Fourth Quarter
Dear Thornton Fractional District 215 Community,
It’s hard to believe we are in the final quarter of the 2021-22 school year! Thank you for all you have done to make the school year successful thus far. This school year included exciting new initiatives that offer increased opportunities to our students. This school year we added a Career Development Department and celebrated our first cohort of future electricians, our first cohort of future teachers, and our first cohorts of future barbers and cosmetologists.
We also began our partnership with National Education Equity Lab, bringing two courses from prestigious universities to a group of our students, and we welcomed our first full time Spanish language interpreter and family outreach specialist to District 215.
Our students have also impressed us with many accomplishments outside of the classroom that are worth acknowledging! TF South’s Dutchess King finished second in the state in her weight class for wrestling and the TF South dance team took third in the state. TF North’s Group Interpretation cast finished third in the state, and the TF North speech team has students who advanced from state to national competition! We have much to be proud of and acknowledge as we look toward wrapping up the 2021-22 school year. As we approach honors assemblies, signing days, proms, graduations, and all the excitement each of these events bring, let’s continue to celebrate our staff, students, and families for a job well done in the 2021-22 school year.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sophia Jones-Redmond
Superintendent
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Dear Thornton Fractional School District 215 Family,
I would like to thank all staff, students, parents, and career representatives for participating in our Infinite Scholars Fair and the IACAC College, Career, and Transitions Fair that was held at TF South. The event provided an opportunity for our senior students to meet with over 100 college representatives from around the country. The Infinite Scholars Fair promoted on-site admissions and scholarship opportunities. At our 3rd Annual District 215 IACAC Fair, students across the district at all grade levels were able to attend the fair. Students had the opportunity to gain new knowledge and an understanding of what is beyond high school by interacting with an additional 130 or more colleges, universities, careers, military branches, and transitions services.
We encourage all parents/guardians to make necessary arrangements to join us on Thursday, October 5, 2023, for Parent/Teacher Conferences that will be held at all campuses. You can decide to meet with teachers virtually or join us in person.
Dear Thornton Fractional School District 215 Family,
It is w
ith great pleasure, honor, and humility to serve you as Interim Superintendent for the 2023-2024 school year. I am excited to work with students, parents/guardians, the leadership teams, and staff in this new role. It is my true desire to accept new challenges, duties, and responsibilities to provide a collegial and productive working environment for all students and staff. I am especially looking forward to establishing and maintaining a school community environment of respect, care, and rapport for all.
Dear Thornton Fractional District 215 Families and Community,
We are about halfway through the school year and the accomplishments of our students and staff are inspiring. During the October Board of Education meeting I was honored, as your superintendent, to recognize four students who achieved College Board Nation Recognition for their excellence on the PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, or AP Exams. We honored two students who not only made it to the 2022 National Speech & Debate Tournament, they placed fourth in the nation for Poetry Reading (John McBeth), and eleventh in the nation in storytelling (Christiana Oluwole). TF215 has such a rich history of achievement but in a first for our district, I also recognized Leshawn Sanders who was appointed to the Illinois State Board of Education’s (ISBE) Student Advisory Council. The council of students represents districts from the entire state and will help guide the development of policies and initiatives with a student perspective. Leshawn is an excellent addition to this council.
While we celebrate individual student accomplishments, the state school report cards were recently released to the public and even faced with the challenges covid presented to the district, our students did well on the assessments. Thornton Fractional District 215 received a Commendable rating based on several measures with huge recognition to students in our special education classrooms for exceeding the state average in English/Language Arts and Math. Commendable is a good rating and everyone should be proud, however TFD215 is EXEMPLARY and that is our goal.
To support our mission of moving from Commendable to Exemplary, we have undertaken a Strategic Planning process and you can find the framework on our website at https://www.tfd215.org/downloads/misc-web/strategic_plan_framework_2023_and_beyond.pdf . We are now in Phase 2, and YOU will play an important role in the success of this phase by providing your input in focus groups, town halls and completing surveys. Our community school partners will provide perspective that will be woven into collaborative, data-driven goals and strategies for 2023 and beyond. Multiple platforms will be utilized for you to provide your input in January and February. Later in December we are implementing a texting notification system to provide another mechanism to communicate with our parents and community. We need you to help develop a viable solid strategic plan so please watch for more information after the winter break.
On behalf of the Board of Education and administration, we are thankful to you for your ongoing support of our students, staff and TFD215 community.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sophia Jones-Redmond
Superintendent
Dear Thornton Fractional District 215 Families and Community,
We are back in school! First and foremost, thank you for all of your efforts with the new registration process this year. While there were a few minor hiccups, our families got it done by completing online registrations for 3,237 students! Utilizing the online PowerSchool system will make the process going forward much smoother and faster. We appreciated your patience with the new process and thank you.
A continued focus for this year is safety and security in our schools for all students and staff. New doors, replacing doors from the 1960’s, were placed on 29 classrooms at South which provide enhanced security. Our crisis and safety plans are updated, each school has formed and convened their safety committees, and when you visit our campuses, you will soon find different processes, including background screening of every guest and issuance of a visitor nametag.
Recently I convened a meeting comprising members of our staff, the school resource officers and representatives of the Lansing and Calumet City Police Departments. Our focus was to determine additional strategies to ensure the safety and security of our students, staff and TFD215 community at sponsored district events. This ongoing dialogue will benefit our entire community, and the primary mission is to prevent an incident from occurring. However, everyone plays a role in achieving that goal by utilizing our “See Something Say Something” campaign if you observe or hear of any incident or potential incident administration needs to address. https://www.tfd215.org/contactus/see-something-say-something/ By working together, we can do our part to continue providing a safe and secure environment for our students and staff.
As I visit our schools and classrooms, I am continually in awe of the great things happening on a daily basis. I look forward to spotlighting those for you each month.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sophia Jones-Redmond
Superintendent