Hello!

I’m Lisa Small, Superintendent of High School District 211.

We have just passed the 12-week mark of the school year. As a reminder, you receive progress reports twice each semester, at both 6 and 12 weeks. In high school, the semester one and semester two final grades are the only grades officially posted on the transcript. The first semester ends in December, before winter break. Second semester ends in May, on the last day of school. Throughout the year, your Infinite Campus parent portal can give you an update on attendance and grades at any time. We look forward to seeing every student each day. 

The physical health and social and emotional wellness of our students is a top priority. High school is a tremendous time of growth and learning, and our schools offer extraordinary experiences and opportunities. We want to make sure every student is positioned to succeed.

With that in mind, I’d like to cover two important topics relevant in our schools right now.

Vaping has been a growing reality among teenagers nationally. While we have protocols in place to prohibit, respond to, and discipline the use of vapes in our schools, our broader concern is student health. Many falsely believe vaping nicotine products is safer than smoking cigarettes. That is not true. Vaping produces dangerous chemicals that can cause significant health issues. It is also highly addictive - containing many times more addictive nicotine content than most traditional tobacco products. 

We are concerned with the ease with which our young adults can access THC through vape devices. THC is the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Due to the rapidly expanding black market and aftermarket of vaping products, there is an increased likelihood of inadvertent exposure to even more dangerous compounds, such as Fentanyl. I encourage you to see additional information in the resource section below and speak with your student about vaping and the real threat to their wellness. 

Separately, at the request of our Board of Education, we have partnered with our local police departments to share information about safe gun storage, including gun locks, which are available at each of our police departments free of charge and through our School Resource Officers. More information on safe gun storage can be found under “Key Resources” below.

Each of our schools has a Wellness team of students and staff who are finding creative ways to help our students feel they belong, destress and establish safe and healthy habits in all aspects of their life. Our school Student Services teams are willing and ready to talk with and support our students as needed. Students can make appointments using a button on their District-issued iPad. 

Finally, as we head into the winter months, I want to remind you of our weather-related emergency closing procedures. These are found on the home pages of each of our schools, our main District website and below this video in the Resources section. District 211 has detailed information regarding cold temperatures and closing, but we all know how difficult it is to predict snowfall well in advance. Therefore, it is rare that snow days are called the night before. In the case of a closing for inclement weather, you will be notified as early as possible through various channels, including by phone and email. 

District 211 has an extended regular school calendar that allows us to take emergency weather days without needing to conduct online school days or make up the day at the end of the year.  So, if it is too cold or snow impedes safe travel to the point of closing, we will have a traditional snow day with no school.  

We are having a tremendous school year. I am so proud of our students and educators for all they have accomplished already. I hope each of you are able to find time to enjoy moments with family and friends as we close out 2023 and look forward to the excitement of 2024.