Dolton 149 Back-to-School Carnival Draws Hundreds of Students, Parents

(Calumet City, IL) – Kicking off a new school year, Dolton School District 149 recently held its annual back-to-school outdoor carnival drawing hundreds of the district’s students and families for rides, activities, food, music, and health checks at the sun-drenched event.

Under perfect blue skies, the district’s carnival was held at Caroline Sibley Elementary School, located in Calumet City, on Saturday, August 26, and featured bounce castles, a giant slide, a train ride, line dancing, a face painting booth, a live a DJ, a photo booth, a Bozo bucket toss, a free backpack giveaway, a raffle for a dozen new bikes, a farmers’ market booth with fresh vegetables and fruit, and health checkup tent for parents.

The district’s top administrator cited both the carnival’s “fun” for students and their parents and its importance in setting a “positive tone” for the new school year.

“Our annual back-to-school carnival was an enormous success providing a fun-filled day for students and their families from bouncing castles for the kids to line dancing for parents,” said Dolton 149 Superintendent Dr. Shelly Davis-Jones. “While education is serious, we want to set a positive tone with students and to associate fun with coming to school, making the new school year’s learning more enjoyable and easier, and our carnival kicks off our year- long effort to keep our students engaged in their studies.”

In addition to face painting and games, the Dolton 149 back-to-school carnival also provided free backpacks to each student who attended. The hundreds of free backpacks were donated by Dolton 149 administrators, staff, and teachers as well as organizations such as the Calumet City-based Living Water Kingdom Ministries, the Chicago-based Project Prevention, the Office of the Mayor for Calumet City, the Office of the Supervisor for Thornton Township, among others.

Beyond line dancing entertainment for adults, the Zeta Phi Beta sorority set up a wellness screening tent providing blood pressure checks and health advice for parents and pregnant mothers.

“I deeply appreciate the participation of my sorority sisters from Zeta Phi Beta for generously donating their time and providing wellness counseling to our parents,” said Dr. Davis-Jones, who was on-hand to manage the day’s activities.

To run the carnival that ran from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., both current and former employees volunteered to staff the booths, manage the giant slide and bouncing castles, run the games, hand out backpacks, and handle dozens of other operational activities.

“The success of the carnival depends on the generosity of administrators, staff, teachers, and even retired staff donating their time to organize the event and manage the hundreds of behind the scenes activities necessary to make the day enjoyable for our kids and their parents,” said Dolton 149 School Board President Darlene Gray Everett, who herself was busy throughout the day handing out backpacks, selling tickets for rides, and keeping a watchful eye out for younger kids. “I was especially touched by the retired staff who came out to volunteer to make the carnival fun for our children.”

Special gratitude was offered to the Dolton 149 board of education.

“We must express our deep appreciation to the board of education for its vision and determined support for our back-to-school carnival,” said Dr. Davis-Jones. “Thank you to Board President Darlene Gray Everett, Vice-President Lolita Crisler-Liggons, Secretary Bertha Jolly, and Board Members Pamela Eldridge, Rayya Ghani, Kim Knight-Anderson, and Willbur Tillman.”

Caroline Sibley is located at 1550 Sibley Boulevard in Calumet City.

The district’s more than 2,476 students returned to class on August 21.

davidormsby@davidormsby.com