September 2026 Newsletter

Posted Date: 09/01/26 (07:58 PM)

Woodbury Elementary School

September 2026

Principal's Message

Animated Image of Principal and Students

Dear Woodbury Families,

September is here, and the school year is off to an incredible start! The weather has been a little warm recently, but we know fall is just around the corner. We appreciate the wonderful energy students are bringing into the building. They are getting comfortable with daily routines, making new friends, and doing an awesome job showing what it means to follow the Woodbury Way.

Our teachers spent these first few weeks focusing on building classroom climate—getting to know your kids as individuals, setting up supportive classroom communities, hosting morning meetings, and introducing core values like Growth Mindset, Empathy, Respect, and Integrity. Now that everyone feels settled and supported, our classrooms are diving right into the heart of our academic work.

Our teachers and students are busy launching our new Amplify CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts) curriculum across all grade levels! Students are diving headfirst into rich stories and engaging subjects right out of the gate:

Kindergarten: Building early vocabulary and listening skills through classic nursery rhymes and fables.
1st Grade: Exploring fairy tales and folktales from around the world.
2nd Grade: Discovering the fun (and exaggeration!) of American tall tales alongside timeless classic stories.
3rd Grade: Diving into classic literature, exploring famous stories like Mulan and The Wind in the Willows.
4th Grade: Studying inspiring personal narratives and analyzing real-life memoirs to learn how authors capture life experiences and craft true stories.

Ask your child what story or topic they’ve been exploring in class this week. You might be surprised by how much they have to share!

A Few Other Highlights & Celebrations

CHAMPS Walk: Our 4th graders stepped up as true leaders, guiding the rest of the school through our building expectations and showing everyone the ropes.
Back to School Meet & Greet: Huge thanks to our PPA for putting on such a fun event! Between the music, dancing, and getting cooled off by the Sandwich Fire Department, it was a blast. Thank you to everyone who dropped by and to all of our volunteers who made it happen.
Safety First: We've already wrapped up the brunt of our safety drills, and the students did an awesome job following directions and staying calm. Safety is always a top priority here at school.
Curriculum Night: It was wonderful seeing so many of you! Your partnership means the world to us as we navigate learning and growing together.

The Sandwich Fair is coming up, and we know what a huge tradition this is for so many of our families. Whether you are showing at the fair or just there for the elephant ears and rides, we hope you all get to enjoy some quality time with family and friends!

Thank you all for the encouragement, patience, and support as we kick off another great year together. We’re so glad to have your students back in the building!

Best,

Mrs. Kern

Notes From the Nurse

Sandwich District 430 has partnered with Orland Park Dental Services for dental services for eligible children.

These services may include an exam, cleaning, fluoride treatment and sealants (a protective coating on the chewing surfaces of back teeth).

Licensed dentists, hygienists and assistants will come to your child’s school with portable equipment.

In order for your child to receive these services, you must provide all the information requested in the electronic form below. Please reach out to the school nurse at your child's building with any questions.

Online Registration Link:

https://opdsdentalservices.formstack.com/forms/sandwich430

Coming Up....

September:

9/2: Woodbury PPA Meeting 3:30-4:30

9/4: K-4 11:10 Dismissal

9/7: NO School, Labor Day

9/11: NO School

9/21-9/25: Homecoming Week

October:

10/5: 3rd Grade Hoover

10/8: Author Visit, Jennifer Hayes

10/9: No School, Institute Day

10/12: No School

10/30: Halloween Festivities & Parade

REMINDER: Join Our Woodbury Family Directory

We are updating our Woodbury family directory! Last year we created a Family Directory to help foster stronger connections among families in our school community. By completing this form and signing up, you are voluntarily sharing your contact information (such as your name, your child’s name and grade, address, email address, and/or phone number) with other parents and guardians at our school. To protect your privacy, we’ve included options so you can choose exactly what information to share, including whether or not to include your phone number or address.

Please note that the information you provide will be included in a directory that will be shared with all Woodbury families. We hope that this will serve as a great way to support communication for playdates, birthday parties, rideshares, class events, and school-related questions.

Participation is completely optional. By submitting your information, you are giving your permission for it to be shared in this directory.

Please complete the form for each individual student in your household. The form will accept responses until September 14, 2026.

Thank you for helping us build a more connected school community!

District Attendance Policy

The district worked closely with the Regional Office of Education to create an attendance policy that is more aligned with the rest of the county. Our goal is to reduce the number of Chronic Absentee students within the district.

CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM- a student who misses 10 percent of school days (18) within an academic year with or without a valid excuse. According to school research, these students are at greater risk of educational loss. Students within this category are reported to the state and monitored on the district/school report card.

To achieve this goal, we updated our attendance policy to create systems of support to monitor attendance and support families. The biggest changes are outlined below for families. Additional details can be found in the student handbook for each school.

All excused absences count toward a student's total of 10 days of absence.
After 10 absences, the district will ask for a doctor's note for future absences.
All absences must be reported daily by 10:00 AM
If a student is not reported absent by 10:00 AM the district will begin to identify the student’s location and reason for the absence.
Parents/Guardians will be contacted first.
If no one can be reached, we will contact emergency contacts.
If no one can still be reached, we will contact the district SRO to do a safety check at the student’s home.
Support for student absences will begin at the seventh absence of the school year.

Please help us achieve a positive school outcome through consistent student attendance. This is a significant predictor of student and school success. If someone in your family is unable to attend school for the day, it will be important that you report the absence by 10:00 AM.

Lunch Prices and Free/Reduced Application

The carryover period for students who were receiving free/reduced lunch for the 2025-2026 school year will end on September 24, 2026. If a new 2026-2027 application has not been submitted by that date, your child will automatically be put on paid breakfast and lunch beginning September 25, 2026.

If you would like to fill out an application, please log in to your Infinite Campus parent portal account and click on “More”, then “Meal Benefits”. Once your application has been submitted and reviewed, you will receive an approval/denial letter in the mail via USPS.

Meal Rates for the 26-27 school year are as follows:

Breakfast (K-12) $2.15
Elementary/Middle School Lunch (K-8) $3.90
High School Lunch (9-12) $4.05

Only one application needs to be completed per household. If you recently received notification that you have already been approved for free or reduced meals for the 2026-2027 school year you do not need to complete an application.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Jody Kruswicki, Administrative Assistant, 815-786-2187 or jkruswicki@sandwich430.org

Building Security

Our district follows a security protocol for guests and volunteers entering the buildings. This system requires identification from visitors (i.e. state ID, driver’s license, etc.), and all visitors will be photographed. A quick background check will be performed by searching US sex offender databases (with the option to expand this to criminal databases.). The system also links with our student database to provide an extra layer of protection for students with no contact orders.

To help make the start of the school year as smooth as possible, families who plan to volunteer in classrooms, attend classroom celebrations, or chaperone field trips are encouraged to complete this visitor screening during Stop N' Drop or Curriculum Night. Completing the process early will help ensure quick and easy entry into the building for future school events throughout the year.