WJHS Highlights
08/26/2022
A Message from the Administrative Team
Good afternoon WJHS Families!
We hope that your children had as wonderful of a week as we did! The energy in the building was palpable and everyone seemed really excited to be back in school! We hope that like many of us, your children sleep well this weekend and we will see you on Monday. In the meantime, you can find some photos below from our first week of school - enjoy!
Please reserve the following evenings for Curriculum Night at WJHS:
7th Grade: September 15
8th Grade: September 29
We are finalizing the schedule and we will communicate it next week.
Have a restful weekend!
Sincerely,
Kate, Jeff and Eric
Late Activity Buses serving HMS and WJHS
We are excited to announce that Late Activity Buses will be serving students attending clubs and athletics at both WJHS and HMS. All buses will depart from the front of WJHS at 4:45. They will then proceed to the upper deck of HMS to pick up those students.
- Bus #1 will then take the students to Central School (9th Ave entrance)
- Bus #2 will then take the students to McKenzie School (15th St entrance) and then continue on to Harper School (front entrance)
- Bus #3 will then take the students to Romona School, the Rec Center, Indian and New Glenview (serving the northside students), and then Indian and Glenview (serving the southside students).
You do not have to be a daily bus rider to use the Late Activity Buses.
New Trier Placement Test: 8th Grade
It feels much too early to be thinking about transitioning to high school, but we wanted to share the date of the New Trier Placement Test with our eighth grade families so that they can plan ahead. For WJHS, the placement test date is Saturday, November 12. New Trier shared with us that they will not accept any test date changes until early October when their testing letter goes out to families.
August Lunch Menu
Our August lunch menu is out! We will provide the lunch menu in our newsletter for every month and you can find nutrient and allergen information on our web site at this link.
Due to ongoing staffing constraints, WJHS and the district will continue with a limited menu for the beginning of the 22-23 school year. Students who would like to purchase a lunch will, upon entry to the cafeteria, pick up a brown bag with an entrée, and pick up one item of each that they would like (vegetable, chips, fruit, milk), and check out with the cashier using their PIN. We hope to be able to staff the cafeteria and return to pre-COVID lunch procedures at a later point in the school year.
Physical Education
Due to spacing restrictions, students have not changed for physical education over the past two years. We will not have students change to start the school year, but will transition to uniforms as the year progresses. Until we begin fully changing, students will be required to wear shoes that are safe for P.E. Please have your child bring tennis shoes or sneakers if they are wearing shoes to school that are unsafe for P.E. Examples of shoes unsafe for P.E. include: flip flops, sandals, boots, Birkenstocks, Crocs. Thank you!
Arrival & Dismissal
We love it that so many of our students ride their bikes and walk to school! There are bike racks in both the front and back of the school. You can find the D39 School Walking Routes Map at this link. Adult supervision begins at 7:55 AM.
If you are dropping your child off via a vehicle, please follow the route linked here to help keep our students safe and drop-off and pick-up efficient.
Students who arrive at school after 8:25 AM must enter through the front office door where they will receive a late slip.
PTO Highlights
AFTER SCHOOL CLUB DETAILS NOW AVAILABLE!
Registration for fall club opens Wednesday, 9/7 at 9:30 a.m. Club details are now up on our site. Click here to view club listings. Email clubs@wjhspto.com with questions.
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY IS NOW OPEN!
The PTO sent out emails last weekend with our back-to-school PTO checklist. When you register/renew through Membership Toolkit you can:
Renew your PTO Membership, which gives you access to the directory
Order a print directory
Contribute to iGNITE! Enrichment
Donate to the Teacher/Staff appreciation gift
Order Spiritwear
Order a Yearbook (coming soon)
If you did not receive the email, check that you opted into PTO/directory emails when you filled out your student registration form.
We encourage you to join or renew your PTO membership, so you can get directory access and email notifications about after school club registration, graduation, and/or other social events.
Please direct any questions to directory@wjhspto.com. For more information, visit our Membership page.
D39 COMMUNITY REVIEW COMMITTEE (CRC) SEEKING A PARENT REP
The CRC is an advisory group that researches a topic of interest for D39. Our group then makes recommendations to the D39 Board of Education that will enhance learning for students in D39. We are looking for a parent to represent WJHS on the CRC.
Here is a link for more information. The CRC meets once a month for two hours from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (typically the first Tuesday of the month). Our first meeting will be in October so we are hoping to recruit a new WJHS member ASAP. Please reach out to Katie Magrino at kmagrino@gmail.com if interested.
DONATE TO iGNITE! ENRICHMENT
The iGNITE! Program raises funds to pay for enrichment programs, such as field trips and school assemblies, along with contributing to enhancements to our schools, which are directly related to our students, such as outdoor learning environments and athletic equipment.
We are excited to offer iGNITE! again this year and are asking families to make a contribution to this wonderful cause. Contributions can be made via the school website and through Membership Toolkit. With these contributions, we are looking forward to providing enrichment to the students this year!
A complimentary WJHS Magnet will be distributed in the Fall to all who have contributed to iGNITE! These will come home with your student. Should you want to purchase them through the school’s Spiritwear site, you are welcome to at: https://humankind.shop/collections/wilmette-junior-high
WJHS SPIRITWEAR IS NOW ON SALE!
It’s never been easier or more fun to show your school spirit! Once again, we’re partnering with humanKIND to provide you with new designs and old favorites, fully customizable with an option to ship OR pick up locally!
Order now with this link! Please direct Spiritwear questions to spiritwear@wjhspto.com.
District Update
On behalf of our District 39 administrators, faculty, and staff, I want to welcome everyone back for the 2022-23 academic year! I hope the first week included plenty of smiles as we return to fulfilling our mission – to engage, empower, and inspire our students to lead academically successful, socially responsible, compassionate, and purposeful lives.
Parent Education Event
Thank you to everyone who joined us this week for our first Parent Education event of the year. A link to the presentation, titled “Feeling Safe in District 39 Schools,” can be found here. Thank you to the Wilmette Police Department and the Family Service Center for assisting our D39 staff for this important presentation.
Substitutes Needed!
Looking for a way to contribute your time and talent? District 39 is looking for qualified substitute teachers, paraprofessionals and cooks. If you are interested in working in our schools, we would love to talk with you!! Click here to learn more and apply now.
Board of Education Meeting
On Monday evening, the Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting. In addition to approving the 2022-23 District 39 COVID Mitigations Plan, the Board held a Public Hearing on Budgets and adopted the FY22 budget for District 39 and the FY23 budget for the Wilmette Community Special Education Agreement (WCSEA). Click here for access to the complete meeting agenda and materials.
District 39 COVID Plan
The District 39 Board of Education reviewed our COVID Mitigations Plan for the 2022-23 academic year at this Monday’s meeting. D39 will continue to be a mask-optional environment for students and staff. Positive and symptomatic individuals must follow the public health guidance and the isolation/return to school protocol as defined by the most up-to-date Decision Tree for Evaluating Symptomatic Individuals from Schools. Please contact your school nurse if you have any questions about this protocol. As a district, we are pleased to align fully with the IDPH and CDC requirements for k-12 schools, and grateful for the opportunity to return to more typical protocol and procedures within our schools.
Community News
LINK: http://www.wilmette39.org/news/community_events
The Village of Wilmette’s Sesquicentennial Celebration includes many fun activities and projects. See flyer for details or go to http://www.wilmette150.org
New Trier Township offers a Food Pantry 10am - 4pm weekdays for families that live/work in the township. NT Township also offers Emergency Financial Assistance, Legal Aid Clinic, property tax assistance, social service referrals and other available resources. Go to www.newtriertownship.com for more information.
Wilmette Food Pantry is open every Tuesday 10:00-11:00 am at Trinity United Methodist Church."Best Step Tutoring” offers free online tutoring for PreK-12 grades.
Wilmette Junior High School
Email: office-wjhs@wilmette39.org
Website: http://wjhs.wilmette39.org/
Location: 620 Locust Rd, Wilmette, IL, USA
Phone: 847-512-6600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Highcrest-MSWilmette-JH-516430278443448
Twitter: @hawkwolf39
Principal at Wilmette Junior High School; love being an educator and working with young people; value spending time with friends and family