News

Greetings Margaret Mead Community,

We have had a strong December at Mead allowing us to highlight our commitment to Fostering Academic Achievement and Creating a Positive Culture.  Our students successfully completed their reading and mathematics winter MAP tests—Mr. Csuk and I look forward to meeting with the language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science teachers after break to game plan about their students’ mid-year data and plan individualized instruction for their students.  At the beginning of December, we got to kick-off the holiday season at Mead by enjoying the musical talents of our performing arts department—thanks to Mrs. Green, Mrs. Kostopulos, Mrs. Hickman, and Mr. Hulina for showcasing the band, orchestra, and choir students!  Our boys’ basketball teams finished up solid campaigns with both seventh and eighth grade teams winning D54 conference championships!   We began the onboarding for our incoming Mustangs during the Future Mustang Family Night where we highlighted all of the great things that our students are doing on a daily basis!  We just wrapped up our annual Penguin Pals Program where our community purchased holiday presents for 53 Mead students!  Coming up, our students will get to enjoy the musical talents of our choir who will be caroling around the school to spread good cheer and next week, we will hold our Winter Pep Rally in the Mead gym where several of our students will be recognized followed up by a staff versus student basketball game.  Everything speaks at Mead and we work hard to align our actions to create our ideal school through an unwavering focus on Fostering Academic Achievement and Creating a Positive Culture.  Please read below for more information about these goals.    
 
Fostering Academic Achievement
 
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 on Wednesday, January 15 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. 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]
  2. 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.

 
Winter Break: Reminder that winter break for all students begins at the end of the day on Friday, December 20. School will resume on Monday, January 6.
 
D54 Food Distribution: We want to share information regarding an upcoming opportunity to provide food to families. On Thursday, December 19, 2024, Keller Junior High School from 4:00-5:00 pm families can receive a free box of food.  This opportunity is available to any District 54 family that is need of assistance with groceries.  We hope that this takes a little extra pressure off your family during this time, and look forward to seeing you.

Smile Illinois-Mobile Dentist: Once again, we are pleased to have Smile Illinois-Mobile Dentists return to Mead Jr. High. The dental team will be coming on 1/17/25 to provide exams, teeth cleaning, fluoride treatment, and sealants. Only students who register will be seen by the dentist. You can sign up to participate in the dental clinic by clicking on the following link and completing the form: HERE
 
Move Back into Mead Day: On Monday, January 6, we will be running a special bell schedule when our students will start their day in Advocacy. During Advocacy, students will relearn what it means to be “Mead Made”. This will be an important day to help set our Mustangs up for success the second half of the school year.
 
Girls Volleyball and Wrestling will begin after winter break. For information about both of these sports including their permission slips, please click HERE. 
 
Clubs/Intramural Sports: Please encourage your student to get involved in these upcoming offerings: Tennis Club, Soccer, and Mead TV. Please visit our Clubs and Intramural Sports page on our website for more information and downloadable permission slips for these clubs and intramural sports! 
 
Upcoming Dates:

• December 20: Staff vs. Student Basketball Game
• December 21-January 5: Winter Break
• January 6: School resumes
• January 20: No school
• February 14: We Are One Day/Half-Day of Student Attendance
• March 3-March 21: IAR window
• March 22-April 1: Spring Break
• April 18: No school

 
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.
 
Happy Holidays,  
 
Scott