisabled peers. This program creates social opportunities for Special Olympics athletes while educating mainstream students about different disabilities, thus creating interest in and a greater acceptance of individuals with disabilities. The students participate in activities all year together, including this track meet each spring.

The Young Athletes program was created by Special Olympics for children ages 2-7 as a means of welcoming children into the world of Special Olympics. The Young Athletes program is an innovative sports play program for children with intellectual disabilities, designed to introduce them to the world of sports. The activities help the children improve physically, cognitively and socially, all while raising awareness of the Special Olympics program and serving as an introduction to the resources and support available within Special Olympics.

For more information on the District 54 Special Olympics and Young Athletes program, please call District 54 Special Olympics office at (847) 357-2105.

A team of five Mead students won the first annual District 54 math competition on Saturday, April 30.

The team – whose official name was The Team That Did Not Want to be the Turtles – beat out team Awesome Soy Sauce, also from Mead, in the final game.

This competition was a great opportunity for students, who have been working since the start of the school year, to demonstrate their mathematical abilities.  A total of 75 District 54 students competed on one of 16 teams in the opening round of the competition. 

In past practice, Mathletes would participate in individual competitions that consisted of each student completing a scantron test. This year, the District 54 coaches realized the importance of having students work collaboratively to solve higher level problems.

School District 54 is still accepting registration for its parent-paid preschool program at Aldrin Elementary School in Schaumburg.

The District 54 Parent Paid Preschool Program serves children ages 3 to 5 who are progressing at a rate typical for their age. Classes are taught by state-certified, highly-qualified teachers. Preschool students have the opportunity to participate in schoolwide events and often partner with older classes.

The cost is $120 per month for two days a week; $180 per month for three days; and $300 per month for all five days. Parents can hold their child’s place by paying the first month’s tuition. Parents must also pay a one-time registration fee of $55 the first time they enroll their child in the program. 

Aldrin is located at 617 Boxwood Drive in Schaumburg. Aldrin will offer morning and afternoon classes, which will meet from 8-10:30 a.m. or 11:45 a.m.-2:15 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; and from 8-10:15 a.m. or 11:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m. on Wednesday. Please call the school at (847) 357-5400 to register.

There are also preschool programs available in District 54 for children with special needs or those who are not progressing at a rate anticipated for potential success in kindergarten due to one or more at-risk variables. For information about those programs, contact our early childhood department at (847) 357-5097.