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NID SCHOOL
NEWS NETWORK PENTECOST: “They saw what seemed to be to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2: 3, 4. Pentecost, the fiftieth day, is one of the prominent feasts in the Christian liturgical year, celebrated the 49th day (7 weeks) after Easter Sunday and the tenth day after Ascension Thursday. Historically and symbolically related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2. Pentecost is also called Whitsun, Whitsunday, or Whit Sunday. May the Holy Spirit enrich your worship on this special Pentecost Sunday. Be ABLAZE!
MOTHERS DAY:
See
Julia
Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation of 1870
under Customs and History of Mother’s Day below.
What a rebel.
SCHOOL SAFETY BLOCK GRANT: Last week I sent you information about your allocated funds for this year. This week I will remind you that the attendance data for this school year will have to be submitted after this year’s completion but before July 1, 2008. Hopefully, all our schools have adjusted to keep attendance data in the correct format, so that data can be submitted in a timely fashion. There is good money at stake so let’s stay on top of this. Next year you will receive your allotments in two payments, one in October and the second in April.
ALL ILLINOIS ADMINISTRATOR CONFERENCE: The Southern Illinois District is planning and hosting this year’s All Illinois Administrator Conference. The date is June 16 through 18 at the Chateau Hotel and Conference Center in Bloomington, Illinois. Click HERE for conference details and registration information.
NID FUNDING ACADEMY: The National Lutheran School Funding Academy is coming to the Northern Illinois District on October 22, 23 and 24, 2008. Some of the best financial minds in the LCMS will be leading this academy. All of the Funding Academy expenses will be paid through designated district funds. Participants will be asked to pay only their own travel, lodging and meal expenses. This is an intense training experience so we recommend attendance by the school administrator, the pastor and a lay financial leader or the congregation Business Manager. Topics for the academy include: The Fiscal Leader, Fiscal Assessment, Gift Development, Strategic Planning and Seats and Students. Save the dates and begin to recruit your team. Academy location is in the planning.
LEA ECEnet LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: Here you will find registration information for the upcoming LEA ECEnet Leadership Institute. The third module of this event will take place on June 18-19, 2008, at St. John Lutheran Church in Seward, Nebraska. This will follow the ECE Workshop sponsored by Concordia, Seward, on June 18. This event was held in Nebraska the last two years as well, with participation from several districts. Early childhood directors/teachers are invited to attend. Registrations are due June 1 to the Nebraska District - LCMS. Please note that there are two sides to the registration form. GOT PLANS FOR THE SUMMER? Summer vacation provides an excellent opportunity for full-time teachers to rest and recover, but also to grow. Many take classes or seek to grow through new and exciting experiences. This summer, you have an opportunity to combine learning, adventure, growth…and your faith. The Apple of His Eye mission society is holding a week-long outreach event from June 19th through July 6th in the Chicagoland area, and you are invited to join us. Together we will conduct outreach at the Taste of Chicago and other city locations, we will put on a concert by a world-renown concert pianist (who is also a Jewish convert to Christianity and will share his faith), and we will even march in a Fourth of July parade. All the while, we will grow in our faith, in our ability to witness, and walk away with witnessing stories we can share in our classrooms. Not that adventurous? You could serve as a ‘behind the scenes’ worker cooking the missionaries’ meals, doing laundry, assembling first-aide kits, or organizing paperwork. It is certainly an exciting opportunity you won’t want to miss. Questions? Call Pastor Matt Gunia of Trinity, Burr Ridge at 708.839.1200 (ext. 4) and he will be happy to talk with you. NORTHERN ILLINOIS DISTRICT PROJECT PROPOSAL: Bob Rogalski, President of Lutheran Schools Development Center, has a great offer for NID schools. The proposal is for Annual Fund Training or Marketing Training. I cannot over emphasize the need for Lutheran school funding and marketing. Please consider his proposal. When you have five area schools interested contact the NID Education office to talk assistance in funding. Click HERE for proposal details. 2008 DISTRICT WIDE ABLAZE RALLY:
Sunday, September 28, 2008 This will be a day for Northern Illinois Lutherans to come together to celebrate their shared ministry - Ablaze! in Northern Illinois. This special day at the Northern Illinois University Convocation Center in DeKalb begins with tailgate parties and a huge mission fair highlighting mission outposts across 24 counties in Northern Illinois. It culminates at an exciting rally with special guests including Lutheran Church Missouri Synod President Dr. Gerald Kieschnick and the "Jesus Painter." A similar Ablaze! Launch Rally in 2006 welcomed almost 3,500 visitors. Plan to be among those who make the September 28, 2008 rally a thrilling experience and another great success. As in 2006, there will be a mass choir. This year the mass choir will be under the direction of Mel Block, member at St. John, Forest Park and retired teacher from Walther Lutheran High School, Melrose Park. For More Rally Information: A SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING: Zion Lutheran School in Hinsdale, grades 1-8, will close at the end of the school year. On Sunday morning, June 1st at 10:00, there will be a special Service of Thanksgiving for the many blessings the Lord has granted through Zion's grade school. Zion Congregation cordially invites all alumni, past and present faculty, area churches and the community to join in worship and to give thanks to a gracious God for the school's many years of ministry. Fellowship and refreshments will follow the service. For additional information contact Zion's church office at 630-323-0384 or email at info@zionhinsdale.org. Zion is located at 204 South Grant Street, Hinsdale, Illinois 60521 BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT!
Reed Sander
NID SCHOOL
NEWS NETWORK ATTITUDE: “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple.” Psalm 27:4. There is a famous tale about the visitor who went to one of the great cathedrals while it was being built. Seeing some men cutting stone, he asked them, "What are you doing?" They replied, "Cutting stone. Can't you see?" Spotting others cutting stained glass, he asked, "What are you doing?" They replied, "Cutting glass of course." Then noticing an old woman sweeping up the rubble of broken glass and bits of stone, he asked her, "What are you doing?" She replied, "I'm building a cathedral to the glory of God." The cathedral we build will not be made of stone and glass, but of human minds and hearts for God’s Kingdom. Can you 'see' the larger working out of God's plan through the daily events in your life and in your school? It will give you a new perspective on life as you do. KEEP IN PRAYER: Eric Nash, a 16 year old student from Rockford Lutheran High School died suddenly last Thursday. A memorial service is planned for 4:00 today, Tuesday. Please keep Eric's family and the entire Rockford High School staff and student body in prayer. A WASHINGTON TRIP: The White House has confirmed my attendance at the upcoming White House Summit on Inner-City Children and Faith-Based Schools to be held in Washington, DC on April 24, 2008 with a reception preceding the Summit on April 23, 2008. I understand that President Bush will be speaking at the Summit which will be held at The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center rather than the White House. I will get to LEA by midmorning on Friday. I feel very honored to have been invited. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: Since we are talking Washington … The Office of Nonpublic Education is the liaison to the nonpublic school community for the U.S. Department of Education. Their mission is to foster maximum participation of nonpublic school students and teachers in federal education programs and initiatives. You may check out what they have to offer at the office’s website http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/nonpublic/index.html NEW CHILD MINISTRY MATERIAL: Research reveals that parents are the most important faith influence in kids' lives - by an overwhelming margin over anyone else. The Faith Legacy Series is a new ministry resource that has proven successful in helping families grow spiritually. It is a video-discussion life-span curriculum that encourages intentional faith talk and devotions at home. Every two years from birth through age 8, parents gather for three sessions to discuss ways they can intentionally share faith with their children. Starting at age 10, kids join with parents in an annual retreat or workshop to work through pre-teen issues from a faith perspective. A key component of the series: At each step, parents speak a blessing over their child while giving the child a blessing object that facilitates faith talk in the family. Another key: since it is a video-based delivery system, the entire series can be coordinated by volunteers with only a modest investment of time, energy, and resources -- yet the results can transform your church over time. The series was developed by Rev. Roger Theimer and Mike Heinz at King of Kings Lutheran Church, Omaha, Nebraska. For more information, contact Kids Kount Publishing: 888-549-8687.
NATIONAL LUTHERAN SCHOOL ACCREDITATION DOCUMENTS: (The following is provided by Terry Schmidt.) The NEW and IMPROVED NLSA documents are available and ready to be used. Four (4) self-study documents and the Administrator’s Manual are ready to be downloaded from the Lutheran School Portal. The self-study documents include:
The Ongoing Improvement Self-study Report Form for elementary schools The Ongoing Improvement Self-study Report Form for high schools The Standards Based Self-study Report Form for elementary schools The Standards Based Self-study Report Form for high schools.
These documents along with the Administrator’s Manual should provide candidate schools with the materials they need to conduct a successful self-study process.
Schools applying for accreditation or re-accreditation since January 1, 2008 need to conduct their self-study processes using the NEW and IMPROVED self-study documents. Even if they received a 2007 CD at the time of their application they need to use the new materials. Schools that applied before January 1, 2008 will continue to work with the materials on the CD they received at the time of their application.
To access the new NLSA materials on the Lutheran School Portal link through the National Page to the NLSA tab. The new documents can be found in the left column at the bottom of the page. It only takes a few minutes to download a manual or document.
For non-portal subscribers the new materials are also available on the LCMS website at http://www.lcmsorg/pages/internal.asp?NavID=1781.
This year the plan is to prepare a CD with all of the NLSA manuals and documents. These will be distributed by mail to every accredited school and those in an application process. The CD containing all of the documents and manuals should be ready for distribution in early May.
Edits and reformatting effects all documents related to high school and elementary school processes. These changes do not affect the early childhood documents. Major editorial and formatting work will be conducted with the early childhood materials next year.
These documents represent hundreds of hours of work by Karen Eggemeyer and Dave Sommermeyer. I thank them for their dedicated efforts with this project. I am also very grateful to Harold Rau, Perry Bresemann and Calie Vera for technical assistance involved with posting the documents and manuals electronically.
I pray that the new and improved documents will serve to assist schools in their pursuit of excellence so they may be granted additional opportunities to share Jesus with children and their families.
May God grant you all Resurrection Power as you serve Lutheran schools, students and their families! Terry Schmidt 2007 NAEP WRITING REPORT CARD: The National Center for Education Statistics released the 2007 NAEP Writing Report Card. The report includes private school results for grade 8 and Catholic school results for grades 8 and 12. (The overall private school response rate at grade 12 was not large enough to produce private school results. It should be noted, however, that in NAEP, private school results cover all private schools, including Catholic schools. The entire report is available as a PDF document at: http://nationsreportcard.gov/ . BIG SALE: NLSW Items-Pencils, Pencil Sharpeners, etc. ON SALE! Visit to order: http://www.lcms.org/ca/dcs/dcsstore/products.asp?cat=24 MAY DAY … LOOKING AHEAD: May 1st is Ascension Day, May Day, National Day of Prayer, School Principal’s Day, Stepmother’s Day, and Mother Goose Day. (Something COOL from LEA News) HAVE YOU SEEN THE NORTHERN LIGHT? We ask you to share this information with your members: Anyone who wishes to receive The Northern Light via mail should send or email their contact information to the Dianne Hoffmann at the district office - 2301 South Wolf Road, Hillside, IL 60162 or email - TNL@ni.lcms.org.ON TO LEA CONVOCATION! FIND AN ATTITUDE!
Reed Sander
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2301 South Wolf Road • Hillside, Illinois • 60162
• 708-449-3020
• Fax 708-449-3026 |
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