PTO Info

October 8th begins the PTO fundraiser. This year we are using Great American Opportunities, which is a different company than last year. We feel the students will enjoy selling these items in order to help fund various programs at CMS. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the PTO officers: LuAnn Gvozdjak - President, Jill McGuire - Vice President, Tracy Gamm - Treasurer, Melissa Hartzell - Secretary.

Teen Reach

The Teen Reach after school program is back! Funding by the Illinois Department of Human Services approved the CMS grant. CMS will partner with the Sterling/Rock Falls YMCA, Woodlawn Arts Academy, and Sterling Park District to provide positive after school activities that focus on Responsibility, Education, Achievement, Caring, Hope. There is no cost for the program, but the students must register as participants. If you have any questions, please contact the CMS office at 626-3300.

Morning Drop-off Information

The administration at CMS, in concert with the Sterling Police Department School Resource Officer, would like to alert our families to a dangerous situation regarding student drop-off at Challand Middle School. Some families continue to drop off students in the middle of 6th Avenue where traffic is moving in BOTH directions. This presents a significant safety hazard for students and stops the traffic flow.

Please pull into the "C" drive where students can safely be dropped off. We appreciate your cooperation with this safety procedure.

The Sterling Police Department will be issuing traffic tickets to those in violation of this safety procedure after spring break when school resumes on April 14th.

As always, the safety of our students is a primary concern for Sterling Schools and the Sterling Police Department.

Phone Numbers and Resources

AIDS Hotline 1.800.243.2437
Health Questions Hotline (Nurse-CGH) 1.800.626.8773
Illinois DCFS (Child Abuse) 1.800.252.2873
Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
(Substance Abuse/Crisis) 		1.815.626.7333
National Runaway Switchboard 1.800.RUNAWAY
National Teen Suicide Hotline
(Family Crisis/Eating Disorders) 		1.800.784.2433
RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network) 1.800.656.4673
Sinnissippi Centers (Alcohol, Drugs, Mental Health) 1.800.242.7642
Whiteside County Health Department 1.866.230.2230
YWCA of the Sauk Valley
(Sexual Abuse/Domestic Violence) 		1.815.626.7277

For more resources and contact information, please visit:
www.svcc.edu/services-directory

Reminder - Sick Student?

When students are not feeling well at school, they need to report to the nurse's office and our nurse will determine if the student is ill enough to go home and will call the parents to have the child picked up. The students are not to call home or text parents before seeing the nurse.

6th Grade Dental Exams

A reminder that all 6th grade students need to have a current dental exam on file in our nurse's office. According to the Illinois School Code, we need a record of an exam between the dates of November 15, 2007 - May 15, 2009. If your student has not had a dental exam, please do so as soon as possible and bring the dental report to the CMS nurse's office. If you have any questions, please contact the CMS nurse, Marsha Ashlock (815)626-3300.

Text Alerts

Sauk Valley Newspapers is offering a free text messaging service called txtAlert that the District will be using to send out text messages on school closing, late start and early out due to severe weather. This service is in addition to the Alert-now telephone broadcast that the District will use for those occasions. This service is free. If a parent or student would like to receive these messages, they must go to the Sauk Valley newspaper web site and click on the txtAlert link at the top right hand corner of the homepage to sign up for this. Sterling Schools is in no way promoting the use or purchase of Sauk Valley newspapers, but is only informing you of a text messaging service that the District will be using for severe weather situations.

Promotion Criteria

In order to be promoted to the next grade, all Challand students must:

  • Earn a minimum of 13 credits (no more than 6 failing quarter grades per year)
  • Fail no more than 3 quarters in any one subject

Each class at Challand is worth .5 credit per quarter. With 8 classes per quarter, students are able to earn 16 credits for the school year by passing all classes.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a change from past years. Students who do not meet the promotion criteria risk retention or mandatory summer school.

Attendance

Our attendance goal this year is 97%. Attendance is directly linked to achievement. In order to do well in school, students need to be in attendance every day. If your child is sick or otherwise unable to attend school for excusable reasons, please call the CMS office by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of the absence.