1. Hello! My Name is... Ms. Anitra McGee
2. I am... an Administrative Assistant and how long have you worked at Whittier? I'm not sure, lol!
3. My favorite color is... Orange
4. What I like most about Whittier is... Whittier is a family. The entire staff and community are very welcoming.
5. If I had a SuperPower it would be… Why? My superpower would be to teleport. I love to travel and explore different places.
6. If I was an animal I would be a/an… because... I would be a Jaguar. They come in many shades(even orange)! They are the largest of South America's big cats and the third-largest in the world.
7. What advice would you give the scholars of Whittier? I would tell you to hold on to your dreams. You can accomplish anything you put your mind to as long as you work hard and stay determined.

• Are non-IEP students who will be between the ages of 3 and 4 years by Sept. 1, 2022;
• Demonstrate age-appropriate language and social skills;
• Are Oak Park residents;
• Are not enrolled in a preschool program.

This year our school is sponsoring the CAN DO Drive for our local Food Pantry, Beyond Hunger, again! With job and work losses amounting amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, Beyond Hunger has even more people visiting their pantries. Now more than ever they need our support to meet this growing need. Online donations allow Beyond Hunger to offer the essential nutrients that people need right now. Just $1 allows Beyond Hunger to provide 3 meals. Whittier will be collecting these specific foods at school. Please ONLY bring these items:

• Jelly
• Peanut Butter
• Canned Chicken Soup
• Cheerios’ Cereal
• Canned Mixed Vegetables (low sodium)
• Diced Tomatoes
• Tomato Paste
• Bagged Rice (White or Brown)
• Refried and Dry Beans (Pinto and Black)
• Canned Pineapples

You can donate to the Whittier School CAN DO online fundraiser page by clicking here. Feel free to share this link on social media to help Beyond Hunger. Our fundraiser runs from April 1st-30th.

Feel free to contact Mrs. Weiss (lweiss@op97.org) with questions.

We are reaching out with a few updates going into effect on Monday, March 7, 2022.

Monday, March 7, 2022

• Breakfast starts in our Whittier Cafeteria at 7:15 am

• Students arriving for breakfast should enter the 5W door (located directly across the playground)
• Students will be able to enter directly at 7:15 am. Due to supervision, students will not be able to enter before 7:15 am.

• Arrival/Dismissal Updates

• All classes will enter the building and dismiss from the blacktop during Arrival/Drop-off. Students will no longer enter the building through the Harvey entrances before 8 am. Teachers will communicate and show students the new lineup location before school on Monday.

• Traffic Flow/Student Safety
  
• School buses are the only vehicles allowed on the 700 block of Harvey for student drop-off. Take note of new signage on the west side of the 700 block on Harvey, designating the bus loading area.
• The 700 block of Cuyler will be one-way, northbound, during school drop-off and pick-up times, assisting families who drive students to school. The 700 block of Cuyler has signage noting the drop-off/pick-up status from 7 am-4 pm on all school days.
• The area around our school is bustling at the beginning of the day and at dismissal time. We encourage our students to walk to and from school.
• If you are driving your child to and from school, the following are the designated drop-off/pick-up areas:

600 Block of North Cuyler Avenue

Effective Monday, February 28, 2022

• Student drop off and pick up
• Masks will be optional outdoors for families and students during drop-off and pick-up.
• Mask is still required to enter the school building.

At Whittier, we want to support each student as best we can during these challenging times. Our PTO received financial funds from an anonymous donor that we can use to support our students and families in need.

If you are in need of additional support, please take a few minutes to help us better understand how we can support your family's current needs by filling out a google form (https://forms.gle/5xqKFJQ5gBH4YBM47). If your child is identified as needing additional support, someone from our school will be in touch with you within the week. Please fill this out for EACH child in your family. Thank you in advance.

Please note - ALL these responses will be kept confidential and can only be accessed by school social workers, the assistant principal, and the principal.

This week our kindergartners continued Second Step instruction and learned that it’s important to notice when students are being left out, that inviting others to play is a caring thing to do, and they practiced inviting someone to play with them. Being included is an important need we all have and learning and practicing how to invite others to join in is a skill that can be taught, learned, and reinforced! Our first and second graders had a booster week where they caught up on social-emotional learning, social justice lessons, or were retaught important expectations. Our third, fourth and fifth graders took the Panorama student climate survey during their SEL time this week.

There are no home links this week!

The Oak Park Department of Public Health officially adopted the new guidelines for schools. As a result, District 97 will utilize the reduced isolation and quarantine times, effective immediately.

Please support Nurse Winkelhake by LEAVING A REASON when you call your child in sick from school. Our nurse follows up on every absence call when a specific reason is not provided. If your child is staying home due to reasons unrelated to COVID-19, sharing that information in the message helps the nurse determine whether a call is necessary. When calling please slowly state:

1. Your Name
2. Your Child’s Name
3. Your Child’s Grade and Homeroom/Advisory Teacher
4. Reason for the Absence
5. Best phone number to reach you

To effectively streamline our Covid related procedures and policies, starting the week of January 17, all communications regarding positive student cases and close contacts will happen vis email. Due to the number of cases and the amount of contact tracing, we will no longer be able to call all families of positive cases or close contacts. Please continue to check your email regularly for communications from the school.

All communications will have detailed information regarding the following steps, quarantine/return dates, and other pertinent information. If families have additional questions after receiving a communication, please continue to reach out with questions and concerns. We hope the adaptive format and procedures will help us as a school community better mitigate the spread of covid and better serve our students, staff, and community.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and state/local health officials, fully vaccinated individuals do not have to quarantine due to potential COVID-19 exposure as long as they are asymptomatic. Additionally, achieving a high rate of vaccination will strengthen our overall safety plan and will put the district in the best possible position to reconsider other mitigations as conditions improve in our community.

To help us reduce any unnecessary quarantines and accurately track our student vaccination rate, District 97 requests that families submit proof of vaccination for their students as soon as they have received their second dose. There are two options:

• IF YOU HAVE A GOOGLE ACCOUNT: Fill out a brief Google Form and upload a copy of the student’s vaccination card. CLICK HERE to access the Whittier vaccine form.

• IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A GOOGLE ACCOUNT: Email a copy of your student’s vaccination card to Nurse Hilary Winkelhake (hwinkelhake@op97.org). Please include the child’s full name and grade.

Students Who Participated in Clinics at District 97 Schools
If your student completed their vaccine series at one of the school-based clinics, a staff member should have taken a photo of their vaccination card following the second dose.

• If your child's card was documented, no further action is needed.

• If your child's card was not scanned or photographed, or if your child did not receive their second dose at a school clinic, please email a copy of the card to your school nurse.

If you have any questions, please contact Nurse Hilary. Thank you for your support and partnership in keeping our schools safe!

West Cook YMCA Offering Complimentary Sessions for Access to Swim Program
The West Cook YMCA is offering District 97 families a complimentary session in its Access to Swim program, which will include a swim assessment of all children and placed in an appropriate class based on swim level and the skills of the children. The program is designed to increase the opportunity for swimmers to gain access to water safety and swim lessons for all of our communities and families. The Access to Swim program is for children ages 3 to 12 years old in Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park, Melrose Park, and Maywood and/or who are students in Maywood-Melrose Park-Broadview School District 89, River Forest School District 90, Forest Park School District 91, or Oak Park School District 97. CLICK HERE for more details >

Dear District 97 Staff and Families,

As we previously shared, all District 97 schools will move to an environment that recommends, but does not require, mask wearing in school buildings beginning March 17, 2022.

District and building leadership teams have been planning and preparing for this change throughout the week. This included collaborating with our climate and culture coaches to create lesson plans for students, ensuring that plans and resources are in place for students and staff who are immunocompromised, meeting with teachers and support staff to address their concerns and prepare them for classroom conversations on masks, and compiling resources to share with families.

We want to share as much information as possible with you now in order to help you and your student(s) prepare for this transition. In the coming days, principals will be engaging with their students, staff and families to communicate information that may be specific to their buildings. We will continue to provide regular updates about the district’s COVID-19 mitigations via email and will maintain an FAQ for common questions that arise.

Masks Recommended, Not Required - March 17

Beginning Thursday, March 17, the decision to wear a mask at school will be at the discretion of each family. On that date, masks will become recommended, not required, in all District 97 schools, the administration building, and school buses. This change also applies to after-school activities and events. Click here for an FAQ that addresses masking protocols.

Please be aware of four important points as we make this transition:

• Schools will not segregate or seat students based on mask use or vaccination status.

• Beyond reminding students to follow their family’s wishes, teachers and staff will not track parent wishes or monitor mask use of students.
  

• Schools will not segregate students based on mask use.

• Our COVID-19 testing partner, SHIELD Illinois, will continue to require masks in testing areas, since collection sites are technically considered healthcare facilities. This means that students participating in weekly SHIELD testing will be required to wear masks in the collection area only. The district will have disposable masks available, however, we encourage families to make sure that their students bring their own masks on their designated testing days.

District 97 recently provided staff and students with high-quality KN95 masks, and we will continue to have a large supply available for those who would like them. Surgical masks will be available throughout the buildings as well.

Supporting Immunocompromised Individuals

As we begin to ease COVID-19 mitigations in our schools, we are especially mindful of our students, staff and families who are immunocompromised or at greater risk for severe illness. As always, if you have any concerns about your child’s medical condition, please reach out to your school nurse.

The district’s safety plan will continue to include several important layers of protection, including weekly SHIELD testing, proper ventilation, social distancing, daily cleaning and disinfection, and frequent hand washing (click here for a summary of current mitigations). The district currently has a large supply of high-quality KN95 masks in both adult and children’s sizes, which may be utilized to provide extra protection during the school day. Please contact your school principal if you are in need of additional masks.

The updated CDC guidance includes recommendations and resources for individuals who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe illness. They have also created a web page, “Families and COVID-19,” that contains helpful information and tips for making decisions and keeping your family safe. If you are seeking additional help, please reach out to your school and we will do our best to address your concerns and connect you with local resources.

Social-Emotional Supports and Family Resources

It is to be expected that there will be a range of emotions about our transition to “masks recommended and not required.” Students may be anxious, excited, apprehensive, or eager and those feelings may evolve as the transition sets in. Some of our students have never been in school without a mask, so for those students this will be a new experience.

As we move towards this transition, our emphasis is on the social-emotional needs of our students and supporting each other as a community. Our school staff will support classroom communities that encourage inclusiveness, belonging, and care. Our district Culture and Climate Coaches, in collaboration with our school-based PBIS/Culture and Climate teams, have designed resources to support classroom conversations, which will begin the week of March 7. They have also prepared resources for families to support the conversations that will happen at home to support students with this transition.

Regardless of a family’s decision about mask wearing, preparing your child for this change in their learning environment may put them at ease.

• Communicate Kindness: You can help your child understand that the pandemic has caused many unknowns, and everyone is working to do what is best for their families. Being different is ok and respecting difference is an important part of our community. Another family’s decision may not be the same as their own and that is ok.

• Clear Expectations: As we get closer to March 17th, depending on the developmental age and stage of your child, explain why your family has decided that wearing or not wearing a mask at school is best for them. Set clear expectations for your child’s behavior at school. Reinforce the need to respect differences. You may want to discuss with your child what respect looks like/sounds like.

• Model and Practice Skills: If your child feels self-conscious about wearing or not wearing a mask, help them to put words to their feelings. You can develop a script with them and practice with them how to respond directly. For example, “I feel better wearing/not wearing a mask at school; what should we play at recess?”

• Encourage Your Child to Speak Up: Remind your child that it is important to speak to an adult at school if they notice a student being mistreated or if they have been mistreated. Promoting a culture of mutual respect should include feeling safe to speak up. Help your child to identify a trusted adult(s) at school that they can go to.

School rules and behavior expectations remain the same: bullying is not tolerated. Our Bullying Report Form is available for students, staff, and families to report bullying behavior.

Additionally, it’s important that we prepare our students to be flexible should masks become required indoors again due to a state or local mask mandate or if we experience high transmission in our community, per CDC guidelines. This is not something that we want to happen. However, as we have experienced throughout the pandemic, we should expect the unexpected and be prepared to listen, learn and take action when necessary to address the safety of our students, staff and families.

We encourage all members of our district community to reinforce these messages with our students and to model the kindness, empathy and respect that we are teaching in our classrooms.

Sincerely,

Dr. Griff Powell and Dr. Patricia Wernet

Co-Interim Superintendents