Dear West Carroll Families,
Welcome to the 2025–2026 school year! We are so excited to welcome our Thunder students back into the buildings and begin another year of learning, growth, and community. The first days of school are always full of energy, and we are eager to partner with you in making this year a positive and successful one for every child.
As a reminder, the first day of school in West Carroll CUSD is August 26 (Tuesday). Tuesday (Aug 26) and Wednesday (Aug 27) have a 1:50 early dismissal.
This summer has been filled with many projects & updates to our buildings. We are looking forward to welcoming our students and sharing the great improvements that have been made. That said, we ask for your patience and grace as we all settle into our new surroundings and establish new routines.
As we prepare for the year ahead, we want to share some important reminders regarding drop-off and pick-up procedures at West Carroll Elementary/Middle School.
Drop-Off Procedures (Morning)
Please follow the maps and directions provided (below) for morning drop-off
Students should be dropped off in the designated drop-off lane only.
Parents should remain in their vehicles. Please do not park and walk your student into the school building. Staff will be available to greet and assist students as they enter
Pick-Up Procedures (Afternoon)
At the end of the school day, families will also need to follow the provided pick-up map (below) and instructions.
There will not be parking spaces available for families to park and walk to get their child.
Please remain in your vehicle and follow the designated pick-up line. Students will be brought to you safely and efficiently.
These changes are designed to ensure the safety of our students and staff, as well as to keep traffic flowing smoothly during these busy times. We appreciate your patience, understanding, and cooperation as we all adjust to this updated system.
Cell phones
As a reminder, if students in grades K-8 choose to bring a cell phone to school, it must be kept in their locker during the school day. In grades 9-12, cell phones may not be out or used in the classroom or restrooms. Students will not be allowed to leave the classroom and take their phones with them. For more information regarding the cell phone policy and consequences, please see the Student/Parent Handbook https://4.files.edl.io/447c/07/08/25/124129-4d08f323-fe67-4743-8560-a02876d5aece.pdf
Communication
We recognize that clear and consistent communication is very important. For this reason, we are working to streamline communication that is coming from our school district. As you may have seen, we are implementing the use of one mass messaging system, ParentSquare. ParentSquare is an app you can download to your phone to get notifications of all the groups you belong to. This platform will be used by teams/coaches, clubs/advisors, schools, teachers and the district. We will also be streamlining our Facebook pages to one main district Facebook page (West Carroll CUSD 314). The individual schools will be able to post to the district page. We will not be using the individual school pages. We will also begin sending out a weekly update from the district. This update will highlight things that have occurred throughout the week and highlight the week ahead. We will send this out through ParentSquare, email and post it to the district website. We will also be working to clean up, update and beautify the district website. We want to ensure that families have all of the pertinent information available in the easiest & quickest way possible.
Phone number
Beginning the first day of school, we will move to one phone number for the entire district. This number is (815)244-2005. From this number, you can select the appropriate building and then extension of whom you are trying to contact. We made this change to streamline the experience families have when contacting the schools.
Please call the buildings, email building principals or myself (
[email protected]) with any questions or concerns you may have.
We look forward to seeing everyone on the first day and working together to make this a wonderful school year. Thank you for your continued support and for helping us keep West Carroll a safe and welcoming place for our Thunder students.
With gratitude,
Dr. Heidi Deininger
Superintendent
West Carroll CUSD 314
West Carroll Elementary/Middle School Drop-off/pick-up map attached.
