Oakland Orbit - Family Edition
Blasting Off into a New School Year!
Dear Oakland Families,
For those families returning to us, we are so excited to welcome you back! For our new Oakland families and students - we cannot wait to welcome you into our Oakland Family!
We will be sending out newsletters a couple of times per month. Please be sure to read through them for important information and reminders.
If we can assist you in any way, please do not hesitate to reach out to us!
Looking forward to having all of our Space Crew join us in a couple of weeks!
Sincerely,
Rebecca Adams - Principal
Lindsay Burns - Assistant Principal
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Upcoming Family Events
ALL STUDENTS
All of our students and families are welcome to join us for our Meet & Greet night on Tuesday, August 16th from 5pm - 6:30 pm.This event is a great opportunity for you and your family to meet your child's teacher, see the classroom, and to bring in school supplies.
** Be sure to tour around the building and find our 4 different space photo ops and share them with us on social media! **
NEW STUDENTS (incoming Kindergarten and NEW to Oakland families only)
Please save the date for our New Family Orientation! More information will be sent to you via email next week. We are welcoming our NEW to OAKLAND friends to join us Thursday, August 11th from 5:30 - 6:30pm. This will be an opportunity for you to hear a little from our principal, Mrs. Adams, locate the main areas of the building, and get to meet our fabulous Boosters (family organization) that do so much to support our school.
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First Day of School!
We are so excited for our students to be joining us!!
The first day of school is Wednesday, August 17th. School begins at 8:35 am.
The first day will be an EARLY RELEASE DAY. Students will be dismissed at 2:35 pm.
Please remember that the first few days of school with transportation (bus and car) will take longer than they typically would as we work to make sure that we have all of our students where they need to be.
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Teacher Assignments
Please do not call the school or reach out to teachers before that time to inquire who your child's teacher may be, the information will not be shared with you. There are many factors that go into class placements and doing our best to make sure we have them all ready to go.
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School Supplies
From August 5th - August 14th the sales tax on school supplies and related items (school clothes and shoes) has been reduced by 5% in the state of Illinois.
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School Hours
Dismissal is at 3:20 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
Every Wednesday is EARLY RELEASE. Students are released at 2:35 pm.
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Food Service
2022-23 school year Lunch Prices: Student: $2.95 Milk Only: $0.35 Reduced: $0.40
If you need assistance in helping your family with lunch prices, please refer to opportunities for assistance listed below.
Families receiving Free/Reduced Benefits are reminded to re-apply each year. This benefit does not automatically renew. An Income Eligibility Application and a Fee Waiver Form must be filled out to renew your benefits for the current school year.
We will be using Nutrition Bars (salad bar) once again in the lunchroom. There will be 2 fruit & 2 veggie choices for students to choose from at lunch. They must pick 1 or the other but they can take both.
There will also be condiments available to help students flavor their food to their liking.
As a reminder: STUDENTS ARE NOT PERMITTED TO DRINK SODA/POP AT SCHOOL. Please DO NOT send your child with carbonated beverages in their lunches.
August Lunch Menu
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Car Riders
Please help us to plan and have our car signs ready for the coming year. If your child will be a regular afternoon car rider this year, please:
Our arrival and dismissal remains the same as it has in the last couple of years with car riders arriving and being dismissed from the back of the building. (Please see the map below).
** Please plan accordingly - cars arriving after 8:40 will have to drive to the front of the building and have students escorted inside and signed in by a parent/guardian as they will be marked tardy.**
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Healthy Snacks
We have updated our approved snack list for the coming year. Please be sure to only send items from the list below with your child for snack:
Teddy Grahams Pretzels Mini Muffins (Peanut free) Cheez It Crackers Goldfish Crackers Whole Grain Pop Tart Whole Grain Rice Krispie Treat Mini Rice Cakes (Peanut Free) Animal Crackers Yogurt Cup, Tube or Squeeze Pouch Applesauce Cup or Squeeze Pouch Welch’s or Mott's Fruit Snacks Fruit Cup or Squeeze Pouch String Cheese Cheese Cubes Raisins Craisins Fresh Fruit Fresh Veggies
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Seeking Volunteers for Doctoral Candidate Research
Subject: Request for Participant Recruitment in Doctoral Research
Dear Families (Parents/Guardians) of District 34,
My name is Rebecca Adams and I am the Principal of Oakland Elementary School in Antioch CCSD 34. I am working on completing my doctoral dissertation for Aurora University. As an educator for the last 20 years, my personal passion has always been how we get families more involved in the school life of their children. As an educator in this district, I am very excited to potentially hear from our own families on methods that can foster more engagement for our families.
Parental / family engagement has long been a topic of interest for schools, namely surrounding how to get more of it to occur, The purpose of my study is to get real data from district families regarding their perceptions, beliefs, and wants in the areas of family engagement in the school life of their child and how schools can use that information to reach our families to the betterment of the students we care for each day. The title of my study is Family Engagement: Maximizing the Impact.
I would love to be able to find out from families in this district how they want to be involved and how to capitalize on your motivations for involvement. I have received permission to recruit District 34 families for participation in this voluntary research.
Please note, this study is in no way affiliated with District 34, the research is my own and the district has graciously allowed me to be able to reach out to you. District 34 is sending this out on my behalf as a courtesy to assist me in reaching and hearing from multiple voices and experiences.
Included in this communication, you will find a link to a survey to determine if criteria is able to be met for the target samples within this research. Not all that fill out this survey will be needed for the research. Should you be selected, I will reach out to you to set up a time where we can meet virtually for approximately 30 minutes of time for an interview. All study participants will be entered into a raffle for the chance to win one of five $25 Amazon gift cards.
Please reach out to me with any questions that you might have. If you consent to being a prospective participant in research that is not affiliated with District 34, please fill out this link: https://auroraedd.iad1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9WSdk7GhoddaV7M. The information in this survey will provide me with your contact and demographic information to assist in the selection of participants that are from varied backgrounds.
I can be reached via the method listed below. Thank you for the opportunity to partner with you in determining how we can best reach our students’ families.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Adams
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Upcoming Dates
8/1 Kindergarten Screening
8/2 Kindergarten Screening
8/11 New Family Orientation 5:30 - 6:30 pm8/16 Meet & Greet 5 - 6:30 pm
8/17 First Day of School EARLY RELEASE
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District Level Updates
Superintendent's Office
Technology
iPad Refresh
The iPad refresh process is going well and progressing nicely. All iPads have to go through 3 stages before disseminating to students. The technology team is working hard on the final stage.
All K-8 students will be given iPads once school starts. This iPad will have a district approved case installed on each one that can not be removed due to the warranty on the iPads. Each student will also be given a new apple cord and apple charging brick. These items need to be kept for the entire year and returned with the iPad each year or there will be a replacement fee assessed for these items. If there is an issue with the items working, please contact your building administrator to get a different one as soon as possible.
Self-service Application
The technology department is adding an application to all iPads for the roll out this new school year. The application is called Self-service and allows students to control what is on the home screen of the iPads. This application allows students and staff the ability to install or reinstall apps to the iPad using an established menu of approved apps. The iPads will start with limited applications installed on them but there will be many applications in the self-service library to choose to add if needed. Staff and students will be able to delete apps from the home screen and iPad, but self-service allows the program to be reinstalled easily. More instructions on this application will be discussed once school resumes.
Student Services
Health Paperwork Due
All incoming new preschools, kindergartens, sixth graders, and new students to our district are required to have a State of Illinois physical and current immunizations turned in to and approved by the school nurse by the first day of school. Please work with your school nurse if you have any questions. Students who are missing health paperwork will not be able to begin the first day of school.
Business Office
Fees must be paid in full or on a district approved payment plan by August 16, 2022)** for the early bird rates. Fees will be implemented on August 17, 2022. If you have an established payment plan with the district, fees will be at the early bird rate. If you would like to discuss your student account please contact Maria Treto-French at 847-838-8483. All families with outstanding fees should be receiving an email on the first of each month. If you are not receiving a monthly email and you know your account has outstanding balances, please contact us. We are working together to be stewards of all taxpayer dollars.
Student Fee Structure Sheet click
We need you! Are you interested in joining our D34 team! Please take a look at our open positions: click here for more information.