D114 Family Update: D114 Family Updates 10/17/22

Dear Families,

On Friday, October 21, remember to say...

to Mr. Peters and Ms. Udstuen (Lotus) and Mr. Sefcik and Mrs. Peters (Stanton)! They are ROCK STARS and we are all so lucky to work with them!

LAW ENFORCEMENT DRILLS

Both Lotus and Stanton have their Law Enforcement Drills (formerly known as lockdown drills) coming up in the next few weeks. Per new legal decisions, families can opt their kids out of participating in these drills. Please contact the school office if you wish to opt your child out of the drill.

EXCLUSIONS

FYI, starting Tuesday, students who are not in compliance with physicals/immunizations/medical documentation will be excluded until they are in compliance. Please contact your school office if you have any questions about this or have required documentation to submit. If you have NOT been contacted about this, then we have everything we need and you don't need to do anything! :)

HEALTH/SEX EDUCATION UPDATE

Fall 2022

Dear D114 Families,

There has been much discussion locally and nationally regarding the National Sex Education Standards and their implementation in schools. To view this standard set, please visit: https://www.advocatesforyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/NSES-2020-web-updated2.pdf Of specific public interest has been the integration of instruction aligned to gender identity starting in the elementary grades and expanded discussion of this topic in the upper grades.

In the state of Illinois, the original legal guidelines (November identified in 105 ILCS 5/27.9 (8/20/21) stated that two choices existed for school districts to consider:

No sex education; or
NSES aka Comprehensive Personal Health and Safety and Sexual Health Education Program (105 ILCS 5/27-9.1a)

In other words, this meant an “all or nothing” decision for school districts.

We have now been informed that school districts may provide sex education and NOT fully adopt the NSES. In partnership with our Board of Education, we have decided to approach this topic with neither a full opt in or opt out, but, rather, a middle ground that we believe reflects our community’s values and the needs of our students. To see exactly what will be taught in Grades 5-8, please click here.

Districts are required to develop an administrative procedure for a Health Education Program that focuses on a variety of safety topics and specifically sexual abuse, sexual assult awareness, family life, and personal health and safety and sexual health education. Related to these specific topics, families must have advance notice of the content to be taught, the opportunity to review the content and resources, and the option to opt their child(ren) out of instruction with no penalty whatsoever.

To that end, D114 plans to proceed as follows:

Continue to implement health education in grades 5-8;
Comply with the parameters above; and
Continue to focus on the standards used prior to 2022-23 (linked above and here); and
Not expand specific sexuality based health instruction to lower grades, nor will we add the new topic strands identified in the updated NSES.

We believe that proceeding in this way meets our students’ and community’s needs in compliance with our legal obligations and in alignment with the updated expectations identified by the state of Illinois for sex education programs.

For our 5th-8th grade families, Mrs Husko, our Health Teacher, will be in contact prior to the unit related to sexual education begins to offer opportunities to review the materials as well as to opt out of this instruction if you feel that is the right decision for your child/family.

I know this is a very important topic, so please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions whatsoever.

With commitment to our students, staff, families, and community,

Heather Friziellie

Superintendent of Schools

COVID PROCEDURES

For a POSITIVE COVID case, the following is required

Positive individual isolation period of 5 days at home. The student may RETURN ON DAY 6 as long as they are symptom free and fever free for 24 hours prior to return.

Day 0 = 1ST DAY OF SYMPTOMS OR a POSITIVE test

Day 1 = Day after symptoms began

Day 5 = Last day of required isolation

Day 6 = RETURN TO SCHOOL- IF symptom free and fever free for 24 hours prior to return

Key Dates

Please click here for the D114 22-23 calendar. See below in the Dates section for key back to school dates.

Student Handbook

Please click here to review the 22-23 student handbook. It's also posted in our website!

Medical Guidelines

Please DO NOT send your child to school sick. If they have a fever, vomit, a persistent cough or have diarrhea, please keep them home for at least 24 hours and until they are feeling better. See our Sick Day Guidelines here for more information.
Notify us if they have tested positive for COVID, Flu, Strep or other diagnosed condition so we can partner with you on a plan for them.
We are no longer participating in surveillance testing, but we do have rapid tests on hand. We will only do a rapid test with parent/guardian permission. We can also direct you to easy locations to get PCR tests or at home rapid tests if you need them.
We will not be providing remote access unless specifically needed, and this will be determined on a case by case basis.