Valley View Announces Community Engagement Events

Submitted by Valley View School District:

As Valley View School District 365U students experience increased success in the classroom, the partnership between VVSD, its families and the community remains a critical component in ensuring student success.

That’s why VVSD is announcing plans for a series of 2014-15 parent and community engagement events designed to keep VVSD students on a steady path to academic success.

“The Valley View Vision won’t succeed without the support and involvement of our parents, and those who live and work in our communities,” said VVSD Superintendent Dr. James Mitchem. “They are our hidden assets, the ingredient that makes a difference.”

The 2014-15 series, “A Design for Parent and Community Engagement,” includes two Town Hall meetings, several topic-specific sessions to help families cope with potentially harmful decisions students may face, parent cafes on various pertinent topics, and sessions on the new state-mandated Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment.

The series opens at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 15 at Lukancic Middle School, 725 Normantown Road, Romeoville, with a session on peer-to-peer violence, including tips on how to help your child combat bullying, conducted by experts from Santa Rosa, CA-based Community Matters.

Two weeks later, at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 30 at Bolingbrook High School, Dr. Mitchem and his team will host an open Town Hall meeting at which attendees will be able to ask VVSD-related questions. Informative post-meeting grade-level-specific “parent cafes” will include conversations on the new state-mandated PARCC assessment and VVSD’s increased efforts to help students attain college and career readiness.

BHS will also be the site for a 6:30 p.m. Oct. 23 session on teen-age substance abuse conducted by experts from the Robert Crowne Center. Topics will include the use of prescription drugs and the heroin epidemic.

Guardian Angel’s Prevention Division will present four powerful sessions on child sexual abuse (elementary parents) and dating violence (middle and high school parents) on Jan. 7. Elementary school parents are encouraged to attend either a 9:15 a.m. session at the Bolingbrook Community Center, 201 Canterbury Lane, or a 6:30 p.m. session at Romeoville High School. Middle school parents should attend either an 11:30 a.m. session at the Bolingbrook Community Center or a 7 p.m. session at RHS.

A second Town Hall meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. March 19 at Lukancic Middle School. Following an open Q&A session, VVSD administrators will utilize parent cafes to provide an update on the PARCC assessment which students will take in the beginning of March and at the end of April.

The final session, set for 7 p.m. April 16 at Brooks Middle School, 350 Blair, Bolingbrook, will feature an interactive presentation on internet safety and cyberbullying by Detective Rick Wistocki from the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office.

All sessions will include free refreshments and free child care. Individual wireless Spanish language translation devices will be available.

“Every child, every day. That’s what engaged learning is all about,” Dr. Mitchem said. “The data shows our students are succeeding. But in order to continue that success, we must come together with our families and community to ensure that our students are supported academically and socially, both within and outside the school setting.”

No reservations are necessary for any of the sessions.