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The Vision Avoca School District 37 • Community Newsletter September 2016 Avoca BOE Considering Options for Avoca Cente r O riginally opened at the height of the baby boom in the late 1950’s with an addition built in 1961, Avoca East Elementary School served this district well during a period of rapid growth when student en- rollment peaked at over 1,500 children, more than double the current enrollment. Within just a few decades, those numbers rapidly declined leading to the closing of the elementary school in 1977. Renamed Avoca Center, the building has served in a variety of capacities since the school closed. Most recently, Arlyn Day School has rented the south wing, while One Hope United Day Care has occupied the north side of the building. Though the district does draw rental income from both of its tenants, the monies collected are not enough to pay for the capital im- provements currently needed. See AVOCA CENTER, 2 Avoca Welcomes New Administrators A voca welcomed two veteran administrators to the district this fall. New Director of Pupil Services, Terry Sofianos, comes to District 37 with over 25 years of educational experience and replaces outgoing director Donna Toops who re- tired at the end of the 2015-2016 school year. Terry started her career in Glenview 34 where she taught general education at grades 2, 3 and 5, before making the transition to special educa- tion. As a resource teacher, Ms. Sofianos support- ed grades K-3 and middle school students. She joined the Northern Suburban Special Education District (NSSED) in 2002 as a District Services Coach, where she consulted with member dis- tricts on a wide variety of topics including autism, classroom management, progress monitoring and response-to-intervention. From there she made the transition into administration, where she was an elementary school principal, and most recent- ly served Glenview 34 as their Executive Director of Student Services. See ADMIN, 4 Back to School Edition

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The Vision Avoca School District 37 • Community Newsletter

September 2016

Avoca BOE Considering Options for Avoca Center

Originally opened at the height of the baby boom in the late 1950’s with an addition

built in 1961, Avoca East Elementary School served this district well during a period of rapid growth when student en-rollment peaked at over 1,500 children, more than double the current enrollment. Within just a few decades, those numbers rapidly declined leading to the closing of the elementary school in 1977.

Renamed Avoca Center, the building has served in a variety of capacities since the school closed.

Most recently, Arlyn Day School has rented the south wing, while One

Hope United Day Care has occupied the north side of the building. Though the district does draw rental income from both of its tenants, the monies

collected are not enough to pay for the capital im-

provements currently needed.

See AVOCA CENTER, 2

Avoca Welcomes New Administrators

Avoca welcomed two veteran administrators to the district this fall. New Director of Pupil

Services, Terry Sofianos, comes to District 37 with over 25 years of educational experience and replaces outgoing director Donna Toops who re-tired at the end of the 2015-2016 school year.

Terry started her career in Glenview 34 where she taught general education at grades 2, 3 and 5, before making the transition to special educa-tion. As a resource teacher, Ms. Sofianos support-ed grades K-3 and middle school students. She joined the Northern Suburban Special Education District (NSSED) in 2002 as a District Services Coach, where she consulted with member dis-tricts on a wide variety of topics including autism, classroom management, progress monitoring and

response-to-intervention. From there she made the transition into administration, where she was an elementary school principal, and most recent-ly served Glenview 34 as their Executive Director of Student Services.

See ADMIN, 4

Back to School Edition

AVOCA CENTER from cover

After deliberating on this topic for quite some time and investigating other options, the Board of Educa-tion finds itself in the position of de-ciding to either sell the property to a developer for the purpose of building single-family homes or sell-ing bonds to pay for the capital im-provement projects in order to con-tinue operating it as a rental facility.

The Avoca BOE knows that this is an im-portant decision with a significant im-pact on not only the school district, but on the entire Avoca community. A com-munity meeting is being planned for the end of October to give the school district the opportunity to present infor-mation, answer questions and receive community input. Further information about this event will be coming soon.

Energy, optimism and enthusiasm can already be felt in the classrooms and corridors of Avoca West Elementary, as well as Marie Murphy School!

Children returned to class on Monday, August 22, just behind their teachers who reported to work the previous week. Although there is always a lot to accomplish over the summer for the administration, office staffs, and the custodial and maintenance crews, the energy infusion that arrives with the children each fall breathes new life into these buildings!

We head into the 2016-2017 school year excited to begin work on Avo-ca’s new strategic plan, which is designed to focus our efforts on our mission of maximizing the unique potential of each child. With deliberate attention to learning for both students and staff, the new plan seeks to promote co-hesion and alignment, not only at each grade level, but across all grades and both schools, as well.

For now the implementation of continuous improvement systems stands alone as a separate goal within our strategic plan, but once we learn to integrate them successfully, we believe that they will become ubiquitous components of all of our other goals.

This year as we continue to work to keep our two operating schools up to code and conducive to learning, the Board of Education is hopeful to identify a clear plan of action to address the issues posed by the aging infrastructure and continual maintenance associated with Avoca Center. This topic is one among many as we work to optimize our resources.

You are also an essential part of the vision! The Avoca School District has always appreciated the support of the community, and we hope we have given you reason to be proud of us. The more that we collaborate and know about each other, the better we can support each other, which is why family and community connections are also represented in this strategic plan.

You can read more about the 2016-2021 Strategic Plan in this edition of The Vision, and in subsequent communications to the community throughout the school year. For those of you who can’t wait, visit www.avoca37.org and click on the Strategic Plan tab for more information.

From the Superintendent: Welcome Back 2016

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Avoca Community Preschool

On the first day of Avoca Community Preschool chil-dren listened with big eyes and wonder for a read

aloud of Llama, Llama Misses Mama, a book about going to school for the first time. Parents and caregivers attend-ed as well, supporting this transition and the children’s growing independence.

In preparation for the school year, Ms. Barello and Mrs. Hale con-ducted home visits with each family, establishing a strong home-school connection. That important partnership grows as parents and caregivers participate in community-based field trips and other classroom ac-tivities throughout the school year.

The Avoca Community Preschool is a “blended” program with a wide range of abilities represented and specialist support in the form of a speech and language patholo-

gist and teaching assistants.

The Creative Curriculum that drives instruction and play for our youngest learners promotes a high-quality learn-ing environment. Children can explore their creativity

and develop confidence through dramatic play and hands-on experiences. Jolly

Phonics uses songs and movement for early literacy, while Second

Step provides direct instruction in social-emotional skills. Hand-writing Without Tears introduc-es children to writing letters,

words, and numbers.

To learn more about Avoca Commu-nity Preschool, visit our website at www.

avoca37.org, or contact Director of Pupil Ser-vices, Terry Sofianos at (847) 728-4142.

Attention Avoca Parents! Please join us for...

The topics covered are most applicable to parents of students in 3rd-8th grades but all are welcome.

September 26, 2016 • 6:30 p.m. • Marie Murphy Community RoomFor more information contact Kelli Lane at [email protected]

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Setting our Sights on a Fabulous School Year at Avoca West

In addition to getting to know the faces and routines of a new grade level, students at Avoca West are taking

time to consider the things they want to accomplish this school year.

Some of our students wrote to Avoca West Principal, Mrs. Hutchison, over the summer to share their goals for the future, while others are taking time in class to talk about their hopes and dreams for the year ahead.

Additionally, Mrs. Hutchison visited classrooms through-out the months of August and September to read Ruby’s Wish, by Shirin Yim Bridges. The book’s main character, Ruby, is determined to attend university -- a large shift from the typical future for Chinese girls of her gener-ation.

This shared reading opportunity has encouraged a larger discussion about goal setting with our Avoca West students, spurring many to jot down their goals for the year.

Why such a focus on goals? Setting goals, both person-al and academic, is one of the most impactful practices that influence student learning and success! Feel free to join us in our reflective practice and set a goal for yourself this September.

ADMIN from cover

Jennie Winters joins Avoca in a part-time capacity as Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator. Jennie began her career as a kindergarten teacher, but in her 14 years in public schools, she has also taught middle school math and reading, been a classroom teacher for grades three and four, and served as the Staff Devel-opment and Curriculum Coordinator for Gavin School District 37 in Lake County. In 2006, she joined the Lake County Regional Office of Education as their Math and Science Coordinator, where she is still employed on a part-time basis. In her role with the Lake County ROE, Mrs. Winters has worked with many school districts to identify and pri-oritize essential standards and align curriculum, instruc-tional practices and assessments to those standards. She has helped districts to build cohesion into their edu-cational programs, so that each subsequent grade lev-el builds upon the foundation of requisite skills learned in the previous ones.

We are very fortunate to have brought such talented and experienced administrators onto the Avoca team!

Terry Sofianos

Jennie Winters

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Science at Marie Murphy

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No - it’s a wa-ter-launched rocket designed by 8th

grade science students!

Mr. Gravagna’s 8th grade science class-es began the year with a look to the sky as they built and launched water-pow-ered rockets as an avenue for introduc-ing and reviewing basic science concepts for the year. Students designed fins of varying lengths and widths for their rockets with the goal of creating a de-sign that would enable the rocket to stay airborne the longest. This pursuit activat-ed prior knowledge about the concepts of hypotheses and variables.

Rockets were then brought outside where they were launched with equal amounts of water pressure to ensure validity of the experiment. Students recorded their rocket’s time aloft and then were given the opportunity to make adjustments to the fin design, before launching them again.

Allowing students the opportunity to im-prove their design engaged them in crit-ical thinking as a means to demonstrate growth and improvement. This hands-on active learning project engaged the students while building their scientific knowledge.

DATES TO REMEMBER

September 22, 2016 5:30 p.m.- Finance Committee Meeting 6:15 p.m.- Public Hearing on 2017 FY Budget 6:30 p.m.- Board of Education Meeting

September 26, 2016 6:30 p.m. Parent Tech NightGoogle Apps for Education

October 3, 2016 No School- Rosh Hashanah

October 5, 2016 Walk to School Day!

October 6, 2016 5:30 p.m.- COTW Meeting

October 10, 2016No School- Columbus Day

October 12, 2016No School- Yom Kippur

October 18-20, 2016Book Fair at Avoca West

October 19-20, 20161/2 Day Student AttendanceParent/Teacher Conferences

October 20, 20165:30 p.m.- Finance Committee Meeting 6:30 p.m.- Board of Education Meeting

October 21, 2016No School- Teacher Institute Day

October 27, 2016Marie Murphy Halloween Orchestra Performance (8-9 a.m. & 7-8 p.m.)

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Avoca Student Enrollment Trend

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In order to focus the district’s efforts towards achieving the mission of maximizing the unique potential of each child, the Strategic Planning Committee identified five goals, which will be developed and addressed through aligned strategies and tasks. Those five goals, the critical few, include:

1. Provide a rigorous, comprehensive, personalized education to ensure success for all students at Avoca District 37 and beyond.

2. Support Professional Learning Communities to ensure coherence, collaboration, innovation, and account-ability.

3. Establish data-driven systems to facilitate ownership, growth, and continuous improvement.4. Establish trust, respect, engagement, and satisfaction among our families and communities.5. Responsibly manage district resources including people, time, and money to achieve our mission, vision

and goals.

District administration, along with the building leadership teams and several ad hoc committees will work to make this vision a reality over the course of the next five years.

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Avoca School District parents, staff and leaders worked for several months last spring to draft the 2016-2021 Avoca Strategic Plan. With its foundation in the Baldrige Performance Excellence Education Criteria and the Professional Learning Commu-

nities model, this strategic planning process looked at the school district holistically with an eye towards improving this already high achieving organization.

Beginning at the very top with Avoca’s mission statement, the committee broke apart the previous one, word by word, and consid-ered what each word brought to the phrase. The committee removed the phrase “we serve” from the previous mission statement to empower students to take ownership of and responsibility for their learning.

The mission of Avoca School District 37 is to maximize the unique potential of each child.

The Strategic Planning Committee, with a contribution from the Avoca Board of Education, identified the following seven core values, considered non-negotiables, to help guide the efforts to achieve our mission:

• Develop the whole child• Set high expectations• Foster collaboration• Strive for excellence

• Ensure continuous improvement• Strengthen relationships with families

and community• Optimize resources

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 49Wilmette, IL

Communication and Engagement CommitteeAvoca School District 37 Wants You!

As one component of our new strategic plan, the district is establishing a Communication and Engagement Committee for the purpose of keeping our community informed and involved with all things Avoca. We are hopeful that we can attract a representative group of volunteers from our commu-nity to participate on this important committee.

If you are interested in supporting Avoca by joining this group, please go to Superintendent Jauch’s blog from the district webpage at avoca37.org, by clicking on the From the Superintendent link under the Navigation head-ing. The link to the very short online application form is under the Recent News heading.

This committee will study our current reality, investigate best practices, gath-er constituent preferences and develop recommendations for the district. We will meet approximately eight times starting in November with project completion targeted around the end of the school term. Meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m. and last approximately 2 hours.

If you are interested, but would prefer to complete the form manually, please call Suzie Harris, the Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent, at (847) 728-4128. Applications will be accepted through Friday, October 21st.

Avoca School District 372921 Illinois Road • Wilmette, IL 60091

P: 847-251-3587Website: www.avoca37.org

Superintendent, Kevin Jauch Ed. D.

Avoca School District 37 Business Office2921 Illinois Road • Wilmette, IL 60091

P: 847-251-3587Website: www.avoca37.org/businessofficeChief School Business Official, Beth Dever

Pupil Services2921 Illinois Road • Wilmette, IL 60091

P: 847-728-4142Website: www.avoca37.org/pupilservicesDirector of Pupil Services, Terry Sofianos

Avoca West Elementary School235 Beech Drive • Glenview, IL 60025

P: 847-724-6800Website: www.avoca37.org/avocawest

Principal, Jessica Hutchison

Marie Murphy School2921 Illinois Road •Wilmette, IL 60091

P: 847-251-3617Website: www.avoca37.org/mariemurphy

Principal, Matt Palcer

Curriculum and Instruction235 Beech Drive • Glenview, IL 60025

P: 847-724-6800Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator,

Jennie Winters

Avoca School District 372921 Illinois RoadWilmette, IL 60091