We are so honored and excited to celebrate CICS Irving Park Director, Karin Breo! Karin has been awarded a Chicago Principals Fellowship, through The Chicago Public Education Fund (The Fund). This opportunity is for rigorous professional development for top Chicago principals. You can read more about Karin below, and on The Fund’swebsite. To find out more about The Fund, or this incredible opportunity for Karin, and the entire CICS Irving Park Community, read the complete press release here.

Karin is currently the School Director at CICS Irving Park, managed by Distinctive Schools. Karin began serving as Director of CICS Irving Park in the 2012-2013 school year and has implemented various innovative teaching approaches at the campus with the support of the Breakthrough Schools: Chicago NGLC planning grant. Karin has led CICS Irving Park through transformative change in implementing a personalized learning pilot model throughout the 2015-2016 school year. She works collaboratively with her staff to ensure her school is a positive place to teach and learn every day, and she is committed to high-quality instruction, innovation, collaboration and personalization for both teachers and students. Karin and her team were awarded a $280,000 NGLC Breakthrough Schools: Chicago grant to implement an innovative personalized learning model at her campus.

Prior to leading CICS Irving Park, Karin was the former Director of Afterschool Programs and Community Partnerships for Distinctive Schools. In this role, she developed and maintained the strategic relationships that Distinctive Schools continues to rely on today to support their model. Prior to working at Distinctive Schools, Karin held both teaching and leadership roles at CICS Bucktown. After eight years teaching second grade, she went on to be an Instructional Coach, where she supported elementary teachers and the enrichment program. Her experiences with instruction, community partnerships, development and coaching lend to her ability to oversee a variety of important components within the Distinctive Schools model. Karin obtained her undergraduate degree from Illinois State University and her Masters of Education in Supervision & Administration from Concordia University.
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Karin is always looking for ways to improve so that she can model growth mindset for her students and staff. Through the Chicago Principals Fellowship, she hopes to learn strategies that will support her goals in transforming the role that all students, teachers, staff and families have in creating dynamic classrooms and a school culture that catalyzes and supports powerful learning experiences for her students. By explicitly teaching and modeling high expectations and maintaining accountability, Karin is committed to collaboration among all stakeholders to achieve the best for each and every student as well as to foster relationships and growth among the school community. (http://thefundchicago.org/teammembers/karin-breo/)

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS
9/7 – Wednesday 1pm Dismissal (EVERY WEDNESDAY IS A 1pm DISMISSAL)
9/8 – Fall NWEA testing begins
WEEK OF 9/19 – UNIFORM PICKUP #2  – All orders should have already been placed for uniforms. The next round of orders will be received by students the week of 9/19. As soon as we have an exact date we will let you know.  All students MUST be in full school uniform by the time these uniform orders arrive. Please contact the office or your child’s teacher for information about what is acceptable to wear while you wait for your uniforms.
9/19 – $2 Cubs Dress Down Day (more information to come…)
9/20 – Fall Picture Day (K-7th) (8th Grade will participate in graduation pictures in January)
10/7 – NO SCHOOL – Fall Break
10/10 – NO SCHOOL – Fall Break
OTHER INFO 

• NEW! Fall Sports for grades 5-8 begin this week. Please contact Mr. Herndon with any questions.
• Menu Change – 9/8 breakfast – Regular bagel instead of cinnamon raisin.
• NEW! If you wish to volunteer, please fill out this form online before you come to school. You must fill this out once a year!
• NEW! Tardies and Absences
  • Students are marked tardy starting at 8am. Any student arriving after 8am must see Ms. Santiago for a tardy pass. The robo calls are made for unexcused absences (including vacations.) If your student is home sick or you have a family emergency, please call and leave a message or email Ms. Santiago at ysantiago@distinctiveschools.org.
• $1 per minute LATE PICK UP policy is now being strictly enforced. Families will be charged $1 a minute for every minute after the 15 minute period for dismissals.
  • starting at 3:46pm M/T/TH/F
  • starting at 1:16pm Wednesdays only (EVERY WEDNESDAY IS A 1:00pmDISMISSAL!)
  • starting at 6:11pm for Extended day M-F
  • Fees can be paid with cash or money order only.
• All unpaid registration fees are now PAST DUE!  This can impact your student’s participation in field trips, sports and extended day. Please pay all fees ASAP!! Please contact Ms. Cotrone if you have any questions or need assistance. 
• Family Income Form  
  • This form is directly tied to our federal assistance monies. It is imperative we get one form for every family, and it is filled out completely. Please print and fill out BOTH sides. You can return the form via scan/email to ysantiago@distinctiveschools.org, fax to 773.433.5009, drop it off in the office or through the mail slot by the main entrance doors. 

HARD COPIES AVAILABLE AT MAIN AND NORTH DOORS:

• September BREAKFAST AND LUNCH menus – Remember meals are free for all CICS IP students!
• DISNEY ON ICE VOUCHERS
• NEW! DISCOUNTED INTERNET SERVICES – Access to the Internet is more important than ever for our students. Please click here to see if you family qualifies for discounted internet services.
• The 2016-17 Parent-Student Handbook is available on the website. We have a limited amount of paper copies available in the main office; please ask Ms. Santiago if you would like one.

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PTO UPDATES:

• PTO Volunteer Opportunities
• All-school PUMA PTO meeting dates – Please join us!
  • Tuesday 9/27 – 6-7pm
  • Thursday 11/17 – 6-7pm
  • Thursday 2/23 – 6-7pm
  • Tuesday 5/23 – 6-7pm
• CICS Irving Park Night out with the Chicago Cubs
  • We sold all 225 Chicago Cub tickets for the Monday September 19th game.  If you ordered tickets, please pick them up in the morning of Tuesday September 13th starting at 7:30am.  We will be located outside the front office unless the weather is bad, then we will be right inside the office doors.  Any questions, please email – JoAnne Pepper at peppers56@hotmail.com.

BILINGUAL PARENTS ADVISORY UPDATES:

• NEW! Latin Heritage Month Planning / Bilingual Parents Advisory Committee:
  • Gracias a todos que asistieron la reunión de planificación para el Mes de la Hispanidad. Se reunirá de nuevo el próximo miércoles el 7 a las 8:15am en la cafetería de los maestros. Por favor, haga planes para asistir a la primera reunión de nuestro Comité de Padres Bilingües (BAC). Sería un honor si las familias bilingües de todas las lenguas se unirían: tagalo, albanés, yoruba, vietnamita y español . Hemos arreglado el enlace para la encuesta para seleccionar qué fecha es mejor para que usted pueda asistir. ¡Esperamos verles a todos!
  • Thanks to everyone who attended the planning meeting for Hispanic Heritage Month. There will be a follow up meeting next Wednesday the 7th at 8:15am in the Teachers’ Lounge. Please plan to attend the first meeting of our Bilingual Advisory Committee (BAC).  We would be honored if bilingual speakers of all languages would join: Tagalog, Albanian, Yoruba, Vietnamese, and Spanish.  We have fixed the link to this survey to select which date is best for you to attend. We hope that everyone can attend!

Please check the RESOURCES page on the IP website regularly for updates and quick links. 
Please also check out our FACEBOOK PAGE for updates and communication.Please reach out to Ms. Cotrone or Ms. Santiago with any questions.
Thank you!