Dear Congress Park Community,

As we enter May, I'm excited to see our students growing academically, demonstrating problem-solving skills, and showing emerging leadership qualities, indicating their readiness for the next grade level. I look forward to an exciting month ahead, filled with learning, growth, and celebration.

Smartwatches: Beginning in May, D102 will be asking students to leave their smartwatches in their lockers or backpacks. We recognize that many families have made a significant investment in purchasing one of these devices to help provide connectivity and access between the family and their child. However, we have also begun to see how this level of connectivity has been used to cause harm and become distracting to students during the school day. While D102 schools first tried to work with students to put all watches into "School Mode", various incidents have persisted and have required teachers to divert their time away from instruction to address these types of issues.

For example, in recent weeks there has been a significant increase in the number of bullying reports that upon investigation stem from texts and chats being made through messaging and social media during the school day. Some of these texts and chats have contained racially-based and sexually-based comments that are being shared inside of group chats during class time. This has caused teachers and principals to spend time focusing on student conduct and discipline that should be used to support student learning.

We understand this change may cause students and families some frustration, but we are asking for support in helping our students and teachers minimize distractions and potential incidents of bullying for the safety of all students. As you already know, D102 currently has students keep their cell phones in lockers and backpacks during the school day and, beginning in May, will extend that practice to smartwatches as well. Connectivity is here to stay and provides many benefits to us all. However, in the interest of keeping students safe and our primary focus on learning, we are putting this practice of keeping phones and smartwatches in lockers and backpacks in place.

Summer Programs: Don't forget to secure your child's spot in our exciting summer programs! Registration will be open until May 15th.

Special Education Ambassadors: We are looking for current parents and guardians in our schools to serve as volunteer special education parent ambassadors. This is a new and exciting development in our district that is intended to provide interested families with family-to-family camaraderie and support. Any interested parents/guardians of current special education students can apply.

Become an Ambassador!

Conviértete en Embajador

Kind regards,

Amy Grieve

Congress Park Principal

Registration Link

ALL students must complete online registration every school year. Enrollment involves going online to fill out and update the required information for your student. Please be sure to verify that all information is correct. i.e. addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, emergency contacts, etc.

Please note - you cannot complete online registration on a cell phone or through the PowerSchool App. Your student’s enrollment is not confirmed until you have completed all steps and provided the required paperwork.