FRIDAY AFTERNOON BACKPACKS were packed up and delivered by Michael Silver & Company CPAs to Skokie/Morton Grove School District 69 over the Veterans Day Weekend. According to Susan Waterloo, Tax Manager, who served as primary organizer of this community-spirited initiative, “Due to the amazing generosity of MSCO partners and employees, we had enough donations to contribute again! A special thanks to everyone who shopped, and hauled, and organized, and packed. We could not have accomplished this without everyone’s contributions and help. Also, special kudos go to our colleague, Audit Manager, Pauline Perrone, for suggesting this great idea!” At a recent local community event, District 69 School Superintendent Quintin Shepherd enthusiastically reaffirmed his appreciation for the backpacks and the joy they bring to the school children. We’ve posted some new photos here that capture some of the fun and excitement of the BackPack assembly line! Enjoy!

Following on the success of “Hunger Awareness Day” in April, in support of the Niles Township Food Pantry, the staff of Michael Silver & Company CPAs continued its community-focused enthusiasm by supporting children within Skokie/Morton Grove School District 69. According to District Superintendent Dr. Quintin Shepherd, there is a group of children that leave school on Friday afternoons and face the reality of having little or no food until they return to the classroom on Monday morning. In response to this, Michael Silver & Company eagerly got to work with the School District to coordinate the Friday Afternoon Backpacks (FABs) initiative that everyone hoped would help curb this weekend hunger challenge. This was the first time that such an undertaking took place between the school district and businesses in the area. While the school provided the backpacks, Michael Silver & Company did the rest!

Beryl Reid, Partner and sponsor of Michael Silver & Company’s community and charitable activities, stated, “Not only did we have several people take the time to consider the best variety of foods that the children and their families would enjoy, many actually headed out to the stores to purchase the food and drinks.  We also raised additional cash contributions, which resulted in participation in excess of $1,000! Additionally, Produce World in Skokie contributed fruit to the abundance of food items that we collected.”

Beryl continued, “Our first contribution of 30 backpacks, overflowing with healthy food and drinks, were delivered to the School District the Friday before the Labor Day weekend. That same afternoon, we were thrilled to receive an emailed video thank you from Dr. Shepherd, noting: “[The backpacks were] a tremendous success…everything went exactly as we had planned and designed, and I could see the looks on the faces of the kids -- they were excited to get the backpacks! By every single measure, this was a phenomenal success – thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart, on behalf the board of education, on behalf of the students, and on behalf of the school district, thank you…you guys have done an amazing thing, and I am greatly appreciative of your efforts.” We are targeting to fill backpacks for the students again in the late Fall.

For additional information on Michael Silver and Co. please visit their website at http://www.msco.net/. Click on their "Community" link for updates to this article and other ways they are supporting the community. 

Thank You!

The District 69 Community

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This is to inform you that the Skokie Voice Schools Forum "Our Taxes, Our Schools" which was held on November 15, 2012 will be aired on Comcast (Channel 19) on the following dates:

•  Monday, December 10 at 8:35 p.m.
•  Monday, December 17 at 7:00 p.m.
•  Monday, January 7 at 7:00 p.m.
•  Monday, January 14 at 7:00 p.m.

This forum was a great opportunity for residents and businesses to obtain information explaining how their property taxes are assessed and utilized by the Skokie public schools.

If you were not able to attend, be sure to catch the Comcast broadcast to learn more.

For complete information about Skokie Voice including membership, please visit www.skokievoice.org

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This search engine is customized to search District 69 sites to include supporting organizations such as the PTO and FUND69.

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District 219 Town Hall meeting is being held Thursday, November 8, 2012, 7pm Niles North High School (Annual Review of Programs).

http://www.niles-hs.k12.il.us/district/board-education/meeting-dates

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The following is a list of businesses and organizations that have supported or patnered with District 69. 

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Skokie Voice - 2nd Annual Community Forum on Public Schools - Please see the attached flyer for addtional information on this event.

Date: November 15, 2012

Time: 7 - 9 PM

Location: Oakton Community Center - 4701 Oakton St.

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Please click on the attachment for a letter from the Board of Education inviting parents and community members to attend the October 16, 2012 Board of Education meeting. This meeting is being held in the Madison School Multi-purpose Room.

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The Board of Education and Administration of District 69 have created a survey to gather feedback from our community related to the purposed location of the Skokie skate park.  We are also providing the Park District's presentation and audio recording from the October 3, 2012 public hearing held at Lincoln Junior High School. 

Information from October 3, 2012 

 Click-here for the Park District's presentation

 Podcast of the public hearing

The survey is no longer available.

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Community members interested in running for the District 69 Board of Education should donwlad the attacdhed candidate informational packet.

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District 69 has made the decision not to celebrate Halloween this year. This decision was not made lightly and many factors (including economic, social and religious) were considered. Many students cannot afford costumes and there is an economic disparity. We also have students that are unable to participate for religious or cultural reasons. In the past, these students have had to sit in another room and participate in an alternative activity. Every year the number of students that cannot participate grows. Our staff and administration feel very strongly that we never want students to feel uncomfortable while in school and this celebration makes many uncomfortable.

The Village of Skokie has some Halloween offerings if you are looking for a family Halloween activity outside of school. Learn more at http://www.skokieparks.org/special-events. Also, continue to check www.downtownskokie.org for information about upcoming fall activities.

If you have previously kept your child home from school on Halloween, you can send your child to school without concern about any Halloween activities. Classrooms may do a seasonal (not Halloween) art project or activity, but there will not be any parties or costumes. Please do not send your child to school with any Halloween goody bags or Halloween items to distribute.

This decision was made to be reflexive of our community. Thank you for understanding.

Yours in Education,

Quintin Shepherd, Ph.D.
Superintendent

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