Christian's Weekly Communication
March 15, 2020
A Message from Assistant Principal Green
Dear 6th Grade Parents:
Starting next week on Monday, March 15th we will move into our 3rd Hybrid/Remote rotation. Below are some things to remember as Monday approaches:
Announcements will continue to be aired at 9:00am every morning at the following ZOOM link.
Students who attended Hybrid/Remote earlier will use the same entry locations and exits as they did during Rotation 2. For most, they will also have the same classroom as they did in Rotation 2. In light of this information, please remind your returning student (1) the teacher/room number they will be assigned and (2) the door where they will line up to enter and dismiss.
For those who are newly joining us for Rotation 3, you will also be receiving a Door/Entrance Map from the Front Office and a CANVAS Course invitation from the teacher with which your student is assigned.
Please remember to look for the CrisisGo verification emails each morning and complete them as soon as possible. Please note: Students will not be allowed to attend in-person classes until the Parent Certification form is completed.
After students are dismissed at 12:40 and return home, we hope that they will have lunch and then be ready to participate in Student Support Time with a Core Teacher if needed, in the afternoon and complete their other asynchronous work.
Thanks for being our partners in this endeavor,
Jerome Green, 6th Grade Assistant Principal
(708) 524-3043
Travel Guidance/Flowchart
Expectations for D97 Students and Staff Who Travel Out of State
With spring break approaching in just a few weeks, we know that many families are finalizing plans to spend the week together. Avoiding unnecessary travel remains paramount to maintaining the health and safety of our students, staff, families, and the broader community—particularly when students are attending school in-person. In cases where travel is necessary, it is expected that students and staff will adhere to the revised travel quarantine guidelines.
Click here to view a summary of the district's expectations for students and staff.
Student Trimester 2 Celebration Video
Communication to Families about Reduced Social Distancing
We do recognize that the increase in students on site and sometimes smaller distances between students is a concern for some parents. We will continue to use a layered approach to mitigation and follow all of our current safety procedures. If you have any questions or have decided to change your selection to remote, please just let us know as soon as possible so that we can plan for your child’s needs as well as the physical set up of the classroom. Parents who opted into on-site learning for Trimester 3 are permitted to switch to remote learning at any time. However we are not currently accepting requests to switch from remote to on-site learning. Thank you!
SAVE THE DATE: D97 Virtual Summer Step Up Program
District 97 is holding a Virtual Step Up Summer Program for students in Grades 1-8 (students who are in kindergarten through seventh grade during the 2020-21 school year). The program will run July 26 through Aug. 5, 2021 (8:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. OR 12 pm. - 2:30 p.m.).
Summer Step Up is designed to support any District 97 student that could benefit from revisiting grade level standards from the previous year. Additional information and sign up forms will be shared by schools in May 2021.
March 2021 Menus and Meal Distributions
February Breakfast/Lunch Menus
Meals will be provided free of cost this fall to any District 97 student in need. Each bag of food will contain five breakfasts and five lunches.
Meal distributions will be held every Tuesday, from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Longfellow Elementary School (for Julian and feeder schools), 715 S. Highland Ave., and Brooks Middle School (for Brooks and feeder schools), 325 S. Kenilworth Ave.
Mindful Middle-Schoolers
The Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park Township, Oak Park Elementary School District 97, and DePaul University’s Community Counseling Center have partnered to deliver a vast array of educational and therapeutic services to staff, families, and youth through the “Mindful Middle-Schoolers Program.” Below is a list of upcoming VIRTUAL talks, which will be held via Zoom. Registration via the Eventbrite links below is requested. Once you register, a link will be emailed to you four hours prior to the start of each event.
"Mindful Middle-Schoolers" Community Talk Flyer
- Wednesday, March 17 (6 p.m.): Understanding and supporting the emotional health of Black children https://www.eventbrite.com/e/understanding-and-supporting-theemotional-health-of-black-children-tickets-141702515037
- Wednesday, March 24 (6 p.m.): Understanding depression in youth and strategies for treatment and support https://www.eventbrite.com/e/understanding-depression-inyouth-and-strategies-for-treatment-and-support-tickets-141698771841
5 Essentials Survey
Dear Middle School Parents/Guardians:
District 97 will be administering the Illinois 5Essentials Survey again this year to certified staff and parents/guardians from all 10 of our schools, as well as students in grades four through eight.
The online survey was developed by the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research and is derived from the Five Essentials for School Success, which is an evidence-based framework that identifies five factors that can lead to important student outcomes such as improved attendance and significant gains in test scores. These five factors/essentials are:
Effective Leaders
Collaborative Teachers
Involved Families
Supportive Environment
Ambitious Instruction
Below is information about how the survey will be administered to our middle school students and parents/guardians.
Illinois 5Essentials Student Survey
The student survey is being administered to children in grades four through 12 throughout Illinois. School-level reports will only be generated for our district if at least 50 percent of the students and/or staff at Brooks and Julian respond to the survey. In order to successfully meet this requirement, both middle schools will be setting aside time for students to take the survey with minimal disruption to instruction. We anticipate the survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete.
In order to participate in this process, students will need to log in to the survey using their student ID and birthdate. However, their participation is optional and their identities will be kept completely confidential. Teachers and administrators will never see individual responses to survey questions. They will only have access to summary level responses, such as the percentage of students who agree that homework assignments help them learn the course material.
We also want to make you aware that under the Protection of Pupil Rights Act. 20 U.S.C. Section 1232(c) (1) (A), you have the right to review a copy of the questions your child will be asked. Student survey questions are available, which can be accessed by visiting http://bit.ly/5EStudentSurvey.
If you DO NOT want your son or daughter to participate in this activity, please contact Ms. Chemaine Carr, Assistant Principal.
Illinois 5Essentials Parent Survey
The parent survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. You may skip questions you do not wish to answer, but the survey must be completed in one sitting and cannot be retrieved once it is submitted. If you have more than one child enrolled in a building (i.e., two students who attend the same school), you have the option of completing multiple surveys for that building. In addition, if you have children enrolled in multiple schools (i.e., a District 97 elementary school and middle school), you may participate in the survey for each school. However, only one parent/guardian per household may fill out the survey.
As with the student and teacher surveys, your identity will be kept completely confidential and your responses will not be linked to you. In addition, school-level reports will only be generated if at least 20 percent of our parents/guardians complete the survey, which can be accessed until April 2, 2021, by visiting http://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/survey/parent/. This percentage will be based on the total number of students enrolled at each school.
If we successfully meet this requirement, we will receive our reports in Spring/Summer 2021. The results will also be made available to the public via the State School Report Cards, which will be released in the fall.
You can access general information about the Illinois 5Essentials Survey by visiting https://www.uchicagoimpact.org/our-offerings/5essentials.
Thank you for participating in this important endeavor and for your continued support of our schools and the children we serve.