How lucky are we to have Mr. Hanke as a D96 educator? This summer, he will travel to Washington D.C. to work alongside other STEAM teachers and mentors to develop lessons and activities that he will then bring back to his Hauser students. As one of only 30 teachers across the country selected for the Teacher Innovator Institute at the Smithsonian, we are so proud of him for applying to this incredible opportunity.
Read more here: https://www.rblandmark.com/2025/04/29/hauser-steam-teacher-heading-to-smithsonian/
Happy Administrative Professionals’ Day! We are celebrating the people who keep our schools and district running smoothly. Thank you to our school secretaries, district secretaries, and administrative assistants. Your work is truly appreciated.
D96 students have a HALF DAY on Friday, April 25. Hauser students will be dismissed at 11:20am and elementary students will be dismissed at 11:25am.
Staff will attend a professional development session in the afternoon.
The last of our schools is ready for its playground refresh! It’s been our goal to improve school playgrounds and, most importantly, to separate play from parking to provide the safest areas for our students. We are eager to work with the Village of Riverside and Blythe families & neighbors to envision a new playground. More details will be coming this spring or fall as we begin this process.
Have you registered your student(s) for the 2025-26 school year yet? Traci, our district registrar, can answer any questions about registering a kindergarten, new, or returning student. Registration can be done online at district96.org or in-person at the District Office, 3340 S. Harlem Ave. Traci can also be reached at 708.447.7089.
Please register by May 31 so we can best plan for the upcoming year. School assignments for new students will be sent by June 30. Students with older siblings already in attendance will be assigned to the same school.
All schools and the district office will be closed on Friday, April 18.
We know a D96 education is priceless, but you can also buy it for $200 when you’re playing Riverside-opoly! The 2025 edition of this Riverside Library-produced game celebrates the Village’s 150th anniversary and the Library’s 95th anniversary. Congratulations to our community partners on these milestone achievements!
Congratulations to all of our Young Authors! Students who participated in this program will have their work on display at the Riverside Public Library this month:
Ames: April 4-10*
Central: April 11-17
Blythe & Hollywood: April 18-24
*Ames' books will also be on display at the North Riverside Library April 12-17.
Tuesday, April 1 is the Cook County Consolidated Election. Due to Hauser Junior High being used as a polling place, Hauser students will have an eLearning day. All D96 elementary schools will have a regular, in-person attendance day on April 1. Hauser is the only D96 school that will be eLearning this day.
All four elementary schools have wrapped up their 2025 One Book, One School activities! Each school chooses a book to provide every family along with a shared reading schedule. Students later celebrated with school spirit days and special events.
This is a beloved tradition and we hope everyone enjoyed reading “together.” This year’s titles were:
Ames — The Chocolate Touch
Blythe — A Boy Called Bat
Central — Crenshaw
Hollywood — Stuart Little
We wish all of our D96 families a safe and relaxing spring break! The district office will be open during the week. School resumes on Monday, March 31.
Hauser families, please note, due to Hauser being used as an Election Day polling place, Hauser students will have an eLearning Day on Tuesday, April 1. All D96 elementary schools will have a regular, in-person attendance day on April 1.
Meet The Green People! A group of students from Hauser’s Evergreen Club are working with WasteNot Compost to bring compost buckets to the Hauser Cafeteria during sixth grade lunch.
The group received a special grant through the Illinois Green Schools Project with help from Hauser’s teacher-led Green Team to make this happen. The Green People will be educating students and staff on proper composting and monitor the bins in the lunchroom starting this week!
This group of Hauser students took the plunge last Saturday to support Special Olympics! Even the chilly temps couldn’t stop them from getting dunked all to raise money for the Hauser Special Olympics team. Thank you to everyone who supported this cause.
Thank you to everyone who attended our Family Literacy Night! We hope you played games, explored the Little Free Library, chatted with our local libraries, and learned more about the district's English Language Arts curriculum alongside your child.
Special thanks to Sara Hickey for planning the event, all of the teachers who helped lead activities, and our Hauser student volunteers!
Dear District 96 Families,
School is open tomorrow, Feb. 12, 2025. I am sending this message due to the current weather forecast and the fact that a number of school districts are opting for an E Learning day tomorrow. We are not. We will be open for school as usual. Our after school clubs and activities are canceled. According to recent weather forecasts, snow may increase over the course of the day. We understand that the conditions will support safe travel to and from school tomorrow. Please know that the safety and well being of our students, our families and our staff members are always our top priority. While weather conditions can be unpredictable we believe that our work with the local villages, department of public works and up to date weather forecasting allow for a meaningful day of student learning tomorrow. Dress warmly, travel safely and we look forward to seeing you in school.
Sincerely Yours,
Martha Ryan-Toye
Superintendent
Thursday, January 23 is the last chance to join one of the District's virtual focus groups to discuss the Advanced Learning Program and provide feedback on how we can best support all of our students. Join one of the Zoom meetings below.
For families with students who participate in an Advanced Learning Class:
Thursday, January 23 at 10:00am
https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/95586768997
For families with students who do NOT participate in an Advanced Learning Class:
Thursday, January 23 at 1:30pm
https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/92028169136
Since we are coming back from a (chilly) long weekend, we wanted to share an early update that school IS OPEN on Tuesday, January 21.
Students should return to school with their iPads fully charged.
There is no school on Monday, January 20. Enjoy your long weekend!
Board President Wesley Muirheid, Superintendent Martha Ryan-Toye, and Board Member David Barsotti were in attendance at Riverside's Sesquicentennial Opening Ceremony. (Yes, it was as cold as it looked! )
The student-decorated luminaria bags were the perfect backdrop for the tower lighting. Many students were in the crowd to find their design — all 150 were a masterpiece!
Congratulations to the Village of Riverside on this milestone anniversary! We are proud to be a part of this wonderful community.
District 96 art students were invited to decorate 150 luminaria bags to celebrate Riverside's 150th anniversary! All five schools were given 30 bags.
These will be on display at the Opening Ceremony & Tower Lighting on Wednesday, January 15, 4:45pm-5:30pm, at the Riverside Water Tower.
The student-decorated lanterns represent Riverside’s 150 years and the positive spirit of this landmark community looking forward to the future. Don’t miss seeing the paper lanterns illuminated at the opening ceremony. Festivities also include remarks from Village President Doug Pollock, free hot chocolate from Dulce Mami Cafe, and live music by RB’s jazz band.
Riverside School District 96 Board Members and Superintendent Martha Ryan-Toye will be there to help kick off the village’s anniversary year. We hope to see you too!
Pictured: Decorated bags from Mrs. Duve's and Miss Zabilka’s fourth graders at Ames and Mrs. Valaisa’s fourth and fifth graders from Blythe.
Mrs. Gorman had two awesome assistants this week! Our Principals for the Day led morning announcements and our All School Meeting, supervised the lunchroom, observed classroom instruction, and performed a few clerical tasks. They did a wonderful job and are sure to be exceptional future leaders!
