Carthage Elementary School District 317

Carthage ESD 317 Families: School will be canceled tomorrow, December 2, 2025, due to inclement weather. Please stay safe, and thank you for your understanding.

At least one team from each scheduled regional game cannot play tonight due to the incoming weather, so all 8th grade girls basketball games are cancelled tonight. We are working with teams and officials to reschedule the games to tomorrow at the same times. Further athletic updates will be made on our app and IESA.

CESD #317 schools will release students due to incoming inclement weather at 12:30 p.m. We will be utilizing our 1/2 day bus and shuttle schedule. PM preschool is cancelled. Shuttle bus will run at 12:20p.m. As of the time of this message, regional basketball games will play as scheduled. After communicating with LaHarpe, they will not be sending their team to play the boys basketball game tonight; therefore, boys basketball is cancelled. We will share additional updates as they are available.

Carthage ESD #317 Families: With another round of snow expected tomorrow afternoon, we want to give everyone a heads-up that an early dismissal may be possible. As always, the safety of our students and staff is our top priority. We will share updates as soon as we have more information. Thank you for staying prepared—please stay safe and stay tuned for further communication.

✨ IT’S TIME TO DIG THROUGH THOSE COUCH CUSHIONS! ✨ Our CPS Coin Drive starts tomorrow! Send in your pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters to help us reach our goal. Let’s see how much we can collect when we all pitch in! 💰💙 Thank you for supporting our school!

This message is to confirm the schedule at CMS will change slightly after Thanksgiving Break. This change is not perfect, but it is necessary to maximize student learning in ELA, Literature and Math. One or 2 periods will be effected per student. Students will get their new schedule on paper next week. For students whose teacher changes, their current grade WILL transfer with them to the new teacher. All students will remain with their current section, such as 6.1 or 7.2. Any questions should be directed to the building principal, Mindy Bockenfeld.

This is a message from Carthage Elementary School District. Just a reminder that there will be no school for preschool students tomorrow so staff can attend professional development. Thank you, and have a great day!

Reminder — CPS Donut Sales (for Carthage Primary students only) are due TODAY!
All order forms and money must be turned in this morning (Thursday, 11/13). If you forgot to send them with your student, you're more than welcome to bring them to the school or email them to pto@cesd317.org
. Thank you for all of your hard work selling and helping us raise money for our Primary School! Donuts can be picked up on 11/21 from 3–6 PM in the CPS Gym.

— Carthage Primary PTO

Good evening, this is a reminder from Carthage Elementary School District 317. There will be no school tomorrow, Tuesday, November 11, in observance of Veterans Day. Thank you to all of our veterans for your service. We look forward to seeing all students back at school on Wednesday.

All CMS students will be walking to the Veterans Day Program at IW tomorrow. It is recommended to dress in red, white & blue with layers to accommodate for the cold morning weather and for the warm gym.

Each year, our schools come together to make a real difference for families in our community — and this year, we’re excited to do it again! All donated items will go to Tri State Family Services, helping local families right here at home. With recent changes to SNAP benefits and rising grocery costs, many families in our area are facing greater food insecurity. Every donation, big or small, truly makes a difference for our neighbors in need. Collection Dates: November 10–14 and November 17th. Please send unexpired, non-perishable items with your child on the assigned days listed in the flyers below. A fun bonus this year: The class that collects the most donations in each school will get to choose their reward (pizza party, popcorn + polar pops, etc.). Sponsored by: CPS – Mrs. Toubekis & Mrs. Cook CMS – Mrs. Pearson & Ms. Osborne Let’s fill those boxes, lift up our neighbors in a time of great need, and make this year’s drive the biggest yet! 💙

We are raffling off 2 footballs: the one pictured has already been customized for the winner. The 2nd one will be made to order by the winner. Tickets are $5 each. Proceeds will benefit a former Blueboy and his family while he battles brain cancer. Tickets can be purchased at CPS or CMS. Cash only.

Please see the attached flyers welcoming everyone to our Veterans Day Program at IWHS on Monday, November 10, 2025, at 9:00 AM.
Veterans are invited to join us for coffee and donuts in the IWHS FCS Classroom prior to the program.

We are honored to recognize and celebrate the service and sacrifice of our veterans.

📣 CPS After School Program Starts Monday, November 3rd! 🎉
Check out the flyer below for all the details!

We offer flexible sign-up — only register and pay for the days you need.
👉 Please remember: sign-up and payment are due by the Friday before each week.
For example, to attend next week, you’ll need to be signed up and paid by tomorrow!

Thank you, and we can’t wait to kick off our after-school program!

President: Rawson Gronewold
Co-Vice Presidents: Carlos Lopez Perez and Arie Roberts
Secretary: Lucy McAndrew
Treasurer-Evelyn Settles

Class Representatives:
Watsons: Camila Leyva Alonso and Tatum Jackson
Johnson: Theo Brink and Oaklynn Nelson
Calvin: Audrina Jackson and Thayden Roberts
Toubekis: Grant Jacob and Emmy Maag

Picture: Back Row: Theo Brink, Lucy McAndrew, Carlos Lopez Perez, Evelyn Settles, Arie Roberts, and Oaklyn Nelson. Front Row: Camila Leyva Alonso, Audrina Jackson, Tatum Jackson, and Thayden Roberts. Not Pictured: Rawson Gronewold.

Carthage ESD 317 Red Ribbon Week

The Illini West Sports Booster Annual Ham/Turkey dinner will be on November 2nd 11:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.