District 49 Superintendent’s Report – August, 2018

By Mike Brink
District 49 Superintendent
mbrink@nashville49.org

We hope that everyone is having a great summer break and preparing for the start of the 2018-2019 school year. As we quickly approach the start of school, I wanted to take this opportunity to report on some reminders and updates. If you have any questions, please contact us at 327-4304 (Primary School Office) or at 327-3055 (Middle School Office).
Registration for the upcoming school year took place on July 18. If you were unable to attend, please make sure that all registration items are taken care of before the start of school. As a reminder, registration can be completed through your Skyward account and payments can be made online on your RevTrak account. Registration and payments can also be completed in either office prior to the first day of school. The registration fee for each student this year is $80. Specific questions about registration can be directed to Jenny Schuette at 327-3055 x. 200.
The district’s annual Open House is scheduled for August 9th from 4:30 PM-6:30 PM. Official class lists will be posted at this time and this is also an excellent opportunity to meet your child’s teacher. Additionally, we also encourage parents to bring in your child’s school supplies at this time.
The first day of student attendance for the 2018-2019 school year is scheduled for Monday, August 13th. Early Childhood classes begin on Wednesday, August 15th and Pre-School classes begin on Thursday, August 16th. As a reminder to parents, the Kindergarten and Pre-School classes will operate under a “staggered start” schedule again this year. Please review the information that was sent home to help determine the exact day that your EC/PK child will start.
District #49 has several new staff members as we start the new school year. Emily Harre will be teaching science and social studies classes in third grade this year. Jill Stein will be serving as the district’s bookkeeper and will be replacing Lori McDonnough, who is retiring in December. Samantha Redenius will also be starting the new school year as our school nurse. Marilyn Braun, our current nurse, is retiring in early September. We are also in the process of hiring a new elementary school special education teacher prior to the beginning of classes this year.
We also have several current staff members who will be changing positions this year. Ben Crawford, who has taught special education classes for the past few years, will be teaching eighth grade language arts classes this year. Annette Harper will be teaching middle school art classes while the K-4 classroom teachers will be teaching their own art classes this year. Liz Pender will be operating the primary school library each morning when school begins.
As we continue to plan for a new school year, it is also a great time to reflect on the successes of the past year. Our school district continues to perform at extremely high levels in all areas. Our overall PARCC state test scores are among the highest in our region. I work very hard to keep costs at a very manageable level and our expenditures per pupil averages continue to remain well below the average expenditures of the State of Illinois.
The district’s Financial Profile status ranks in the highest category that the state provides. We again finished the 2017-2018 school year with a balanced budget and expect to do the same after the 2018-2019 school year. Data comparisons for our district and all other regional school districts can be found on our website at www.nashville49.org.
While we continue to strive to make improvements each year, we are very proud of what Nashville #49 has to offer our children and we look forward to a great 2018-2019 school year!