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A New Way to Stay in Touch: Text Messaging for Pleasant Hill Elementary and High School
November is a month to be thankful, and this month I am thankful for the ability to communicate in a new way with the school community - text messages! Our school has utilized the School Messenger communication service for several years to send "All Calls" to our community. We are now going to use the same service to communicate via text messaging!
During the month of November, the Pleasant Hill School District will be running an opt-in campaign asking whether you wish to receive text notifications on events, school closures, safety alerts, and more. To opt-in, follow the directions on the attached flyer or simply text "Y" or "Yes" to 67587. Tired of receiving text messages? Simply reply "Stop" to any message.
The School Messenger system also has the ability to send emails, so please verify that your email is up-to-date in TeacherEase.
In an emergency or in the event of a closure due to poor weather conditions, a text message notification may be sent district-wide. In other cases, notifications may be sent to a specific class or building. We may even utilize all three communication systems (phone call, text message, email) in some situations.
For more details on the opt-in process, please view the following flyer: Text Message Opt-In Flyer.
I am excited to add this additional layer of communication as a way for the district and families to keep in touch. If you have any questions about this service or product, please email me at kylee.orr@phwolves.com.
Thank you!
ISBE Releases Summative Designations and School Report Cards
Dear Community,
The Illinois State Board of Education issued schools' summative designations on Monday, October 24. I am excited to share that both the Pleasant Hill High School and Pleasant Hill Elementary School have been designated as Commendable Schools! This is a change for the elementary school which was previously designated as a Targeted School. Our faculty and staff are extremely pleased to see our designation reflect the hard work put in by the students and staff each day.
On October 27, the Illinois Report Cards were released. According to the Illinois State Board of Education's website, "the Illinois Report Card is an annual report released by the Illinois State Board of Education that shows how the state, and each school and district, are progressing on a wide range of educational goals. The Report Card offers a complete picture of student and school performance in order to inform and empower families and communities as they support their local schools."
The School Report Card is a useful tool when community members are looking for quick facts relating to one of our schools or the district. My favorite feature on the Illinois Report Card is the At-A-Glance report. This is a 2-page report that presents the information in a visually-friendly way. Pleasant Hill's school report cards can be found at the following links:
Pleasant Hill Elementary School Report Card
Pleasant Hill High School Report Card
Sincerely,
Kylee Orr, Superintendent
Superintendents' Conferences
October 3, 2022
Dear Community,
I began preparing to be the Pleasant Hill school Superintendent months prior to the first day of my contract. One part of preparing for a career as a Superintendent was attending conferences targeted at new Superintendents.
On June 29, I became a proud alumni of the Aspiring Superintendent's Academy (ASA). I was accepted to the seventh cohort of the ASA which is an annual academy hosted by the Illinois Association of School Administrators and led by Dr. Michael Lubelfeld, superintendent of North Shore SD #112; Dr. Courtney Orzel, IASA Associate Director of Professional Development; and Dr. Nick Polyak, Leyden Community High School District #212.
The cost of the academy is $1,750 per participant. I was chosen as a recipient of a scholarship that covers the full cost of the tution and is awarded to a candidate who shows ambition and promise as an aspiring Superintendent. During the five-day academy, I worked with aspiring Superintendents from around the state and participated in immersive learning experiences that will assist me in my work as a Superintendent. I participated in daily networking dinners and was able to grow my professional learning network and build relationships that will hopefully last the rest of my career and lifetime.
After attending the ASA, I jumped straight into the life of a Superintendent where I spent 3 busy weeks before attending the New Superintendent's Conference in Springfield, Illinois at the Abe Lincoln Hotel. There is no cost for new Superintendents to attend this conference. The two-day conference covered a variety of topics including board relations, board meeting preparation, school finance, technology, media relations, school law and personal health.
At the end of September I attended my last conference for the school year, The Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA) Conference in Springfield, Illinois at the Bank of Springfield Center. I attended this conference with a large group of Superintendents from the Two Rivers Region including Winchester, Triopia, Quincy, Pikeland, and Griggsville-Perry among others. The Winchester and Triopia Superintendents were each featured on the main stage, and I enjoyed listening to their perspectives on current trends in their districts and the state. The most useful breakout session I attended was facilitated by a district in Lake County and covered preparation for the Illinois Assessment of Readiness which is administered to grades 3-8.
Attending three multi-day conferences in twelve weeks was exhausting, but I am grateful for the experiences and knowledge from these conferences and the professional network I built by attending. I look forward to learning more from the people and the conferences next year.
Sincerely,
Kylee Orr
A Note from the Superintendent on the First Week of School
Dear Community Members:
We have made it through our first week! It has been wonderful having our students back on campus for the new school year. I, personally, have enjoyed circulating through the district and meeting your children.
As the first week comes to a close, we will be meeting as a staff to assess our current practices and what needs to be changed. One practice on our list to discuss is the elementary breakfast. We understand that when buses arrive close to 8:00 AM, it makes it hard for students to eat breakfast. So far, we have moved our PE classes to start later in the morning in order to leave the breakfast open a little later than 8 AM, we have left cereal for late arrivals, and we have assigned a paraprofessional to the breakfast room to help students with their breakfast items. Next week we will also look at bus pick up times and whether they need to change to accommodate our breakfast program.
Thank you to all those who were able to bring their children to the preschool open house this week. Almost every student in our preschool program was able to attend! We understand that having the open house during the day may have been inconvenient for some working parents, and we apologize for that inconvenience. It was necessary for scheduling this year but will look into altering the open house times for next school year.
Morning preschool students will be able to ride the regular route buses that drive by their houses if needed, and a special preschool bus will return morning students home when class ends. Afternoon students will be picked up by the preschool bus and are able to ride the regular route buses home at the end of the day. If you have questions on bus routes, please contact our elementary secretary.
High School fall athletics begin tonight with the football team's sports drink scrimmage and the cross country team's "scrimmage" both at the football field. We hope to see you there!
Thank you for choosing Pleasant Hill schools, and I hope each of you have a wonderful weekend.
Sincerely,
Kylee Orr, Superintendent
Pleasant Hill CUSD #3