Logistics

We are very excited to welcome you to Marie Murphy School and the Avoca School District!

Below I have put together some information that you may find helpful especially if you are traveling a long distance to get here

My contact information:

Chris Brown brownc@avoca37.org or cmbrown@mac.com

Office Phone 847 728 4160

Cellphone 847 401 5912

iChat cmbrown@mac.com

Skype brownc847

District Web Site

http://avoca37.org

Meetings will be held at Marie Murphy School

Address: 2921 Illinois Road Wilmette IL 60091 847 251 3617

Hotel Info:

There are two options I see if you need to stay overnight.

Evanston - adjacent to Wilmette. Many of great hotel options and restaurants since it is the home of Northwestern University. Even if you are planning on spending the weekend in Chicago there are "L" stops in Evanston that can have you in the center of downtown in about 30 minutes.

Here is a link to many options: http://www.cnscvb.com/visitors_lodging.cfm

I would recommend the Hilton Garden Inn - free internet and walking distance to downtown Evanston.

Chicago - if you are planning on staying the weekend and want to stay downtown you can do that as well and there are many options - one inexpensive(relatively) option is Fairfield Inn and Suites

http://www.fairfieldsuiteschicago.com/

Travel:

If you are flying OHare is the airport to fly into - taxi to Evanston is about $30-35.

Food for Friday will be provided at school - depending on everyone's travel schedules I would be happy to arrange a dinner option Thursday or Friday night if necessary.

Parking

Parking is plentiful at the school - lot is directly in front of the building so there should be no problem - there is also an auxiliary lot on the west side of the building just in case.

UPDATE #1 Hi,

We are a few weeks out from our kick off face to face meeting on October 3! I think by that time Chicagoland will be dried out - after about 8 inches of rain our school is in good shape but 2 of our student laptops from our 1:1 program were lost in home flood damage - just when I think I have seen everything.

Onto October 3...

I have updated the logistics page and Sheryl has edited the schedule a bit. Please check both of them out on the wiki:

https://illinoisohioplp.wikispaces.com/

A couple of quick notes as some of you are planning travel arrangements:

On the logistics page there are addresses and phone numbers if you need them. The school district is Avoca School District - we will be meeting at Marie Murphy School which is our middle school building. I'll try not to refer to them interchangeably but all of our meetings will be held at Marie Murphy School.

If you are coming from out of town let me know where you are staying - I assume most travelers will be coming in Thursday and I would be happy to coordinate a dinner Thursday night if needed. Local folks could come as well - let me know if this is something that you would be interested in as I am sure some or all of the Avoca Team would be available.

If you are staying overnight in Evanston, I am working on some transportation but it is tricky since school is in session and buses are out picking up kids. Whether you stay in Evanston or Chicago cabs are easy to get and can get you here.

For those driving there is plentiful parking both in front of and on the west side of Marie Murphy School.

Please let me know if you have any questions about anything and I will be sending more updates as we get closer to Oct 3.

Looking forward to seeing all of you!

Chris

UPDATE #2 Just a quick note for everyone that we all attendees will need to bring their own laptops for this experience. We will spend much of the second half of the day in the virtual learning environment and everyone will need their own laptop for access.

We will have extension cords and power strips as needed and our IT team will be on site to assist you with accessing our guest network.

Please be sure to bring your power adapter and an extra battery if you have one.

Thanks - let me know if there are any questions and I will post this and the previous email on the wiki for reference.

Chris

Update #3 Two quick updates for next Friday:

1. Lunch will be provided for everyone by the Avoca School District. Lunch will be from Corner Bakery and there will be a variety of options, including vegetarian, available for everyone.

2. I have secured overflow parking a short, few-minute walk away just in case the lots here get too full at the following address:

[ http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&q=winnetka+covenant+church&fb=1&cid=0,0,11124930048558395166&sa=X&oi=local_result&resnum=1&ct=image ]Winnetka Covenant Church 1200 Hibbard Rd Wilmette, IL 60091

Please feel free to park there throughout the day as they are aware we are having this event.

Probably more updates to come - see you all next Friday!

chris