News

Greetings Margaret Mead Community,
 
Please see below for information about how we continue towards ensuring the Mead community is Fostering Academic Achievement and Creating a Positive Culture.  
 
Fostering Academic Achievement
 
PTA Elementary Scholarship: The Schaumburg Township Council of PTAs is once again offering scholarships for District 54 students in kindergarten through seventh grade. These scholarships are offered for summer camps and programs up to $125. They are not limited to District 54’s summer camps. Rules to remember:

• The parent/guardian must be a current member of the PTA of the school their child attends. You will need your PTA membership ID number to apply.
• The camp/program must be noncommercial, nonsectarian and nonpartisan.
• Multiple children in one household can apply, however only one application may be submitted for each child.
• A student may not win a scholarship for more than two consecutive years.

Online and paper applications are available, please contact your PTA Scholarship Chairperson or the STC Elementary Scholarship chair at [email protected] with any questions. Applications are due April 4. English form – HERE; Spanish form –HERE 
 
Eighth Grade Information: Graduation is an exciting culminating event in the lives of our 8th grade students. The Mead staff is pleased to share with you the details listed below related to our upcoming graduation ceremony:

• Graduation Ceremony: The graduation ceremony will be in the Conant High School Main Gymnasium and will begin promptly at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, May 27. Graduates should arrive by 5:00 p.m. and report to the Cafeteria across the hallway from the Main Gymnasium. Designated seating is available on the gym floor for guests with special needs. Graduates with last names A-L will be seated on the east side of the gym, while M-Z will be on the west side. Use these guidelines when selecting your seat. Frost Junior High School will be graduating at 8:00 p.m. so please be respectful of their entrance when you exit the ceremony. All students’ names will be read during the ceremony, whether they attend or not. At the conclusion of the ceremony, students will not be allowed re-entry to the cafeteria after the ceremony. Graduates with last names A-L will meet their families down the hallway leading out to the east doors/east parking lot. Graduates with last names M-Z will meet their families down the hallway leading out to the south doors/south parking lot.
• Graduation Ceremony Tickets are NOT required for the ceremony. The Conant gym is large and should accommodate the estimated 2,000 guests without any problem. However, we recommend that you limit your group to 6 family members only. Please note the temperature during the ceremony in the Conant gymnasium can be excessively hot. Unfortunately, we have no control over the gymnasium temperature. As a result, we recommend that you please dress accordingly, bring items to help keep you cool such as a hand fan and/or water, and make every effort to sit in the lower level near the floor where it is cooler.
• Graduation Gowns: If your student is participating in the graduation ceremony, then they are required to wear a gown in our school colors. Please note that District 54 does NOT have graduation caps as part of our ceremonies—only gowns. We recommend that students wear dress clothes under their gown. The gowns will be delivered to your student a few days before graduation. Your student will be able to keep the gown after the ceremony has taken place.
• Last Day of School: The last day of attendance for 8th grade students will be Friday, May 23. Graduation practice will also take place on this day. If your student is participating in the ceremony, then they are required to attend graduation practice. For students who purchased a yearbook, it is our goal to distribute the yearbooks on this day. On Thursday, May 22, students will be returning their Chromebooks/chargers. The last day for students to access their Google account will be Friday, May 23.

The graduation ceremony should be a meaningful, pleasant experience for you as well as your graduate.  For that to happen, we need your cooperation.  Flowers or other gifts should be given to students after the ceremony.   Please remember that applause is the appropriate response at graduation, however it should occur at the conclusion of the ceremony to allow every family to hear the name of their student being read. Please do not hesitate to contact the main office if you have any additional questions.
 
Academic Support: If your student requires support with mathematics, language arts, science, or social studies or just help with organization, then please see below on various ways that we provide support at Mead to ensure your student’s success.

• The D54 Infinite Campus Parent Portal provides access for parents and students to information including viewing assignments, attendance, grades, academic schedule, and teacher comments.  If you currently do not have a Parent Portal account, please email [email protected] or you can call our front office at 1-847-357-6000 and our secretaries can assist you.  If you have previously created a Parent Portal account and cannot recall your username or password, then you can reset them yourself from the parent portal by selecting “forgot password”.  You can also pay for optional instructional device insurance through your parent portal account.  
• Chromebooks: We use the organizational tools on the Google platform via Chromebook to help develop your student’s organizational skills and learn responsibility. This platform also serves as a communication tool between home and school. Please remind your student to charge their Chromebook nightly and to bring their power cord with them to school every day. For more information about Chromebooks, please click here: What is a Chromebook?   In addition, please click on this link: Parent/Community Instructions for Accessing their Child’s Google Calendar for helpful information for you to help your student manage their Google Calendar.  
• Mead Homework Website: On a daily basis, you can see what assignments your student has to complete and to see when they have upcoming tests/assessments by visiting our Mead homepage and clicking on our Mead Homework Website—you can click on this LINK to begin using it now.  Be sure to bookmark this site to stay up on your student’s assignment list!
• After-School Academic Content Study Halls: Our language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science teachers will be hosting after-school content study halls that will be open to all students who either need academic support from content specialists or just want a quiet place to study with peers at Mead. The study hall schedule will be provided to your student soon—we encourage them to take advantage of these opportunities. Please know that teachers are also available by appointment by emailing your student’s teachers to request extra help either before or after school.
• Class Work/Flex Support Program: Starting soon, if your student has 5 or more missing assignments, then your student will take part in our Class Work Support Program to support their missing assignment completion. The Class Work Support Program includes some or all of the following:
  1. Weekly missing work notices for students to remind them of outstanding assignments past due.
  2. An Afterschool Class Work Support Study Hall may be required for your student to attend after-school on Thursday to provide a protected time afterschool to hold them accountable and support them in completing their missing assignments.
  3. A daily Homework Check-In and Check-Out with a Mead staff member may be required to review a daily homework sheet to support your student’s organization.   

 
Creating a Positive Culture
 
Mead PTA: Please join us for our next PTA meeting is TBD at Starbucks in Elk Grove Village at 7:00 pm. We have an absolutely amazing and dedicated PTA that works diligently to support our students. Our PTA website will be updated frequently with information about how you can support Mead. The Mead website, PTA website, and our community emails serve as wonderful forms of communication to send out regular updates. Please visit our Mead PTA Facebook page for information including how to join the PTA and how to sign up for volunteer opportunities through our PTA.   Thank you to the following wonderful volunteers for giving up time this past week to come and serve our students pizza and hot lunch for the first time this school year:

• Volunteers Needed:
  1. Thank you to the following volunteers who came to Mead to serve our students pizza and hot lunch: Ellen McFarlin, Priya Patel, Shiho Tokunaga, Joanna Zvirbulis, Linda Garman, Heather Ackman, Roberto Villegas, Swati Patel, Sonal Patel, and Alayna Hill
  2. We need volunteers to serve our students hot lunch—if you are interested, then please sign up HERE.  If you have any questions, the please email the PTA Hot Lunch Team at [email protected]
  3. If you are interested in volunteering to serve pizza slices on Tuesdays to our students, then sign up HERE and choose the time(s) you prefer!
• Mead Spirit Wear Shop: Thank you to our wonderful Mead PTA for facilitating our Mead Spirit Wear Shop!  To access the online shop, please click on this LINK and shop away–the spirit wear shop is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year!  Once you have placed your order, your items will be delivered to Mead JH.  For current Mead students, we will send your ordered items home with your Mustang.  A portion of the purchase will support the Mead PTA.
• Mead 8th Grade Dance Committee:  The Mead PTA is looking for family members interested in helping plan this year’s 8th grade dance.  This is also open to current 7th grade family members who are interested in participating to learn how to run their student’s dance next year!  Please click on the link below to complete and submit the form to join the committee: https://forms.gle/2QoASMKoaZ285vHz5 

 
March to Mead Made: Your students have worked extremely hard this school year—we are excited to end the school year strong and ask for your continued support. Last week, we introduced our “March to Mead Made” program that starts today and runs until the end of this school. The program reward students who show Respect, Responsibility, and Resilience every day at Mead. The details of the program are below for your reference. Your student’s Advocacy teacher will be in communication with your student about their point progress in each of these areas. In addition, if your student is not on track to make our school-wide goal, then your student’s Advocacy teacher will be in touch with you to let you know so you can reinforce the importance of ending the school year Mead Made! Please review the program details below and let me know if you have any questions.

• Goal of the March to Mead Made program is to help our students end the school year Mead Madeso they can be eligible to participate in the following year-end events:
  • Friday, May 9: 8th Grade Dance
  • TBD: 7th Grade Field Day
  • Tuesday, May 27:  8th Grade Graduation Ceremony
• Students will be awarded points weekly.  On Wednesdays during Advocacy, each Advocacy teacher will share your student’s total points with them and how many more points that they will need to participate in the end of the year events.  Students will be required to get at least 80% of possible points to be eligible for the end of year privileges above. The points will be awarded in three areas:  

1. Every week, students will be awarded points in RESPECT

• • • Receiving ONE (or less) minor referrals in a week
    • Receiving ZERO major referrals in a week

1. Every week, students will be awarded points in RESPONSIBILITY

• • • Having FOUR or less tardies to class in a week

1. Every week, students will be awarded points in RESILIENCE

• • • NOT being required to participate in the Class Work Support Program for significant missing assignments during the week

 
Spring Sports: Track and Field starts their season on Thursday, April 3. Please note that student-athletes must have a current physical on file with our nurse and must turn in a permission slip to be able to participate. We have moved our sports permission process to the Infinite Campus Portal. Moving forward, if you would like your student to participate in any sports at Mead, then you must login to your Infinite Campus Portal and follow these STEPS to complete your student’s permission to participate on the team. You can also find our step-by-step guide on our Mead website that will help guide you through the new process. We have two upcoming sports that are impacted—more information about each is below including when the Infinite Campus Portal window to submit your student’s permission form is active.

• Boys and Girls Track & Field: The track and field season begins after spring break. The window to sign up for track and field is February 24- April 17.

 
Clubs/Intramural Sports: Please visit our Clubs and Intramural Sports page on our website for more information and downloadable permission slips for our clubs and intramural sports! 
 
Upcoming Dates:

• March 17-March 19: ISA (8th grade students only)
• March 22-April 1: Spring Break
• April 18: No school
• April 29, 30, and May 1: MAP-ELA
• May 6-8: MAP-Math
• May 9: Charity Walk and 8th Grade Dance
• May 23: 8th Grade Graduation Practice and Last Day for 8th Grade Students
• May 27: 8th Grade Graduation @ Conant HS
• May 28: 7th Grade Field Day
• May 29: Last Day for 7th Grade Students

 
Please visit our Mead JHS Website for the building calendar.  Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and watch our YouTube Channel to stay updated with the latest news and information about the great things happening at Mead.  As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  Thank you for your continued support and commitment to ensuring your student’s educational success.
 
Have a great week,  
 
Scott