Huntley 158 families,
I’d like to thank all of you for your continued flexibility, especially around the calendar changes made to accommodate the vaccination clinics hosted at HHS yesterday and today. In total, these clinics will vaccinate some 3,500 school employees from our district as well as several other school districts in McHenry County. We would not have achieved this success without the assistance provided by our families, volunteers, and community partners including the McHenry County Department of Health, Huntley Area Fire Protection District, and Huntley Police Department. Attendees received the first dose of the vaccine, and we will host clinics on March 11 and 12 for the second dose.
As a reminder, after a day off on Monday for Presidents Day, Tuesday the 16th will be a regular attendance day. The Institute Day that was originally scheduled for that day was moved to the 11th to accommodate the first day of the clinic. Details about the changes can be found in the update previously sent. However, if your family has pre-existing plans built around the 16th, please do not change them. Rather, call your school to have this counted as an excused absence.
Dual Language Information for Families of Incoming Kindergarteners
We expect to be releasing full information about kindergarten registration for the 2021-22 school year soon. If you have a child slated to start kindergarten next year, or friends and family who do, please see the information about our Dual Language Program. We’ll be hosting information nights for families of kindergarteners interested in Dual Language for 2021-2022 as follows:
- Wednesday, February 17 via Zoom, 6:00 p.m. (Chesak)
- Tuesday, March 2 via Zoom, 6:00 p.m. (Leggee)
- Wednesday, March 24 via Zoom, 6:00 p.m. (Mackeben)
RSVP Here: https://forms.gle/HqxVXVpvwJFBtiJA7
Join Via Zoom Link: https://huntley158.zoom.us/my/ponciojordan
Download flyer | Descarga el folleto
Full information on Dual Language can be found at www.district158.org/dual-language
Reminders: Resources for Families on Social Media, Mental Health
Throughout the past year we’ve placed an increased focus on providing resources to help our families tackle some of the issues young people are dealing with throughout our society. Among these are the effects of social media and mental health issues including anxiety, depression, ADHD, eating disorders, and substance use.
If you haven’t yet, I strongly encourage you to sign up for an account with SmartSocial to gain access to their library of social media educational tools for parents and students. Through our partnership with them, access is free for all of our families when you sign up at https://smartsocial.com/huntley. We also invite you to join us for a live kickoff webinar on February 18 (6:00 p.m.) with SmartSocial founder Josh Ochs. The event will introduce SmartSocial and provide an overview of TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Netflix, Discord, Twitch, iPhones, Androids, and more. You can register for the Zoom event here (note that the time listed on the registration form is given in Pacific Time).
In addition, our behavioral specialists have hosted several sessions of our “Youth Mental Health First Aid Training” program for parents and adults who work with young people ages 12-18. In response to demand, they are offering another session on Saturday, March 13, from 8:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
For more information on Youth Mental Health First Aid Training, please see the following resources: YMHFA One Pager and YMHFA Parent Training Information Video. Due to the sensitive and personal nature of the content being covered, each training has a limited number of seats available. Please complete this form by Monday, March 1, at 4:00 p.m. if you would like to register or indicate your interest if a future session is scheduled.
As always, good health to you and yours.
Sincerely,
Scott Rowe, Ed.D.
Superintendent
