The Lake Bluff School District has launched its new District 65 Dashboard. The Dashboard contains a set of navigation “apps” that organize district information into a series of easy-to-read charts, tables, and graphs. Information is presented visually, and will be updated and added to on a regular basis. Visit the Dashboard by going to the District website or by using the direct link at www.lb65.org/dashboard. ****In observance of Martin Luther King Day, there are no classes Jan. 16. Classes will resume Jan. 17. ****Parents of Kindergarten through fourth graders are invited to a coffee and …

The Lake Bluff Elementary School Curriculum Night will take place at Sept. 15. Kindergarten Curriculum Night will take place from 6:30-7 p.m. followed by Curriculum Night for grades 1-5 from 7-8 p.m. **** Sept. 28 will be a half day due to a Staff Development Day in theafternoon. Elementary School classes will dismiss early at 11:05 a.m. and middle school at 11:30 a.m. **** The District 65 Board of Education will hold its Committee of the Whole meeting at 6:45 p.m. Sept. 13 at Lake Bluff Village Hall. The Board will hold their regular meeting at 6:45 p.m. Sept. 27 also at Village Hall. The …

At its Tuesday board meeting, Lake Bluff School District 65 voted to hire the firm, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates in Glenview to conduct its search for a new superintendent. The contract will cost $16,500. John Asplund resigned at the end of his second year with the district to become superintendent of Farmington Central District 265 in central Illinois. The district hired Ben Martindale as an interim superintendent for this school year. ••• The school board also approved the contract with School Leader Solutions, which allows Joanne Trahanas to head the district's curriculum and …

Beyond Tuesday night’s discussion on the chillers stationed behind Lake Bluff Middle School, the School District 65 Board also: Discussed classroom sizes at Lake Bluff Elementary School for the fall. The greatest focus came at the second grade level where prior to the hiring of a fifth teacher, the average classroom size was 23.5 students. With the hiring, the average has dropped to 19.3. The remaining grades also hover around the 20 student classroom average. Noted registration is down 120 students from a year ago. Last year, a significant number registered in the final week leading up to …

Beyond Tuesday night’s action to address the chillers stationed behind Lake Bluff Middle School, the School District 65 Board also: Will work on convening a special meeting in August to have two superintendent search firms makes presentations. From that meeting, one will be chosen to head the search. For the current school year, Ben Martindale will serve as interim superintendent. Martindale indicated at the meeting that he would be available for the entire school year, even if his retirement status restricts his actual office presence at the District offices to 100 business days. Will keep …

Starting Saturday (March 19), downtown Lake Bluff will be transformed into a showcase of area students' projects. Twenty-one stores will participate in displaying Lake Bluff School District 65 and Lake Forest High School student projects of all types - Telecom films to watch, art and poetry to delight, science and technology to intrigue and social studies projects covering real-life issues faced in our community to challenge the observer. The artwork will remain until April 4. Come into town, pick up a “Passport” at a participating store, bank or restaurant and begin your tour to see the …

Retailers in downtown Lake Bluff will showcase the works of Lake Bluff students from both District 65 and high school District 115.  Projects on display will cover art, social studies, language arts, science, math and foreign language. Pick up passports at any participating retailer, bank or restaurant and take a look at the amazing things students are doing everyday in the classroom.  Passports can be stamped at each location and, once filled, drop it into the bin at the Lake Bluff Library.  A drawing will be held in early April to win a variety of prizes that have been donated by the …

Lake Bluff PTO will host a panel discussion on the film, "Race to Nowhere," at 7 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 10) in the  Library of Lake Bluff Middle School. The panel of experts will include administrators and educators from both Lake Bluff Schools and Lake Forest High School, plus representatives from LEAD and CROYA.  They will discuss the major topics from the film and take questions. The film was recently shown in District 65, but parents are encouraged to attend even if they did not see the film.

Three school board candidates for Lake Bluff School District 65 and one for Lake Forest High School District 115  have been endorsed by the Lake Bluff School Caucus for the April 2011 election. The District 65 candidates are Mark G. Barry, Leigh Ann Charlot and Susan H. Rider (Porter). Nicole Snoblin, who currently serving on the District 115 board, has been endorsed. According to its website, the Lake Bluff School Caucus has been helping to provide qualified school board candidates for 50 years. The Caucus was established in 1956 by the League of Women Voters.

Susan Haugland, an elementary music teacher in the Lake Bluff School District, had a plan. "I wanted to do for Beethoven what Amadeus did for Mozart.  Every movie I'd seen had portrayed him as a lunatic who was unlikable," she said. But Haugland had been in Vienna a few times in the 1990's where she had the opportunity to see Beethoven from a very different perspective.  "He was a real rock star by today's standards. His funeral was attended by 20,000 people," she said. Because Beethoven was deaf, Haugland learned the people who worked with him would write and pass notes to him but then …

Lake Bluff Elementary School's third grade class will present its annual play, Imagination 2010, on Nov. 11 in the school gymnasium. A dress rehearsal will be held at 1:30 p.m. followed by a performance for family and friends at 7 p.m. The students will present five, one-act plays written by them as part of their drama class projects. The five plays are: Attack of the Icy Hiccups by Hannah Dove; Where's the Rainbow by Scott Schappert; Trouble in Musicland by Landon Kerouac; The Chameleon's Bad Hair Day by Tommy Black, and Clean-up on Planet 5 by Sam Daly. The play also features three choral …