Lakeview Wind Ensemble Performs at IMEA

This weekend the Lakeview Wind Ensemble will perform at the Annual Illinois Music Educators Association annual conference in Peoria. This group of 53 young musicians is directed by Tom Tedeschi and was selected for this performance through a rigorous audition process. They will be performing at the Peoria Civic Center at 9:30 am this Saturday, January 29^th. We are honored to be the only middle school band selected to perform at this year's conference! We are hoping to be supported by a large delegation of Center Cass parents this weekend. Good luck to our fine young musicians and their directors this weekend!

Why Is School Open?

At this time of year, I am often asked why is school open when it is so cold? Illinois School Code requires that each public school district provide a minimum number of days attendance for students each year. Calendars are developed in the fall and winter and generally adopted by local school boards in early spring. Each district is required to include five emergency days at the end of the calendar to be used if schools are closed due to weather or other emergencies. Calendars in our community are generally coordinated with the high school district as much as possible to avoid families to have to deal with multiple school calendars.

When the weather turns cold as it has this week, the main factor is the decision to hold school is two fold, if the schools have power and heat and the school buses are operational, school is held. Since we offer busing to 100% of our students there is no reason to close school in this incident. When there is a chance of a school closing due to weather factors most of the schools in the area collaborate on any closure decision. If our high school district closes, we will also close unless there is a serious mitigating consideration. Since many families have both parents employed, it is often safer and less disruptive to hold classes when possible rather than close and create childcare and supervision problems for parents.

I hope everyone has a warm and safe weekend and enjoys the Bears game on Sunday!

Just Call Me Ralph

Due to illness and family emergencies, I have had the opportunity to return to the street as a substitute bus driver this week. This experience has made me think of how things used to operate 32 years ago when I first drove school buses in District 66. Trust me when I say that things are so much better now in every way, especially in equipment and maintenance, training and safety procedures, efficiency of routing, road conditions, the deportment of our children on the bus and the care and concern exhibited by drivers to safeguard our children.

This experience has reminded me how fortunate we are to have such a dedicated transportation team that is so well trained, supervised and led. This is a job that requires full attention in every way. Drivers must be trained in safety procedures, legal issues, district procedures as well and often serve as a surrogate parent to comfort or console a child. Our drivers range in experience from two years to over 20 years and are committed to our students and community. It is a challenge to safely transport over 1000 students daily to and from home throughout the school year. One must be aware of traffic conditions as well as maintain a safe and orderly environment on the bus while constantly displaying vigilance as the children move on and off the bus to their homes. Our drivers also serve as a first line of surveillance in our community as they often note situations that seem strange or not quite right such as strangers or strange vehicles about the community and report them to the proper authorities for investigation.

Thanks to all of our District 66 Transportation Team for their hard work and service especially in this winter weather. I am proud of them and honored to hit the streets with them on occasion. By the way, if you know anyone who has a CDL School Bus license, we are looking for a couple of high quality substitute drivers to join our team. Please have them call the Transportation Office at 630-783-5093.

Drive safely!