Elmhurst CUSD 205

Who We Are

The REACH Parent Group (RPG) is a committee organized and funded by the District 205 PTA Council. We are a parent group dedicated to supporting gifted and talented programs in District 205 and to encouraging higher level educational opportunities for ALL D205 students. Our areas of focus include:

Providing parent and student resources for gifted and advanced learners
Organizing advocacy at local and national levels
Sponsoring and/or promoting academic-based extra-curricular activities that are accessible to all students
Collaborating with REACH teachers to provide additional resources and student opportunities.

Upcoming REACH Parent Group Meetings

February 20, 2025, time and location TBD (pending speaker availability)

Illinois Association for Gifted Children - Annual Conference
Learnings and Supporting 2E Learners.

April 25, 2025, 7:00 pm, location TBD

Elementary & Middle School Reach Teachers

May 15, 2025, 12:00 pm, location TBD:

Leadership Board & School Rep Meeting : Feedback on spring math enrichment, planning for next school year.

See our Meeting Information page for more detailed information on upcoming meetings.

Last REACH Parent Group Meeting

December 4, 2024, 7:00pm, Edison Elementary School-Gym

Academic Transitions: Middle School-to-High School:
Freshmen/Sophomore student panel; Adam Roubitchek-Ed.D. -
Assistant Principal for Instruction - York High School; and Executive Function Expert Jen Zacharias from Beyond the Classroom. See
our Meetings page for Minutes and presentation slides.

REACH Identification Process & Appeals

Placement and Appeals questions? Please see the D205 REACH website for more information. The REACH rubric for the 2025-26 school year will be posted to the District's REACH website by 12/20/24.

REACH Parent Group Communications

Please see the REACH Parent Group Directory to contact your school's REACH teacher/s, REACH Parent Group Leadership Board, and/or your REACH Parent Group school representative. We are here to help you.
Subscribe to the REACH Parent Group Communication List - this is the best way to keep up with what is going on. (To unsubscribe, please go into your Parent Square app, click on GROUPS and you can unselect REACH Parent Group.)
Follow our REACH Parent Group social media groups (under some construction; thank you for your patience.) More details to follow on RPG Instagram. Effective 12/20/24, the administrators of our RPG FB Pages will be merging the Middle School page into the Elementary page so that the groups are together in one group "REACH Parent Group-Elmhurst" (for both elementary and middle school parents). Followers to the Middle School page will receive and can accept the invite to the new group. We will discontinue the middle school page on 12/20/24, so if current middle school followers do not accept the invite to the new group, they will not receive any updates to the REACH Parent Group-Elmhurst Facebook page until they join.:
- REACH Parent Group Elementary Facebook Page

Advocacy

GET INVOLVED!
Advocacy is an important part of ensuring that your child is provided the best learning environment based on their learning abilities. The National Association for Gifted Children is an excellent advocacy resource for working with your teachers, school, administration, and/or congressman.

The federal government plays a small role in gifted education policies and funding. Decisions are made at the state level, which then requires localities to follow the state’s guidelines on identification and programming, or allows localities to make independent decisions about gifted education. Each state, and, in some states, each district or school will have differing policies and practices related to advanced learners - The Illinois Association for Gifted Children has information on advocacy at the state level.