General Information

Students attend The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus from 8:50 AM-2:50 PM. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Students have a 1:50 PM dismissal on Wednesday to allow for staff training and professional development. Our office hours are 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday – Friday.

Visitors are always welcome to The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus. We are proud of our learning environment. Any visitor to The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus must sign in at the front desk. A visitor pass will be issued by the school secretary and must be worn through the duration of the visit. The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus reserves the right to refuse entrance to a visitor and/or ask visitors to leave the school property. Failure to comply may lead to arrest for trespassing.

The staff members at The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus work closely with school district representatives, drivers, and transportation assistants to ensure that students remain safe during transportation. We recognize that a student’s transportation can be a point of high anxiety for parents, as many of our students have limited verbal abilities. We work closely with drivers and bus assistants to ensure your child’s physical and emotional safety.

All students at The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus are provided transportation, as specified in their Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The home school district is responsible for transportation to and from The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus. The mode of transport and number of students in the vehicle are determined by the home school district. Transportation providers are required to conduct background checks and provide training for all drivers. The driver is not permitted to change pick-up or drop-off locations, times of pick-up, or students to be transported. Please do not hesitate to contact The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus if you have a concern about your child’s transportation.

It is important for students to feel just as safe during the transition to and from school as they do in our building. The time students spend in the cab or bus on the way to or from school is an extension of the school day and students are subject to the same school practices, policies, and expectations.

At the start of each day, students will be dropped off at the rear entrance of the school building, whether arriving at school by bus, cab, or with a parent. A staff member from The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus will escort your child from their vehicle into the building. We have worked closely with the Hoffman Estates Police Department to ensure that all children and adults remain safe while leaving their vehicle and walking into the building.

On a typical day, students begin to enter the school building at 8:50 AM, or as their transportation vehicles arrive. Staff members will be at the back entrance until approximately 9:05 AM. When transportation is delayed due to inclement weather, staff will remain at the back entrance until 9:20 AM

At the end of each day, a staff member will escort your child to the appropriate vehicle. We work with each of the drivers to make sure that before the vehicle leaves all students are appropriately buckled and/or harnessed.

After 9:20 a.m., all students should be taken to the front of the building and signed in. If you need to collect your child from school sooner than 2:40 p.m. or 1:40 p.m. on a Wednesday, please come to the front office and sign your child out of school.

Please be advised that all Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus rules and regulations and home district rules and regulations are enforced while students are being transported to and from school.

Please be advised that The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus may only release students to parents and school district authorized transportation. Should you authorize an alternate trusted person to pick up your child from school, please contact the school office to provide the name of the person authorized to pick your child up. This person will be asked to provide proof of identification.

Twice during the school year, once during each semester, Parent Teacher Conferences will be scheduled over a two/three day period. These Conferences will be a 20-30 minute meeting between classroom staff and parents. During these meetings, we will provide general information about your child’s progress in the classroom.

The school nurse will coordinate the health program, provide health care and administer medications to students while they are at school.

Illinois law requires that each child entering kindergarten and sixth grade have a physical examination and immunizations as directed by Illinois School Code. A copy of your child’s immunizations is kept on file in our Health Office.

Field trips are an important part of the school program and are carefully selected and planned to integrate with the curriculum. Outings at The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus provide students with instruction in functional life skills and community safety and awareness. Field trips are a relevant extension of the classroom; they are recognized by the State of Illinois as regular school attendance days.

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) requires that all students participate in state and local assessments as determined by their IEP. Students will take either the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessment or participate in the Dynamic Learning Maps Assessment (DLM) at The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus, rather than traveling to their home school/district for testing.

One of the goals of The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus is to teach skills and adaptive behaviors that will allow each student to function in the least restrictive environment as independently as possible. All staff members learn the principles of applied behavior analysis and how they relate to comprehensive behavior support. A Board Certified Behavior Analyst works closely with classroom staff to ensure that behavior intervention plans and behavior support is used effectively.

Students enrolled at The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus will have a Behavior Intervention Plan. This plan outlines specific proactive and reactive behavior management strategies that are not already embedded into the classroom management strategies being used by individual classroom teachers. Behaviors targeted for reduction include any behavior that is dangerous to the student, others or property, any behavior that limits the students’ access to a wider range of reinforcers, and/or any behavior that interferes with skill acquisition.

A student’s clothing and appearance are an important form of self-expression. Students at The Winston Knolls School at Hoffman Estates Campus are expected to dress in a way that shows pride in themselves and our learning environment. Students are expected to wear clothing that contributes positively to the school’s learning environment. Clothing with suggestive pictures, crude and vulgar writing, or revealing clothing, are not appropriate for the school setting and should not be worn to school.

The Winston Knolls School, at Hoffman Estates Campus provides information about the privileges and responsibilities of using the Internet and district networks as part of your student’s educational experience.