GSL Schools toward start of the new year

To the Editor:
It’s hard to believe that we are in the middle of July and school will be starting up next month. With that said, we still have lots of the summer left and many days before we get back into the routine of school.
As a reminder, our first day of school is Aug. 29. Our annual open house in all of our schools will be Aug. 24 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Presently, we are working hard on preparing for the next school year and getting things ready for our first day. It will be an exciting year with all of the changes that are taking place. One area that is expanding for this upcoming year is our emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Starting this fall, Glencoe-Silver Lake (GSL) will be a fully accredited PLTW (Project Lead the Way) K-12 school. This program will give students more STEM learning opportunities and it also integrates nicely into our other subject areas. Research shows that these skills are needed for our students’ futures and the GSL Schools will be a leader in this field. For more information on PLTW go to PLTW.org.
Things are also changing in the physical appearance of the school. Things are moving along with the building project and you should start to see the building come into shape a little bit next month. The ground work continues, along with all of the plans and coordination that occur behind the scenes. It’s amazing how much work goes into the project before you actually get to see the work happening. Our widow project for Lakeside and the High School will be starting soon and will be finished before the start of school.
I want to thank all of our stakeholders once again for your support of these projects and also thank you for your patience. We have had some inconveniences so far — most notably to our field house — and expect that there will be more as we go through the school year. With a building project of this magnitude, it’s hard to not have some. We will continue to work hard to make these inconveniences as limited as possible.
I also want to continue to remind people to use caution when around the school. We still have lots of trucks going in and out on a daily basis. This not only increases traffic around school, but also around town as the trucks are coming and going. As always, safety first and taking extra time is advised.
Once again, thank you for your patience and support. Continue to enjoy your summer and we will continue to work hard in preparing for another great school year at GSL. Take care.
Christopher D. Sonju
Superintendent
of GSL Schools