Digital Citizenship Week / Self-Management Day - Please see the link below to discuss with your student about having a balance while using their devices.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DFkmV7gyHb0RP6TtokSFkKmENMsaxBL-87dvvZeUgC4/edit?usp=sharing
Digital Citizenship Week / Self-Awareness Day - Please see the link below to discuss with your student about their feelings when using technology, their responsibilities online, oversharing, and your digital footprint.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wma4B6xjxrYOGfi0emVolyOe2WJa1RPgjnbKJRjSeKU/edit?usp=sharing
BESD 53 Families, It’s Digital Citizenship Week! Each day this week your student will be covering topics on Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Responsible Decision-Making, Relationship Skills, and Social Awareness geared towards their age group. Each day the district will be sending out a family conversation starter sheet with questions to talk to your student about.
October is Mental Health Awareness Month. Check out these great "Lunch and Learn" opportunities with the Kankakee Health Department.
If you have received a notification in the mail stating that your child needs an immunization or physical please submit updated documents to your student(s) school before Oct 14th to avoid your student(s) being excluded from school on Oct 15th.
We have attempted to be proactive with our communication in regards to this matter. If your child is currently non-compliant we would like to assist you in resolving this before exclusion.
Hello BESD parents, We are short bus drivers so bus 8 students from Liberty will come home on bus 5 or bus 2, these buses could be running late. Bus 8 students from Upper Grade, Shabbona, Shepard and LeVasseur will be coming home on bus 4. Bus 10 students from Shepard and LeVasseur will be coming home on bus 2 and may be running late. Thank you again for your patience.
The Transportation Department would like to inform you that due to a shortage of bus drivers this afternoon we have several changes. If your student rides bus 2, bus 6, bus 8, bus 9, bus 14 and bus 16 you may experience delays in drop off times and your child may come home on a different bus than usual. Thank you for your patience.
Update at BUGC: Nicor has cleared the scene and we are returning to normal operations at BUGC.
Update at BUGC: Fire Chief has cleared the scene. We are waiting for Nicor to provide a final clearance to return into the building.
Here is a great opportunity to have your child's car seat inspected by certified technicians! There is a lot more to this than most people realize. This free event is September 25th from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Kankakee Health Department on Station St.
Phone Update: We have been able to work with our service vendor to temporarily patch the phone service to BESD53. We will have to take the phones down on Thursday at 4:30pm to permanently resolve the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
Phone Update:
We have been working with our vendor and have been able to identify the problem, however, it appears the phones will not be back up until around mid-day Wednesday the 8th. Please continue to use email to communicate with the schools and thank you for your patience.
To our community:
BESD53 is not currently able to receive phone calls. We are working with our service provider to restore service as quickly as possible. We will update you as soon as we know more. Thank you for your patience!
Dear Families,
Starting tomorrow we will be implementing a new academic screening tool that will be used to identify achievement gaps as well as academic strengths for all students in math and reading. In the past we have used The Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP) and the Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) to do this work. We are now switching to the STAR 360 Assessment from Renaissance Learning. This tool will do the work of both of the prior tests and we will be able to get this assessment completed in less time. Your child's teacher will be sharing the results with you at parent/teacher conferences or sooner in some cases. This assessment is also used in the Bradley Schools and at BBCHS so it will make for a smooth transition to the high school. Please let us know if you have any questions and thanks for your continued support.
Dear BESD #53 Family,
As we reopened all of our schools this week for our students/staff for the second year in a row in the midst of dealing with Covid-19, I wanted to pause to say THANK YOU to our entire BESD #53 Family (Students, Staff, Parents, and Community). While there are many things that have polarized the world around us creating ample opportunity for division, I want to pause to focus on the things that unify all of us and make BESD #53 an amazing school district. I am thankful for the true collaborative teamwork it takes to operate a school system that serves a couple thousand students across 5 schools. Parents please know that we love your children like our own and we are THANKFUL that you choose to send them to us each day. Staff please know that educational magic that we perform everyday is only possible with your true dedication to the profession so THANK YOU. I am so proud of being part of the BESD #53 FAMILY.
Thank You,
Dr. Adam Ehrman, BESD #53 Superintendent
Dear BESD #53 Family,
All operations for school dismissal (including Bus Transportation) is scheduled as normal for today.
Dr. Ehrman
Dear BESD #53 Family,
We have been informed of an incident at the Kankakee Courthouse. We have been advised by the Bourbonnais Police Department that there is no risk for our schools, students, and staff. At the current time and as an additional precautionary measure all students will remain indoors until we get more information. We know that our students and staff are safe. We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure their safety with the assistance of our resource officer.
Dr. Ehrman
We are pleased to announce that CDC/IDPH/ISBE recognizes local control during Phase 5 as stated in the following paragraph.
Per CDC Released Guidance-"Together with local public health officials, school administrators should consider multiple factors when they make decisions about implementing layered prevention strategies against COVID-19. Since schools typically serve their surrounding communities, decisions should be based on the school population, families, and students served, as well as their communities".
ISBE further clarified that “if school administrators decide to remove any of the prevention strategies for their school based on local conditions, they should remove them one at a time and monitor closely for any increases in COVID-19 cases.”
ISBE has a mandated goal that states "Beginning with the 2021-22 school year, all schools must resume fully in-person learning for all student attendance days”
Fortunately, Bourbonnais SD #53 is way ahead of ISBE’s directive for schools to be fully in-person instruction this fall as we have already achieved this feat on March 23rd. We did so by monitoring our mitigation strategies and closely monitoring any increases in Covid-19 cases all year long. To make the point, on November 14th, 2020 Kankakee County had 1369 cases per 100K and a positivity rate of 21.9%. However, as recently as July 17th, 2021 the county had 40 cases per 100K and a positivity rate of 1.6%.
It is critical to remember that we have been making data driven decisions for over a year and we will continue to do so. We slowly and successfully removed layers of mitigations during the 20-21 school year as we went back to in-person learning 5 days a week during the second semester all the while monitoring our data. We believe we can continue to be successful this school year working together.
We will continue to move forward with the same successful strategies and follow ISBE’s guidance that allows for us to remove mitigation strategies. Based on our current conditions, the 21-22 school year will begin with face masks no longer required but recommended as per CDC guidance. This decision has been supported by both the School Board and our Association (BEA).
We are in an excellent place to take this next step. We will continue to monitor the health of our students and staff and adjust accordingly if needed. In the meantime be sure to stay connected with our website to locate important information such as school calendars, supply lists, etc.
Enjoy the rest of your summer and see you in August!
Dr. Adam Ehrman
We are hiring! Come join a great team in Bourbonnais #53!
We have multiple positions in general education and special education. Click the links to apply.
General Education: https://www.applitrack.com/besd53/onlineapp/default.aspx?Category=Middle+School+Teaching
Special Education:
https://www.applitrack.com/besd53/onlineapp/default.aspx?Category=Student+Support+Services
Skyward Maintenance Completed:
Skyward Family Access and Online Registration are back up and available. Thank you for your patience!