West Side School

HCUSD #3 and West Side Primary will be holding Kindergarten registration from August 3rd through August 7th. Please make an appointment to ensure a screening for your son/daughter by calling 618-253-7637 extension 5245 (please leave a message if no answer) or by emailing cpopetz@harrisburg3.org. Please keep in mind any student entering Kindergarten must be 5 on or before September 1st. Thank you and have a great weekend !

Today, May 18th, we ask that you try to pick up your child's materials from West Side and East Side between 10:30-12-30. Please return any textbooks and library books at this time and don't forget to pick up lunch for the week. We hope that you can join us on Tuesday, May 19th (tomorrow) for a Summer Send-Off Parade. Teachers and staff will line the streets in front of both schools to wave and smile from 4:30-5:30. Join in the parade and drive by to see your favorite teachers. Please follow the usual one-way drop off routes at both locations. (For West Side, you can begin lining up on the corner of S. Land and W. Lincoln Streets and the parade will continue along Lincoln in front of the school and will wrap around McKinley Street.) We hope to see you there!

Please see the following information about supply/material pick-up dates for West Side and East Side schools and the teacher summer send-off parade:

PreK parents and guardians, we will be conducting PreK screenings remotely (over the phone and through the mail) for the 2020-21 school year. For those of you who had an appointment, you will be receiving a call on Monday, May 4th to go over the process. We are working to make this as smooth as possible and appreciate your cooperation. Have a great day. Mr. Witges and Mrs. Wilson

Unit 3 Parents/Guardians/Students: Please fill out this three question survey to help us plan for future e-learning. https://forms.gle/iAenjNvY7oymVRr69 Thank you!

We miss our students!

ATTENTION............REMOTE LEARNING INFORMATION HARRISBURG, Due to the Governor's announcement today that he has suspended all in person learning for the remainder of the 19-20 school year. Harrisburg Unit 3 has changed some dates regarding our remote learning and want to make you aware. The packet your child currently has can be dropped off at your child's school on April 28th. You will be able to pick up the next packet at that time. We have set two times for the drop off old packet and pick up a new packet. These times will be from 10a.m. - 1p.m. and also from 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. on April 28th. The packet you pick up on the 28th will be a month long packet and will carry us through the end of our school year. This final packet must be submitted to your child's building by May 26th. This message will be updated as questions arise or as situations change. Now I would like to address our students. You all need to know that your teachers and staff as well as your Principal, Superintendent and School Board care about each and every one of you. This decision is something that makes us very sad for all of you and us. We look forward to seeing each and every one of you back in August. Please stay safe and healthy. Seniors, this is unimaginable. You have had a portion of this year taken from you and now you are being told that it is just over. I know it is unfair, but you will overcome this and move on to greater things, because you are BULLDOG STRONG!!!! The School Board has assured me that when the ban is lifted we will have some form of Commencement ceremony for you Seniors to be honored for your accomplishments in your High School career. We will announce when the ban is lifted and we can plan a date. Mike Gauch Superintendent

Attention Unit 3 Family: Please click link or view image for more information about remaining school closure. https://5il.co/f8fy

HARRISBURG STAFF MISS OUR STUDENTS,,,,,, WE DECIDED TO PUT SOMETHING TOGETHER! enjoy!!!! https://youtu.be/iDH7z0NYA7A

Harrisburg, During these days when NOTHING seems normal anymore.....I wanted to show you something that has always been constant in the HARRISBURG community! HARRISBURG UNIT # 3 LOVES AND CARES FOR ALL OF OUR STUDENTS AND FAMILIES. I am unsure what many of you will see when you look at this video.....Let me tell you what I see.....I see COMPASSION, EMPATHY, VOLUNTEERISM, KINDNESS, TENDER, CONCERNED, THOUGHTFUL AND LOVING INDIVIDUALS. These individuals that come together every week and spend hours preparing, bagging and delivering a LITTLE bag of food overflowing with a LOT OF LOVE! The team all agree we have FUN doing it, it brings us closer together and provides essential nutrition for our kids. During these times, we worry about our kids LOSING or REGRESSING WITH THEIR LEARNING........... I think if our students and community watch my team and what they are doing during this time, any small regression pales in comparison to the MONUMENTAL LIFE LESSON that is an unintentional consequence of my team being what they are .......GREAT PEOPLE! #THEYTHINKWE'REJUSTTEACHING #PROUDSUPERINTENDENT #LOVEMYUNIT3FAMILY #DOINGWHATISRIGHTFORKIDS Mike Gauch https://youtu.be/qEtGj4Ij24M

HARRISBURG UNIT # 3 FAMILY - We wanted to make you aware of a TIME CHANGE !!!!!!! Starting Monday April 13th - FOOD SITES WILL BEGIN PASSING OUT MEALS AT 10:30 a.m. AND STAY UNTIL 12:30 OR UNTIL THEY RUN OUT OF FOOD. TIME NOTED ABOVE IS THE ONLY CHANGE, EVERYTHING ELSE WILL CONTINUE AS IN PRIOR WEEKS. Thanks Mike Gauch

Good morning West Side, it is Mr. Witges. Just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing. We hope you and your family are doing well and staying healthy. That is the the most important thing, your health. We miss you each and every day and can't wait to see you. Today, we will be packing meals to hand out on Monday so even though it is "Spring Break", meals will be available on Monday. If you need help with anything, please contact your teacher or let one of us know. Take care, Mr. Witges.

Unit 3 Family, We would like to take a moment to clarify some information with the packets and the calendar. The packets that were handed out yesterday and the e-learning will start today, this will take us through spring break and convene the week after spring break. As recommended to HCUSD #3, we are still following our school calendar through the remaining year. Students will not be expected to complete remote learning over spring break. Therefore, this packet or e-learning will extend past spring break and get us to the next packet which will be distributed the week of April 27th. With regard to the April 27 packet, we were advised to plan for remote learning through the rest of the school calendar in case we are not able to get back into school or have in person instruction. This is why as a district we have set April 27th for remote learning to continue. If we receive further communication contradicting this and expect in person instruction to begin on May 1, we will adjust our plans. This is strictly for planning purposes at this time. As always, we will communicate information as soon as we receive it.

Harrisburg Unit 3 Family, This situation that feels more and more like the Twilight Zone continues. I have never been involved in something like this and while we try NOT to seem surprised and to deliver messages in a "matter of fact" kind of manner....this situation is just as much a shock to myself and Unit 3 as it is to all of you. With that said, we are here for you and your children and will continue to try and serve your children as the state directs during this closure. Most of you by now have heard that Governor Pritzker extended school closures through April 30th. This means the earliest we could come back to school is May 1. He also has conveyed to schools that he wants us to continue our attempt to keep children engaged in skill retention activities, review activities and routines so to not regress and lose skills they have developed so far this year. He and the State Board asked us to create a plan for this and it be called a REMOTE LEARNING PLAN. I have attached Harrisburg Unit 3's plan. You will see it is VERY similar to what we already have in place. That is a testament to your child's teachers, administrators and Board who decided to be proactive and try to get out in front of this horrible situation. This plan just formalizes and codified in writing the plan that we have been executing. Please do not get worried that things are changing again, we are aware of the stress this has put on all of you and made the changes here as minimal as possible so you all can keep doing what you are doing with your kiddos. There are really only 3 major changes in the plan from what you are currently doing; First, the Governor has now said moving forward, that any packets or e-learning that a student is provided after March 30 (which includes the packet we passed out yesterday 3-31) should be turned in to be assessed for credit. These packets will be graded on a pass/incomplete scale and NO GRADE WILL BE NEGATIVELY IMPACTED BY THIS WORK. The second change is more for safety purposes and is a change Harrisburg Unit 3 has decided to make for your benefit and the benefit of staff. There will be no more face to face meetings to receive or to turn in packets. We have at some buildings the on-line component, which we recommend for ALL who can access. We also have now downloaded each packet on our website, so you can go on and download and print your packet if you wish and have that capability. Finally if you cannot do either of those we ask that you call us on Monday, April 27th and provide your child's school office your name and address and request it be mailed. We ask you to only call on the 27th as the office will be working that day. The final change is on submitting packets. Over the next few days your child's building will be placing a box,tub or some other kind of drop-box outside the front doors of their building. Once you have this packet complete we would ask that you drop it off there and that box will be emptied daily. We also request that you contact your child's teacher so they know to look for the packet and to note that it was submitted for credit. I have attached the plan, I know there will be MANY questions....please do not hesitate to call my office and I will try and answer any concerns you have. THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND UNDERSTANDING IN THIS MATTER. Like I have said before we will get through this TOGETHER. Thanks Mike Unit 3 Remote Learning Plan: https://5il.co/ehgl

Unit # 3, We continue to get more information regarding this health pandemic. Governor Pritzker announced today that schools will remain closed through April 30. I will put an official statement out in the morning to let you know what that means for all of us. Thank you for your cooperation, Mike Gauch

Parents/Guardians: To access the learning packets online, please visit the following link. https://www.hbg.saline.k12.il.us/o/ws/browse/117279

For packet pick-up, you have a couple of options. You can download the packet from our website or it can be emailed to you to print off (email your teacher to request it). You can also come by West Side to pick it up. The process for picking up at West Side will be curbside delivery (kind of like a drive-thru restaurant). Just like you would drop your child off at school using the one way streets. We will have two locations, one on Lincoln and one on McKinley, just pull up and we will give the packet to you. Each packet is the same for each grade level, so it does not matter which street you choose.

Parents/Guardians: At West Side, while we encourage you to use online resources during this time, we feel at this age it is important for our students to have a tangible packet for you to work with your child, therefore we will have packets for you to pick-up on Tuesday, March 31st between 9 AM - 12 PM and 3 PM - 6 PM. We will also make the packets available for download on our website and app. We will be posting them in the next day or two. Please watch for an announcement indicating it is available for download. Stay safe and healthy. We miss the students walking in our hallways, playing at recess and just being kids. We can’t wait to see them again. Mr. Witges and Mrs. Wilson

Parents/Guardians: We want to reach out and clarify some items. The packets that were given out on March 16th do NOT need to be turned into. These were considered Act of God days through ISBE. Since that time-frame, we have transitioned to remote learning and the packets that you will get on Tuesday (March 31st) will need to be turned in the next time we distribute packets. These packets will be given a pass/incomplete designation, not designated letter grades. Please use this time to be with your children to help them with the packets, take breaks, read them a story, play a game, go for a walk and do a scavenger hunt. But, most of all, be there for them. We believe learning occurs in all aspects of life, not just a packet. Stay safe and healthy. Mr. Witges and Mrs. Wilson

ATTENTION UNIT 3 PARENTS AND GUARDIANS PLEASE CLICK LINK FOR NEW E-LEARNING INFO: https://5il.co/eaz4