At the June 10 Flossmoor District 161 Board of Education meeting, the board approved a partnership with City Year AmeriCorps. This potential collaboration was introduced at the May 20 meeting, highlighting City Year’s success in working with students in Chicago and their plans to expand to selected suburban sites. With[Read More…]
Education
James Hart dance-a-thon raises money for cancer support group
James Hart School students found fun ways to keep moving the last days of school raising more than $2,400 through a dance-a-thon supporting the nonprofit Embrace Emily that assists cancer patients. Over two days, the students took part in traditional line dances and added their own favorites, such as Cupid’s[Read More…]
District 153 offering new perks to its staff
District 153 is taking advantage of new Illinois laws that allow the district to offer staff who live outside the district the opportunity to enroll their children in District 153 schools. For teachers in-district, student fees would be waived for their children. The school board unanimously approved the policy at[Read More…]
Retirees 2024: Zubak gave a helping hand throughout the day
In 2005, Judy Zubak was an at-home mom with a daughter in kindergarten at Serena Hills School in Chicago Heights. She would go in once a week as a PTO volunteer to help with ice cream treats. Then Principal Lynn Westerlund suggested Zubak fill a part-time position as a paraprofessional[Read More…]
Retirees 2024: Ingrid Vann finishes 29-year career at Serena Hills
After 29 years, teacher Ingrid Vann is leaving Serena Hills School in Chicago Heights for the last time this month. “I have so many friends and teacher colleagues. It will be so bittersweet. That I will miss,” she said. “I’m unsure what life without Serena will look like. My whole[Read More…]
Retirees 2024: District 153 fostered leadership roles for Mary Kay Gardiner
Retiring Churchill School Assistant Principal Mary Kay Gardiner said she was propelled into leadership roles because of the support and encouragement she received in Homewood District 153 the past 31 years. “From day one as a young classroom teacher to now being at the end of my career, there is[Read More…]
H-F students win medals in SkillsUSA competition; one advances to nationals
Homewood-Flossmoor High School’s Charley Dieringer will be going to Atlanta June 24-28 representing Illinois in the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference. He was one of four H-F students who competed in the Illinois section of the conference April 25, 26 and 27 in Peoria. Dieringer, a sophomore, advanced to[Read More…]
Top James Hart School musicians honored
Homewood Parent Music Association hosted Pass the Baton, an annual end of the school year event celebrating the James Hart eighth grade music program graduates and honoring outstanding Hart students in band, choir, orchestra and musical theater. Honorees at the May 14 program were: Arie Ayers, Zoe Barnas, Dillon Bauer,[Read More…]
Hart Class of 2020 recall their pandemic inspired graduation
Graduating from eighth grade is a time to celebrate, but plans for the James Hart School Class of 2020 were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. A reunion tried to fill the gap. James Hart administrators have planned eighth grade class reunions for nearly a decade, but this 2020 reunion May[Read More…]
Retirees 2024: Fun, hard work go hand-in-hand for Willow School principal
Melissa Lawson can explain to you how as principal she took on a variety of roles, but she stresses that every action was done for the betterment of the students at Homewood’s Willow School. In June, Lawson’s 35-year career in education will end. She’s retiring as principal of Willow School[Read More…]
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