Ridgeview CUSD #19

Although there are no students in the building today, our teachers are hard at work! Our staff, along with a few outside resources are presenting PD session for our teachers to continue to learn how to best serve students. A big thanks to the following staff members for presenting to their colleagues. Lauren Reckard Carrie Green Stacie Kennedy Carley Zimmerman Ashley Benton Mary Perfect #WeareRidgeview

Reminder the student parking lot will be closed starting tomorrow Aug 28th thru Friday Aug 30th. Students please park in the gravel lot behind the north bus barn or at the baseball field. Thank you for your cooperation and sorry about the inconvenience of the lot being closed. If you have any questions please contact Jake Kennedy at the school.

08/27/24 - 4:40 pm Good Afternoon, At approximately 9:00am today a message was shared regarding ongoing police activity occurring near the school. At this time, the Colfax Police Department has given the all clear and our activities can return to normal. Thank you to the Colfax Police Department for their ongoing support throughout the day. As a result, we experienced very little disruption to our day. At no time today were any students or staff in danger. The safety of our students and staff remains a top priority and your ongoing support is crucial to the continued success of students and staff at Ridgeview! Sincerely, Erik Young Superintendent Ridgeview CUSD #19

08/27/24 - 8:50am In keeping with our firm commitment to effective communication with our school community, I am writing to advise you of a currently ongoing situation. On the advice and request of the Colfax Police Department, we are keeping all students and staff inside the building, until further notice. This is in response to ongoing police activity occurring near our school. There is no immediate threat or danger to our students, staff, or building. We are only doing this out of an abundance of caution. Our School Resource Officer is onsite, and classes are proceeding as normal throughout the building. Once more details become available, I will share those with you. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the Ridgeview District Office. Thank you for your support of Ridgeview Schools! Erik Young Superintendent Ridgeview CUSD #19

Starting tomorrow, Aug. 21st, the high school track repair work will begin. This project is expected to be completed by Sept. 6th, depending any delays. We ask that all staff and community members stay off the track until the project is complete. If you have any questions please contact Jacob Kennedy at the school. Thank you in advance for your cooperation during this project.

Mr. Colton Mitchell joins us from his hometown of Rochester, IL. He is joining our 5th-grade team and is excited to be a part of this small community. He wants to be a good role model for his students and give them a reason to want to come to school each day. He spent some time playing on an ISU club volleyball team during his college years and also knows how to play guitar. We are excited to have Mr. Mitchell teaching 5th grade this year!

Jori Vandenberg, Ms. V, is joining our Junior High staff this school year as a special education teacher. She is originally from the suburbs of Chicago. You may ask how she ended up at Ridgeview. She did her student teaching here and said she knew Ridgeview was the school she wanted to be a part of. Welcome Ms. V!

Welcome Ms. V Jori Vandenberg, Ms. V, is joining our Junior High staff this school year as a special education teacher. She is originally from the suburbs of Chicago. You may ask how she ended up at Ridgeview. She did her student teaching here and said she knew Ridgeview was the school she wanted to be a part of.

Senior Nathan Horchem, umpired his 1,000th baseball/softball game today at Ridgeview. Congratulations Nathan! Thank you for all the work you do as an umpire/official and here's to 1,000 more!!

Ridgeview Alumni & New Teacher We are so excited to have Ms. Carley Zimmerman back as our new High School Agriculture Teacher & FFA Advisory. She has a golden retriever named Rylee and loves to camp in her spare time. Carley says, "I am excited to be coming back home to be a Mustang. This is my dream job and I can't wait to give back to the school and community that helped me to thrive and reach the goals I have accomplished already." Welcome Back Carley- we are so glad to have you 'home.'

Ridgeview teachers returned for the first two institute days and are working hard to prepare for students! That doesn't mean we can't have a little fun!

Our Pre-K students will be seeing a new face this year. Mrs. Angela Testory brings years of experience to Ridgeview and says she can't wait to, "share my love of teaching our youngest students!" When she's not at school she enjoys spending time with family reading, and scrapbooking. Welcome Mrs. Testory!

We are excited to introduce our new Elementary Special Education Teacher, Emily Manley. Emily is originally from Lexington, but she's heard great things about Ridgeview and she's excited to become a Mustang!

Welcome, Ms. Jurik! Her hometown is Heyworth, IL, but she recently moved to Colfax and is excited to be a part of the Mustang family. She recently got engaged to a Ridgeview alum. Carly will coach 7th Grade and JV Volleyball this year so we know you'll see her often in and around school. We are thrilled to have you Ms. Jurik!

Welcome, Ms. Kaitlin Culp, who will teach 2nd grade this year. She is from Normal, IL and says she's, "excited to be at Ridgeview because I feel a positive atmosphere and the love everyone has for each other. She got into running at the beginning of 2023 and I am debating running her first marathon in April. She also knows a little bit of Korean! We are excited to have you Ms. Culp!

A huge shoutout to all the great people who helped host the Colfax Good Ole Days this past weekend. It was a great event enjoyed by many locals. Our own Mr. Kennedy is pictured here playing in the wiffleball tournament, if a sport is near, he is never far away! Mr. Young spent time in the dunk tank and is pictured here being "dunked" for the cause. Thanks to these two for supporting not only our school district and students but our community at large!

As we approach the start of the 24-25 school year we want to welcome our new staff to the district. Our first staff member is Ms. Meza who joins us from Fox Lake, IL. She will be teaching Junior High ELA and is excited to be here at Ridgeview to learn and grow alongside students! She says, "Ridgeview is such a welcoming community and the school is fantastic. I am so excited to dive into reading and writing with students." Ms. Meza has a cat at home named Pancake and she can't wait to meet all the Junior High students. Welcome, Ms. Meza! We are so glad to welcome you to our Ridgeview Staff.

In-person registration and school supply pick-up will be held on August 6th, 2024 from 12-4 pm in the APR. Stop in if you have registration questions or need help registering your students.

Day 8 was at the southern tip of Spain, but was actually in England at Gibraltar. We got to see Morocco Africa, the "Rock" of Gibraltar, explored two caves in the rock and enjoyed some beach time.

Day 3 comes to an end. Visited the medieval city of Toledo, Spain today. Kids saw one of the largest cathedrals in the world, a synagogue that was turned into a catholic Cathedral, which also had Arabic architecture, and zipped lined across the Tagus River! Off to Granada tomorrow to visit the windmills of Don Quixote.