York's Vision

This was sent to all staff members on Friday. I wanted to be sure to share it with our blog followers here. ......... Now that our second year together is underway, we wanted to take a moment to tie together some of the shifts that have taken place, the Daggett presentation, and the future direction for our community at York. Whether the shift was to impact relationships with students (i.e. smaller study halls), to address student balance and/or grit (i.e. our level change policy), or to open access for students (i.e. co-taught general education classes for graduation requirements), they all have one goal in mind--finding new ways to ensure that all students are prepared for any possible future before them. We--the administrative team--will be stopping by departments over the next few months to talk about our direction together; however, we also wanted to send it out to you, so everyone can take a look when the opportunity arises. In Bill Daggett’s book, The Daggett System for Effective Instruction, he states that “Organizational leadership must inspire the education community, create a culture for change, and do away with structures, rules, and practices that are impediments to effective and efficient instruction.” As we have centered our focus as a building (and also as a district) around student growth and student access to college, career, and life-ready skills; we have unified our efforts to enhance future-ready learning. Everything we’ve built over the 2016-2017 school year has come full circle into the opening Institute Day presentations. Rigor, relevance, and relationships are the underlying components of a successful educational organization. Here at York, we’ve embraced these concepts and operationalized them in different ways across the building in order to meet the needs of each individual student, to gauge their personal interests, and to help them succeed. Here are ways in which we see it at work: PLCs: Professional Learning Communities are taking hold across the building. Albeit in different spots on the continuum, all teachers are working extremely hard to effectively analyze student growth and effective assessment. This critical focus is how we are able to ignite interdisciplinary collaboration, pathways, and RtI by continuing to address the three R’s: how can we help students build relationships with us, each other, and between our content and their future? How rigorous is the level of critical thinking in which we are engaging our students? How are we offering experiences that bring relevance to our students’ lives? Interdisciplinary Collaboration: English, Social Studies, and Physical Education have come together to create meaningful, interdisciplinary experiences for students across content areas to enhance the relevance and engagement of those particular groups. Not only have staff members begun to take leadership with the upcoming Erin’s Law forum (September 14th) and a new constitution forum, we have asked staff to consider new courses that will help our students read the world in which they currently live, and staff members have begun to present us with possible interdisciplinary courses for the future. The leadership that’s emerging across the building as these opportunities take hold is commendable. We are truly embracing taking risks. Pathways: The purpose of career pathways is to truly peak the individual interests of students and guide them to a future that will prepare them for a competitive global economy in their post-secondary pursuits (college, two-year colleges, military, careers, and technical / workforce experiences). Currently, we have thriving pathways that offer certification in culinary arts, business, CTE, early childhood, and medical careers. Over the next two years, we will see a manufacturing and incubator capstone emerge for CTE and business. As we continue on this journey, we are developing an online, interactive course catalogue, and we are seeking ways to reveal a course of study that will best lead to preparing students for their future careers. RtI: The Reponse to Intervention team has been identifying areas of student need and working at processes that will put Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions in place for those student needs; however, we would like to continue to find ways of addressing student needs in the classroom (Tier 1) by asking the foundational question: how can we increase student access to a full, grade level curriculum while supporting the staff to help students meet that challenging curriculum?

Open House and other announcements

Happy Friday, York families! We hope the first two weeks back have been a success! Here are a few reminders for upcoming events. Open House will be Thursday, August 31st at 7:00 PM. Please remember to bring a copy of your student’s schedule that night: you may want to consider snapping a photo of it, so you can easily carry it on your phone. PE classes will meet in three areas listed on the attachment. I will send another reminder to bring your child's schedule next week. Attention: Best Buddies has arrived at York High School! Please join us on Monday, September 11th at 6pm in the Auditorium for a Family Information Night to learn more about how your child can get involved. The Best Buddies Friendship Program builds one-to-one friendships between people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), offering social mentoring while improving the quality of life and level of inclusion for a population that is often isolated and excluded. Best Buddies provides the opportunity for people with IDD to form meaningful connections with their peers, gain self-confidence and self-esteem, and share interests, experiences and activities with other students from their school. If you have any questions before the meeting, please contact Amy Burton or Samantha French at York High School. First Home Football Game: come on out and support your York Dukes Football program next Friday versus Addison Trail! We have a zero tolerance policy in regards to drugs and alcohol at all of our events. Please remind your students to make smart decisions. Have a great weekend, Erin DeLuga

Free School Anxiety and School Refusal Parent Workshop

The DuPage Regional Office of Education is hosting a free parent workshop on Wednesday, May 17, from 7:00 - 8:30 PM. This event features Jackie Rhew, LPC, CADC, from Amita Health Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital. 

The presentation will review specific interventions designed to assist children (ages 5-17) dealing with school anxiety and/or refusal behaviors. Participants will learn ways to help children manage anxiety, as well as strategies to promote positive school attendance, increased motivation, healthy goal setting, and active school engagement.

The workshop is located at the DuPage Regional Office of Education, 421 N. County Farm Road, Second Floor, Wheaton.

Attendees should RSVP to kcipriano@dupageroe.org by May 15.

Spring Break Reminder

This message was broadcast to all the students at York High School this morning. Good Morning, Dukes! With spring break upon us, it’s crucial that everyone makes smart personal decisions. We have a lot at stake to consider after the break, including prom, graduation and (juniors) open campus privileges next year! Remember that the Code of Conduct applies over break and summer and we want to ensure the safety of all of our students today and throughout all of your years as Dukes! Enjoy spring break! Go Dukes!

World Down Syndrome Day

Please encourage your students to rock their socks next Tuesday, 3/21 in honor or World Down Syndrome Day. The idea behind rocking mismatched socks is to celebrate individuality and to embrace acceptance of all. Of course, my daughter Emma is the reason I started this tradition four years ago in District 214, and the students loved it. I will plan to ask all participants to stop in the commons at the end of the day to take a picture that I will post to Facebook and Twitter! Have a great week! Go Dukes!

St. Baldrick's Foundation

This email went home yesterday from Mr. McGuire: We are excited to host a St. Baldrick's event this year at York. The St. Baldrick's Foundation helps to support research for childhood cancer. We have staff and students ready to make this event memorable and successful for our school community. Since this is our 1st year holding our event, we have set our fundraising goal at $10,000. But we are very hopeful that we will be able to exceed that goal. Our own Mr. Doherty has laid out a challenge of $15,000 to shave his head. I believe those locks are worth every penny! Please take a minute to visit our page and consider donating for this worthy cause! Our event will coincide with a spring spirit week and conclude with a pep rally on March 24th. We will be shaving the heads of our top fundraising individuals and hopefully Mr. Doherty himself! I have faith in our community to come out strong for an amazing cause! If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Joe O'Malley at jomalley@elmhurst205.org or Mr. Drew McGuire at dmcguire@elmhurst205.org.

Math Team

Congratulations to our Math team and coaches.  The math team had a very exciting conference meet last night against Hinsdale Cental and South, Downers North and South, OPRF, and Lyons.

Our seniors placed 1st with top ten finishers: Brian Strauch (Brian earned a meet high score 19 out of 20), Jack Chlystak, Collin Czech, Gabe Uribe, and Sehe Tinfang.  

Juniors took 2nd place with top ten honors to: Natalie Hradil, Anshul Shah, Dan Sussman, Siva Sreedhar, and Tim Baer.

Sophomores placed 3rd with top ten: Tristan Contant and Will Phillips.

Freshman placed 2nd with top ten awards to: Dylan Mahoney, Xander Hall, and Maggie Clink.

The juniors and seniors also won the most prized battle of the evening "The Candy Bar Competition".  

We are preparing for our regional competition at the end of the month with our goal to make it to State!

Good luck to our students and Coaches, Linda Lahti and Nancy Mordini.

York Scholastic Bowl

York's Varsity SchoBowlers were just like their country Wednesday night at Lyons Township: young, scrappy and hungry. 

With senior Captain C.J. Karwowski absent for York Drama, and Mathlete Dylan Mahoney at Math Team, the Dukes were at a disadvantage going into LT.  But Freshmen phe-noms Nicholas Zeher and Andrew Trenta came up strong, and frosh Aaron Ludkowski actually captained the squad to two convincing wins against Morton and Addison Trail High Schools! 

Meanwhile, sophomore sensation Alex Boskov came out of nowhere with mad math skills and classical music knowledge. while the depth of Juniors Peter and Grant Hartlage's fact arsenal gave York the firepower it needed for a comeback win in the first round.

The Dukes are having one of their more successful seasons this year, holding a respectable 9-3 record as they advance to post-season play in the highly-competitive West Suburban Conference.

York Law Team

The York Law Team had two successful competitions last week.  On Thursday, the law team placed 3rd in the North Suburban Bar Association Mock Trial Competition. On Saturday the students participated in the Kane County Mock Trial Competition and York's Savanna Clements received an award for Best Witness.  Congratulations York Law Team, Great job!

St. Baldrick's is coming to York!

Hello York!

We are excited to host a St. Baldrick's event this year at York.  The St. Baldrick's Foundation helps to support research for childhood cancer.  We have staff and students ready to make this event memorable and successful for our school community.  Since this is our 1st year holding our event, we have set our fundraising goal at $5000.  But we are very hopeful that we will be able to exceed that goal.  Our own Mr. Doherty has laid out a challenge of $15,000 to shave his head.  I believe those locks are worth every penny!  Please take a minute to visit our page and consider donating for this worthy cause!  Our event will coincide with a spring pep rally on March 24th where we will be shaving heads of our top money winners and hopefully Mr. Doherty himself!  I have faith in our community to come out strong for an amazing cause!  If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Joe O'Malley at jomalley@elmhurst205.org or Mr. Drew McGuire at dmcguire@elmhurst205.org.

Thank you for your consideration!
Mr. O'Malley and Mr. McGuire

Wednesday January 18th

Just a friendly reminder that Wednesday, January 18th is a regular school day and NOT a late arrival.  Students have a four day weekend this week with Monday and Tuesday off, so I want to make sure that everyone remembers to mark their calendars.  I hope everyone has a nice long weekend to relax for what I am sure seemed like a very long week.

York' Scholastic Bowl

Congratulations to York's Scholastic Bowl team, which defended its home turf Jan. 10th with a win of almost 400 points over Leyden, and a scrappy defense against perennial champions Oak Park-River Forest. 

York's squad, captained by Senior C.J. Karwowski, scored three hundred points against the Huskies--an achievement no other team in the West Suburban Conference has achieved this season.

Senior Joelle Chiu, Juniors Peter and Grant Hartlage, and the phenomenal freshmen (Aaron Ludkowski, Andrew Trenta, Dylan Mahoney, and Nick Zehner) all contributed to the Duke's performance.

Welcome Back and Happy 2017!

Parents and Community Members, I shared this with staff this evening and wanted to extend the message to all of you! Happy 2017. ------------ Colleagues, I warmly welcome you back to what I hope is a very productive and successful 2017 at York High School! This year, we created and focused on two building goals: York Building Goals 2016-2017: 1. All students will grow by at least 30% on state standardized assessment from 8th grade to the end of junior year (using ACT counterparts to SAT scores). 2. There will be an increase in students accessing college level experiences, career programs, internships, and / courses at York that will prepare them for life beyond graduation. These goals have fueled the focus for PLC work and data mining. I am so proud of our progress, dedication, and collective decision-making throughout a process that can definitely be trying personally and professionally. In IAC this fall, we have kept the aforementioned goals close to heart as we unpack data in regards to career readiness, civic responsibility, growth, demographic considerations, RtI, and achievement gaps. We plan to continue to adhere to the PLC model each of you engage with on Wednesday mornings as an IAC. With that being said, I want thank each of you for working so hard to meet each student where s/he thrives with a growth mindset at heart. I am honored to lead such an extraordinary staff and look forward to what lies ahead. I leave this Friday for the January NCSSS (National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools) executive board meeting over the weekend. I plan to update you on any new and upcoming ideas on the NCSSS partnership with innovative programming and pathway planning. My best wishes, fellow Dukes!