Rockland School

The Preschool Screening dates for the 2019-20 school year are set. 

Screening dates for all 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children living in the District 70 boundary area are invited to a free screening that will evaluate their vision, hearing, speech, language, cognitive development. and fine and gross motor skills. 

Libertyville School District 70 is honoring Libertyville Township Supervisor Kathleen O’Connor as this year’s District 70 Character & Leadership Award recipient.

 O’Connor, a beloved Libertyville resident who raised her children in District 70 schools, exemplifies the traits of the character-building program used in District 70 schools, including trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship, according to Holly Simon, Butterfield speech-language pathologist, who nominated Mrs. O’Connor for the award.  Simon noted that Mrs. O’Connor is “hard-working, always ready to be there for others in all aspects of her life,” even during non-working hours. 

 District students, families and teachers often collected items for the Libertyville Township Food Pantry, which Mrs. O’Connor supervises and directs. The pantry helps supply food to those in need.  

The District 70 Strategic Planning Committee will meet from 8-10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25, at Butterfield School to review and update the 2016-21 Strategic Plan. Dr. Robert Madonia, who guided the last two Strategic Plans, will lead the discussion for the meeting. 

This is a reminder that we are asking parents/guardians to please fill out the Illinois State Board of Education 5Essentials Survey to share your thoughts and impressions on the D70 school/schools your child/children attend. Your voice is important and through this survey, you can be heard. 

If at least 20 percent of the parents of a school respond, the results of this survey will appear on a Parent Report for the school when the State Report Cards are issued. While we are hopeful we will reach the 20 percent mark, none of our schools are there yet.

The survey is open through February 14, 2020, and takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. Pursuant to ISBE and 5Essentials administration guidelines, parents who have more than one child who attends the same school may elect to participate multiple times (e.g. completing a separate survey for each child in their family).   ISBE and 5Essentials also recommend that parents who have children enrolled in multiple schools participate in the survey for each school. Pursuant to these same guidelines, only one parent per household may participate in the survey.

Your feedback will be completely anonymous and is used for school and district improvement efforts.  

• The D70 calendar for the 2020-21 school year

• Aug. 20, 2020:  First day of school for 1st - 8th grade students        
• Aug. 21, 2020:  First day of school for kindergartners
• Nov. 25-27, 2020: Thanksgiving break
• Dec. 21, 2020- Jan. 4, 2021: Winter break
• March 22-26, 2021: Spring break
• June 3, 2021: Tentative last day of school
• June 10, 2021: Last day of school if 5 emergency days used         

New requirements from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has District 70 discontinuing e-learning this school year.

Last year, District 70 adopted e-learning as an innovative approach to counting emergency days as the days of actual student attendance. The model District 70 employed in 2018-19 had students choose from a variety of activities that accounted for approximately 40 minutes. But this year, ISBE changed the parameters with a five-hour requirement for school districts to adhere to consider e-learning as an actual day of student attendance. This has presented a challenge for District 70 staff to create enough learning activities to meet the increased time requirement, including tasks that can be accomplished by 5- and 6-year-olds. There also is no guidance from ISBE this year regarding students requiring special education services.

E-Learning will be reviewed by district staff for future development. 

As such, District 70 students will need to make up missed school days due to Snow Days or other complications that call for emergency school closure at the end of the school year in June 2020. State law requires school districts to prepare for this by adding five emergency days at the end of every year. 

• No missed school days        ------------  School ends June 3, 2020
• District 70 closed 9/13/19  ------------ School ends June 4, 2020   (Butterfield loses power, HMS flooding during a severe storm) 

• Second day closed ------------    School ends June 5, 2020. 
• Third day closed     ------------    School ends June 8, 2020. 
• Fourth day closed   ------------    School ends June 9, 2020.
• Fifth day closed      ------------    School ends June 10, 2020. 

Please plan accordingly. 

District 70 is initiating a new communication tool for the community known as Board Briefs. Board Briefs are designed to highlight important conversations and decisions made on behalf of students, families, staff, and the larger community by the District 70 School Board at each monthly School Board meeting.

Keep up with the latest D70 news by reading Board Briefs posted on our website under Board. 

During an Oct. 28 school board meeting, The Libertyville School District 70 School Board unanimously hired John Herrin as the new Finance Director to begin on July 1, 2020.

Herrin, currently the chief business officer in Consolidated Community School District 46 in Grayslake, will replace Dr. Kurt Valentin. Valentin, assistant superintendent of finance and operations, has been with the district 20 years and is retiring at the end of June 2020.   

District 70 takes closing schools seriously. When the decision is made due to inclement weather or power outages in schools, District 70 uses an emergency notification system to deliver phone calls and emails about school closings or safety emergencies.

For more information about school closings, please read the FAQ.

 There also now is an option to opt-in to receive the information via text by texting 67587 with either Y or YES as the message you send. (This will not be activated for 48-hours from when you opt-in.) This text (SMS) service only will be used in the event of school closings or a school emergency.

The approved calendar for the 2019-20 school year in Libertyville School District 70.