Issue #1 - June 2008

    The 2008 West Aurora High School graduating class of approximately 600 students is considerably larger than the inaugural 1870 class, which consisted of just four girls and one boy. For the second year, many families and friends were able to enjoy graduation at the NIU convocation center.                

On July 1 the district will mail student registration packets to high school parents. These packets are due back to the high school by July 15.  Students and their parents who register by July 15 should experience shorter lines at the high school in August. School District 129 has already completed fall  registration  for elementary and middle school students.  Parents of elementary students who have already registered will not have to return to school in early August.  Parents of middle school students will have the option of not returning.  For more information about the upcoming registration, please visit www.sd129.org/registration .  

Join West Aurora District 129 and Heartland Blood Centers on July 12 and help us with our critical mission to increase the summer blood supply for our community. Thirty-five local hospitals, including Aurora’s Rush-Copley Medical Center and Provena Mercy rely solely on Heartland Blood Centers for all of their blood product needs.   For additional information or to schedule your donation time, please contact Becky Jo Tabone at 630-301-5028 or by e-mail at bjtabone@sd129.org .

The school district is implementing several steps to improve student learning this fall.   The following are a few of the recent upgrades:   In the elementary schools, gifted English classes for fourth- and fifth- grades are being added. The textbooks for these classes are: "Caesar's English One," "Caesar's English Two", "Junior Great Books Series Four" and "Junior Great Books Series Five."  The four district middle schools are adopting higher promotion standards and developing an after-school/summer credit-recovery process for students who fail classes.    In addition, seventh-graders will learn from an up-to-date Social Studies textbook, Holt’s “World Geography 2009."  A new sophomore English Text, "Archetypes in Literature," will be used in the high school.  

The newest member of the District 129 School Board is student representative Jessica Hamilton (holding flowers), a West Aurora High School senior this fall. Welcoming Jessica on June 2 are board members Jonathan Wood, Jim Toynton, Angie Smith, Allan Rhea, outgoing student representative Daniel Flaherty, Sonni Herget, Laurie Hoffman and Neal Ormond.  

The school board has appointed Nicholas Baughman to the position of Fearn Elementary School Assistant Principal. Baughman has been an elementary teacher in the Oswego school district and recently was an administrational intern at District 129's Nicholson Elementary School. He recently received a Master's Degree in School Leadership from Concordia University. Baughman also is a magna cum laude graduate of Southern Illinois University where he received his Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education in 2004.    

On June 2, West Aurora School Board of Education approved the appointments of Christi Tyler as Director of Finance and Stacy Behmer as Director of Technology Christi Tyler ’s areas of responsibility in finance will include the levy, budget, banking and payroll. She has been the Math Department Chair at Jewel Middle School, where she has taught for the past four years.    Tyler has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from St. Xavier University. She is enrolled at Northern Illinois University and is completing a Master’s degree in School Business Management. Stacy Behmer will head the development and implementation of technology programs, with special emphasis in instructional technology. For the past year, she has been a fourth-grade teacher at Hill Elementary School, where she provided technology support as well as served on the district technology committee. Prior to that, Behmer was a technology teacher at Jefferson Middle School, a university Instructional Technology teaching assistant and a fourth-grade teacher in Iowa. Behmer has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a Master’s of Education in Curriculum and Instructional Technology from Iowa State University. She is enrolled at Aurora University and is working towards a Master’s of Education in Educational Leadership.      

The School Board, on June 16, took time to recognize a local photographer whose excellent image helped West High garner national publicity for its performing arts program. Not only did TIME Magazine recently feature West Aurora High School's "RENT" in a national feature about high school musicals, but it also published a photograph of cast members taken by West High graduate Lyle Rolfe.  In addition, TIME chose Rolfe's photograph to be the lead image on TIME's Web version of the article.  Rolfe, a freelance reporter and photographer, lives and works in Aurora. He is an officer in the West Aurora High School Alumni Association and is the former parent and current grandparent of District 129 students.

Aurora Rotary Club awarded two $500 scholarships recently to West High graduating seniors Janet Barrera and Kristen Downing. The two students had been recommended by teachers for their hard work and perseverance. At the presentation ceremony were DeLane Downing and daughter Kristen, teachers Dave Zine and Cathy VanHooser, Janet Barrera and teacher Tim Gallagher.

Jefferson Middle School PTA has received a participation award from the Illinois and National PTA organizations. One hundred percent of the faculty, staff and administration at Jefferson joined the PTA. Jason Hlavin, sixth-grade reading and social studies teacher, co-coordinated the staff membership drive with Brenda Sibon, membership chairperson.  

McCleery Elementary School Drama Club students entertained parents at the end of the school year with their performances in “Beauty is a Beast .”  Teachers Mariana Cadar and Edwin Maisonet directed the this year's production.            

To relieve overcrowding at Jefferson Middle School , the school district has placed six temporary classrooms on the lawn in front of the school. The three double-classroom trailers were reconfigured into one building to reduce costs and the impact on the site. The school district also has portable classroom trailers at four overcrowded elementary schools -- Fearn, Hill, McCleery and Nicholson.    

Buzz129 news  -  a celebration of student and staff accomplishments -  is now published twice monthly during the school year and is a sampling of activities and programs across the district. Are there stories you would like to see appear in Buzz129? Submit your welcome suggestions online at http://www.sd129.org/buzz129/article_sub.asp or email to Buzz129@sd129.org .  The right navigation of this website ► has the link to submit articles, too.     Previous Buzz 129 issues are now posted on the District website.