U46Engage: The Newsletter

April 2021

Real Estate Professionals Invited to Learn  About U-46

Real estate agents, brokers, trainers, property managers, and appraisers are invited to a special virtual event at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, April 28 to learn more about the state’s second largest school district. 

The Real Estate Professionals Coffee is co-hosted by School District U-46 and the Community Advisory Council’s Family and Community Engagement Committee. It will be held via a Zoom webinar. 

U-46 Superintendent Tony Sanders will speak at the event, during which attendees will learn about the District’s award-winning Dual Language program, its successful play-based, full-day kindergarten model, the unique specialized Magnet Academies located within its five high schools, and a variety of specialized services for students. Attendees will leave with a toolbox of strong selling points for potential buyers considering a home in any of the District's 11 communities.

Those who work in the real estate industry and who want to attend the free event are asked to register in advance at http://bit.ly/U46Realtor21.  

Parents Encouraged to Explore New Online Safety Tools

This spring, U-46 launched enhanced online safety and support in classrooms, as well as offered a new tool to parents, through the Securly service. Securly Home allows parents to view real-time activity and pause the internet access on their child’s District-owned device during non-school hours. 

As of early April, more than half of U-46 teachers have tried the Securly Classroom service, with more than 600 using it on some school days. More than 30 percent of U-46 parents are using Securly Home, which includes a weekly emailed report on their child’s online activity. 

More details about Securly can be found on our Online Safety page , where you’ll also find introductory videos and a “Getting Started Guide” for parents. 

U-46 Families Asked to Register for 2021-22 School Year 

Online registration for the 2021-22 is now underway. While many families are focused on finishing this school year strong, U-46 is well into making plans for the 2021-22 school year, and it’s important that we get students registered as early as possible.

Because of the restrictions caused by the pandemic, there will be no in-person registration assistance events this spring. Instead we are requesting all families to register online using your laptop, desktop, or your student's district-issued chromebook. Instructions are located at u-46.org/registration . 

Also, here’s another reason why not to postpone registration: The U-46 School Board of Education has approved a one-time waiver of all K-12 instructional fees for the 2021-22 school year. The District will instead cover the cost of these registration fees, totalling about $2.3 to $2.5 million, as a measure to help families who have struggled financially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Optional fees such as for Driver’s Ed and other athletic sports participation will still be collected.

Upcoming U46Engage Webinars to Focus on Advocating for Your Child, Academic Programs 

The U46Engage webinar series continues this month with two important topics.

“How to Advocate for Your Child’s Progress” will be led by the English Language Learners department at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 21. It is open to all and will focus on building a strong home-school communication in order to better meet the academic and social-emotional needs of your child. It will be streamed in both English and Spanish. To register for the English webinar, visit https://bit.ly/AdvocateENG   or for the Spanish webinar, visit http://bit.ly/AbogarSPN.

“Kindergarten and Beyond” is the focus for the webinar at 7 p.m on Thursday, April 29 and is targeted at families who have a student currently in kindergarten or who will be entering kindergarten in the 2021-22 school year. This evening will  give an overview of the various academic programs offered in the District K-12 schools, such as Dual Language education, gifted programming, high school magnet academies as well as ways they can support their child’s education at home, school, or at the District level. To register for the English webinar, visit http://bit.ly/Kinder-ENG or for the Spanish webinar, visit http://bit.ly/Kinder-SPN .

To watch recordings of past webinars, or download the presentation slides, click here .  Watch u-46.org/webinars for details on webinars planned for May focused on managing stress, maintaining health and wellness, and summer options for U-46 students.