The Skokie Home Scoop
February 22, 2022
Dear Skokie Community,
This month, our SEL Theme for students is Resilience: Coping with Stress and Anxiety. At tomorrow’s PTO Coffee, we look forward to engaging with the parents who attend to share move information related to this topic. We plan to share some learnings we walked away with from the Learning and the Brain: Calming Anxious Minds conference we attended in November, as well as share a sampling of the SEL Lessons students are engaged in during this month at Skokie.
We will host the coffee in the Skokie Community Room from 9:30-10:30 tomorrow (Wednesday, February 23). If you are unable to attend but interested in learning more about this topic, here are some resources you can explore:
Have a great week,
Betty Weir and Larry Joynt
Skokie Principal and Assistant Principal
Exploring Skokie: Kinetic Wellness
The long awaited climbing unit has started in kinetic wellness. Each individual KW class completes a six day training before the high ropes course is opened fully for climbing. Post training, climbing is added into our curriculum rotation and students will have many opportunities to try the climbing wall, Prusik ropes, and the high ropes course. If students are enjoying their climbing experience in class they may want to consider joining Climbing Club or signing up for the climbing course during Adventures in Learning. Over the two day conference period, the kinetic wellness department was re-certified on the climbing wall and high ropes course.
In addition to climbing training, students have also been participating in basketball and snowshoeing. After having multiple rounds of snow, we were provided with the perfect opportunity to use our classroom set of snowshoes. Students learned about the uses for snowshoes and how to put them on for a proper fit before exploring the back playfield and Elm Park. The opportunity to get some cardiovascular exercise outside in the winter was a welcomed break from our regular indoor curricular activities.
Upcoming Units
Volleyball
Health/Fitness lessons
Climbing cont.
Art Club
Registration for Art Club will open this morning at 9am. There will be a Tuesday and Wednesday offering, both after school from 3:30-4:30pm. “After school art club is an art based social club. We use traditional media to explore both student and instructor directed art projects.”
PLEASE NOTE: Your child may have already participated in this club this year. We would like to offer it again to students who have not previously been able to be a part of it. We kindly ask you, if you had participated in it once, please allow other students to sign up at this time. If there are still openings on Friday, February 25, we invite you to sign up at this time.
Songwriting Team
We are so grateful to the group of students who have been working to craft our Skokie School Song. As we near the end of our songwriting process, we will finish the final touches during school hours, so we will not be meeting after school on Tuesdays moving forward. We are excited to share the song with all students, staff, and families soon!
Upcoming Dates
- Friday, March 4: No School - Teacher Institute Day
District News
Downsized Capital Improvement Proposal Update
The Winnetka Public Schools went to referendum in April 2019 for capital expenditure, which likely failed due to the scope and total cost of the request. Since that date, the District has taken several steps to determine a new path forward and is considering a return to the ballot box in November 2022 with a downsized capital improvement proposal. Important improvements have been made to the 2019 request, including:
Reducing the size of the proposal
Decreasing the estimated annual tax impact
Keeping The Skokie School open
Eliminating $36 million from Carleton Washburne’s facility plan
The District will be hosting the following sessions for community members:
Thursday, Feb 24, 2022 at 9:15 a.m. (ZOOM)
https://winnetka36.zoom.us/j/88244255120?pwd=VlpCajJjMVl3SXpLSG9kSmFmSEUwQT09
Passcode: 303758
Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. at Hubbard Woods School (1110 Chatfield Rd)
Monday, February 28, 2022 at 9:30 a.m. -Winnetka Presbyterian Church (1255 Willow Rd.)
The District is hosting this meeting at an alternate location since school is in session
Tuesday, March 1, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. (ZOOM)
https://winnetka36.zoom.us/j/86759744779?pwd=NFBLLzY1aGkwenFUZFFKalJTSmRlQT09
Passcode: 667048
For further details, please take a look at this letter and fact sheet regarding the Downsized Capital Improvement Plan which was recently delivered to all Winnetka residents. Please keep an eye out for a newsletter that will be sent to every home in the community this week.
Important: 2022-2023 Registration Reminder for the 2022-2023 School Year
Registration for incoming kindergarteners and students new to The Winnetka Public Schools in 2022-2023 is now open on the District website and via https://registration.powerschool.com/family/gosnap.aspx?action=30658&culture=en. Children who will be five-years-old on or before September 1, 2022, are eligible to enroll. Completing the registration process in a timely manner ensures the District has the most accurate information in order to support staffing and logistics for the upcoming school year.
The new student registration process is completed in three steps:
Complete new student pre-registration forms online beginning November 18, 2021.
Provide the original or certified copy of your child(ren)'s birth certificate and a parent photo ID. Scanned copies or snapshots of these documents may be uploaded during online registration or can be submitted in-person at the District Office, by appointment.
Provide proof of residency and paper registration forms. Click here to view the list of documents that will meet these requirements. For your convenience, all required documents may be uploaded during online registration.
Children will not be considered enrolled until both the online and paper portion of registration has been completed and residency documentation is verified. If you have any questions, please contact the District Office at 847-446-9400.
Winnetka Parents Institute
In Partnership with The Alliance for Early Childhood:
Community Screening of Chasing Childhood, February 24- March 3
Virtual Screening- Attendees will receive a link to the film via email
The post-film discussion will be held on March 3rd over Zoom.
Chasing Childhood is a feature length documentary that explores a phenomenon affecting kids from a broad range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Free play and independence have all but disappeared, supplanted by relentless perfectionism and record high anxiety and depression. What’s lost goes well beyond our idyllic conceptions of childhood past. When kids don’t play unsupervised by adults, they don’t gain critical life skills: grit, independence, and resourcefulness. Though they may appear more accomplished on paper, by the time they get to college they are often falling apart, lacking the emotional tools to navigate young adulthood.
The film explores how we got here and how we might empower our kids. Potential solutions are offered by the leaders of this movement, including former Stanford Dean and author of How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims, Biological Psychologist Peter Gray and others. Learn more about the documentary at: https://www.chasingchildhooddoc.com
Adventures in Learning 2022 Registration
Update on Austin v. Pritzker Ruling
The Fourth District Appellate Court issued its ruling on February 18 in the appeal of the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by a Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge in the Austin v. Pritzker lawsuit regarding Illinois Schools and COVID mitigation measures. The Winnetka Public Schools is one of 145 school districts named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The Appellate Court decided that the appeal was moot because the IDPH emergency rules expired on February 13, 2022 and the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (“JCAR”) objected with bi-partisan support to IDPH’s attempt to reissue the emergency rules on February 15, 2022. Therefore, the TRO ruling stands and is enforceable for District defendants. Additionally, litigation on this matter is ongoing, so please be aware there will be additional updates to our school community.
At this time, the School Board is positioned to continue with and affirm (via Board action at the February 22 meeting) the District’s current mask optional practice. To read the letter shared with the school community on this matter on Feb. 18, 2022, please click here.