The January 14, 2026 Board of Education meeting video recording is now available.
Meeting Recording Includes:
Open Session Meeting
Superintendent & Committee Reports
JANUARY 2026 Highlights
January is Board Member Appreciation Month
The board discussed adding Committee of the Whole meetings for the remainder of the 2025-2026 school year.
Administrator Reports
Mrs. Kim Maher - Director of Communication, Development, and Safety:
Our District Threat Assessment Team spent the morning learning and working together on Monday, January 12th. There has not been a meeting of a team of this kind in our district in several years. While our SEL and admin team have worked together this year to streamline processes and align some procedures, we are looking forward to using this team to meet the following objectives:
Update Threat Assessment Plan & Procedures that are aligned with board policy,
school code, and consistent across all buildings.
Guide the implementation of building level Threat Assessment Teams.
Annually monitor and review practices and procedures.
Our admin team has been planning for the upcoming Early Release and Teacher Institute Day to maximize the use of time for staff to learn and work toward school improvement and district strategic goals.
As of January 5th, families have the option of utilizing the Zonar MyView app as a tool for notifications regarding their child's bus. This app is brand new to both LW210 and our district. The first week resulted in a great deal of learning for all involved. We appreciate LW210 Transportation's efforts to build on their resources to best serve our community.
Pre-Registration for students that will attend Kindergarten in 2026-2027 will begin this month. Parents are encouraged to complete the form to begin the process, communicate their preference for how they will receive WC's Kindergarten Information, and initiate formally registering their child for the Manhattan114 Class of 2035!
Mrs. Cheryl Donovan - Director of Curriculum and Instruction:
We are beginning to prepare for our spring state assessments. Thank you to the team behind the scenes getting our accounts and devices prepared for a successful experience.
This week our eighth grade English Language Arts team was visited by the Lincoln Way West English and Reading departments. The team was able to see classes in session and vertically articulate together. Departments meet throughout the year. We thank Lincoln Way for their partnership as we work together to ensure a smooth transition for our students from 114 to 210.
Our winter benchmark assessment season is upon us. Data meetings will follow. Thank you to our teachers, instructional specialists and MTSS teams for their work to prepare for the assessment, analyze the data and make decisions to best meet the needs of our students.
Mrs. Julie Hantson - Director of Special Education:
Our 2025-2026 Student Services Night is scheduled for Thursday, April 16, 2025 (5:30pm-7pm) at Wilson Creek School.
Our district is up for ISBE Indicator 8: Parent involvement survey. In early February, the Indicator 8 Parent Involvement survey will be distributed to the parents of students with disabilities in our district to determine how well schools throughout the state are involving parents in their children’s education.
Administrators at Wilson Creek and Mrs. Hantson continue to attend remediation meetings for preschool compliance in regards to having students in the least restrictive environment.
Ms. Cari Rohe - Wilson Creek:
Wilson Creek wrapped up 2025 strong! The staff and students counted down the days to winter break with our 10 Days of Winter Cheer spirit days! Students enjoyed dressing for the various themes like Winter Pajamas Day, Winter Wonderland Day, Grinch Day, etc. Staff enjoyed the countdown as well while playing winter games and indulging in treats like a hot cocoa bar, gingerbread breakfast bars with gingerbread coffee, winter snacks, etc. A staff favorite is definitely the peppermint in the pocket game where 5 staff start the day with a small plastic peppermint in their possession and throughout the day other staff try to acquire it!
Our teachers incorporated the holiday season into their instruction throughout the month of December! Some first grade classes made Diwali Diyas and Las Posadas piñatas! Kindergarten rotated through other Kindergarten classrooms to hear various versions of the Gingerbread Man story and first grade went all out with Grinch Day!
PFA and EC hosted their Winter Parent Involvement Day! The students sang some of their favorite winter songs and then enjoyed hands-on stem learning activities in the classroom with their guests!
Kindergarten also welcomed the Will County Forest Preserve into their classrooms for an in- school field trip where they learned more about hibernation! We are extremely grateful for this partnership and can’t wait to have them return next year!
We held our December Pride Assembly where we celebrated our students of the month who exhibited the character trait Empathy and our family of the month, The Brannons! Principal Rohe even made Ms. Book’s “possible shot” at the assembly!
Excitement filled The Creek as winter break neared and the students ended 2025 with a PTO class party where they had fun playing games with their volunteers!
In January the focus continues to be on our new math curriculum as well as intervention as our next round of Data Days will take place at the end of the month.
Mrs. Elise Kirk - Anna McDonald:
PE Club and Craft Club- Two more clubs have joined our before and after school club line up! Thank you to Mr. Erickson and Mrs. Rea for leading these clubs.
Dodgeball Tournament- This year, Anna Mac continued the long history of a winter
dodgeball tournament. Mrs. Shefcik’s class took home the trophy, including a victory over 3rd grade. They had a blast playing the staff in the final game. Thank you to Mr. Erickson for organizing this fun day!
LWSR PE takeover- Thank you to our community outreach committee for organizing a PE takeover later this month. The Lincoln Way Special Rec will be joining all of our PE classes. The program is designed to help children build a better understanding and acceptance of those with physical or developmental disabilities.
Data Days- Winter Benchmark testing has begun at Anna McDonald. Students will be
assessed using STAR reading, STAR math, AIMSweb, and DESSA. These data will be used during our data day meetings to make instructional decisions about student support. Thank you to our intervention team, teachers, and Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Newman for making winter benchmarking run smoothly!
Specials Superstar: Each month our Art, Music, PE and STEM teachers nominate two
students that demonstrate outstanding character. Their picture is displayed on our Specials Superstar wall and they receive a certificate and trophy.
Mr. Ryan McWilliams - Manhattan Intermediate, Director of Buildings and Grounds:
Manhattan Intermediate School
Welcome back. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season & winter
break! It's good to be back.
Buildings and Grounds
Over winter break the display cases in the commons at Wilson Creek had 3M film applied bringing them up to safety glass code. The sprinkler systems at Wilson Creek, MIS, & MJHS were inspected. Thank you to the B&G crew for getting all the internal filters swapped out across all 4 schools.
Mr. Vince Perillo - Manhattan Junior High:
Winter Benchmark STAR Testing / DESSA Screener: In January, all students will take
their Winter STAR Benchmark Tests in ELA and in math. Staff members will then look at the data in the following weeks to have conversations and make decisions on how to best serve all of our students, especially leading into preparation for the IAR Test, which will be taken this year in March. Thanks to Mrs. Cheryl Donovan, Mrs. Meghan Petschinsky, Mrs. Amy Goberville, and Mrs. Joyce Watson for all their efforts in planning for STAR Testing as well as working with staff members on analyzing the data.
During January, staff members will also complete the DESSA-Mini Screeners on students as well. The DESSA forms help staff members identify students who need extra support from a social-emotional standpoint. Thanks to Mrs. Hantson, Mrs. Klaric, and Mrs. Worth for their support with the DESSA screeners.
Thanks to Mrs. Leppin, Mr. Glunz, and Mrs. Hallihan for all of the time they spend on the technology side of things getting all tests set up for the students and staff.
8th-Grade Graduation: We are excited to be hosting our 8th-Grade Graduation again this year at MJHS! The tentative time and date for the graduation ceremony is Tuesday, June 2nd, starting at 5:30 outside at our track and field field. More information will be shared as we get closer to the Spring.
Rooms 500, 502, 503, and 505 News: Rooms 500, 502, and 503, under the instruction of Ms. Tooley, Mrs. Pierce, and Mrs. Dunlap performed their annual Christmas play this year right before Break. To prepare, the students and staff went to The Cottages Assisted Living in New Lenox to perform for the residents. The production continues to be hilarious and a staff favorite. The students did an absolutely AMAZING job. At the conclusion, the class had their annual “Snowball Fight” (softer snowballs this year) against staff and spectators - especially administrators!
Word Masters Challenge Update: As a part of the advanced ELA curriculum, 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Advanced ELA classes participated in their first Word Masters Challenge of the school year. This is an analogy-based vocabulary program where students have to know definitions, word forms, parts of speech, and logical relationships. Each grade level is competing in three meets against schools from across the nation. In the difficult Blue division, the 6th-grade team is currently in 9th place out of 64 teams, and the 7th-grade team is challenging itself and bumped up to the very difficult Gold division this year. The 8th-grade team is also competing in the Gold division and is currently in a three-way tie for 10th place out of 50 teams. Congratulations to all students who participated and contributed to their overall team points. We look forward to seeing the next set of results after Meet #2 in February!
Scholastic Bowl: We are happy to start up our Scholastic Bowl team again for the 2026
season, coming off a second place in State performance last year. The MJHS team has 20 students in grades 6-8. The Scholastic bowl team is scheduled for competitive matches with our conference schools beginning in February. The season runs through May. Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Hallihan appreciate your support for the program!
Athletics:
Good work to our Boys; Basketball teams as they continue on through their seasons. The 6th Grade Conference Tournament begins on the 15th and 7th Grade Regionals begin the week after, with 8th Grade Regionals beginning the last week of January.
Our Girls Volleyball teams' competitive seasons began on Tuesday, January 6th away against Minooka. Good luck to our Lady Demons!
Out of 29 teams at the Homer Invitational at Lockport HS, our varsity wrestlers went head-to-head with elite competition and powered their way to a 2nd place finish. They had two second place individual finishes, one third place, two fourth place, three fifth, and one sixth. The team also took first place in the Bloomington Tyler Johnson Memorial Wrestling Invitation over winter break!
More information will be coming on our Bowling team soon. Students should check their emails for more information soon from coaches, Mrs. Lamont and Mr. Glunz.