Viking Newsletter

Parent Teacher Conferences will take place on November 20, 2023, from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Taft. Kindergarten - 4th grade teachers communicated with parents to sign-up for time slots in their classrooms. Junior High, Physical Education, and Music will hold their conferences on the stage in the auditorium. Junior High Parents are invited to simply show up on a first come first serve basis to visit with teachers.

We are excited to announce Emma Vasvery as our Viking of the Week. Emma is an 8th grade student and was nominated by Mrs. McEntee because she is a great student in and outside of the classroom.

Inside of the classroom, Emma consistently earns fantastic grades. She is a conscientious student who always goes above and beyond in all of her classes. Mrs. McEntee reports that Emma is a very nice and respectful young lady. She is very conscientious and hard working. She's always there to give a lending hand when needed. She's always prepared and comes to class in a happy and pleasant mood each day.

Outside of the classroom Emma takes part in many clubs and sports. Currently she is the president of our BETA/Student Ambassador Club and taking part in basketball. She also played softball and plans to play volleyball again this year. Emma is a leader on the court and someone her teammates can look up to.

We are fortunate to have Emma as a member of our Viking family and are please to call her the Viking of the Week.

The Lady Vikings Basketball teams both had regional play this week. The 7th grade team won the Regional Championship and now advance to the Sectional final in Mazon against Gardner on 11/29 with a chance to advance to the State Finals. The 8th grade team had their first round regional game in Ford Heights yesterday and were victorious over Fairmont. They play on Monday for a chance to advance to the Regional Championship on Tuesday in Ford Heights. Good luck ladies.

The boys teams played 3 games this week. They played Kelvin Grove, Elwood and Richland. The 7th grade team lost to Kelvin Grove and Richland, but were victorious over Elwood. The 8th grade team came up short in all 3 games. Their next game is 11/28 at Laraway. Good luck Vikings.

Please see the letter regarding the Winter Program below.

This past week I met with our district architect and we took an extensive tour of our school in an effort to further assess the condition of our building. While we do conduct regular inspections of our building with the collapsed ceiling at the high school, we felt it would be a good idea for a closer look at our facilities. Our tour focused primarily on the 1909 and 1939 sections of the building since we just had a roof replacement on the 1959 portion of our building during the summer of 2022. Our building tour included checking all mechanical rooms, checking all access panels, visual inspections above drop ceilings, and an extensive visual inspection of the attic area of our 1909 building.

While the majority of our assessment was positive and most areas pose a low assessment of risk there are some areas that require a more extensive assessment which will involve cutting additional access panels into the 1939 section of our building. While it is safe to cut those access panels into the identified areas we are going to hold off until the Thanksgiving break to ensure we have adequate time in case of any unforeseen issues. After the panels are installed we will have our architect back out to reassess those areas as well.

Overall our building is in good shape; however, it is old. The 1909 section currently houses 3rd and 4th-grade students plus two special education classes from our LASEC cooperative. Along with the classes our 1909 section also houses our K-4 special education teacher, Speech Pathologist, ELL teacher, Social Worker, and Intervention teachers. The 1939 portion of our building houses our music classroom, our auditorium which is used for student lunches, and our administration offices. Even though our building is in good shape we have a variety of needs including a roof on our 1909 section, extensive tuckpointing on both our 1909 and 1939 sections, and a heating system for both our 1909 and 1939 sections, just to name a few. We are aggressively advocating at the state level for increased funding for building improvements.

We are currently seeking a teacher's aide for the school year. Please use the button below to apply or share if you know of someone who is interested.

Please review the attached November look-a-head calendar. We hope sending this calendar home with students and including it in our newsletter will be beneficial as our families try to keep their calendars in order. Like last month we will update the calendar because there are always additions and changes. Please note that the activities listed in the calendar are whole-school activities and we will not include things like rehearsals, practices, club meetings, and games. Please see our school calendar for those activities.

The 40 Book Challenge information was sent home to all of our 2nd through 8th students on Thursday. Mrs. Calabrese and Mrs. Sturm went into each class to explain how the challenge will work this year. Please look at the handouts below and email Mrs. Sturm (s.sturm@taftsd90.org) or Mrs. Calabrese (d.calabrese@taftsd90.org) if you have any questions.

All students entering early childhood-including speech services, kindergarten, and 6th grade are required to have a current physical examination completed on the approved Illinois Department of Public Health Form.. A sports physical does not meet the requirement. The parent portion on the upper backside of the form must be completed and signed. Required physical exam with updated immunizations must be turned in by October 15,2023 to avoid exclusion from school.

• Preschool
  

  
  

  Complete Preschool Physical Examination

  No additional immunization requirement if up-to-date.

  
  

• Kindergarten
  

  
  

  Complete Kindergarten Physical Examination and all required immunizations including:

  • Two doses of MMR Vaccine

  • Four doses of Polio Vaccine

  • Four doses of DPT/DTaP Vaccine

  • Three doses of Hepatitis B

  • Two doses of Varicella Vaccine (chicken pox)

  • Complete Kindergarten Eye Examination - Must be turned in prior to October 15 of the current school year.
    

  • Complete Kindergarten Dental Examination - Must be turned in prior to May 15 of the current school year.

  
  

  • 6th Grade
    

    
    

    Complete 6th grade Physical Examination and all required immunizations including:

    • One dose of Tdap Vaccine

    • One dose of Meningococcal Vaccine (meningitis) after the 11th birthday

    • Two doses of Varicella Vaccine (chicken pox)

    • Three doses of Hepatitis B at the required intervals

    Complete 6th grade Dental Examination - Must be turned in prior to May 15 of the current school year.

    
    

  
  

  Students entering an Illinois school from out of state or out of the country for the first time at any grade level must also provide the physical exam form. The exam must be completed no earlier than a year (365 days) prior to the start of attendance at an Illinois school.

  
  

Food allergies are common today for many school-age children in the United States. With this in mind, we want to ensure a safe and healthy environment in our classrooms for all of our students. The following are basic guidelines that must be followed when sending edible food items to the school for distribution to the classroom. Be aware that there are other allergies in our school besides nut allergies that could impact your snack choice. It would be best if you called the school prior to bringing in any snacks and reviewing with the school nurse so we can work as a team to ensure the class will be safe with the snack you choose.

• All food must be made and /or manufactured in the United States or Canada.

• All food must be peanut nut/tree nut free and manufactured on a dedicated peanut/tree nut-free line.

• Homemade food items are NOT allowed.

• You may bring bakery goods that are sealed and clearly labeled. Berkot's, Walmart, and Jewel carry clearly labeled nut-free cupcakes. Be sure to ask an employee for assistance if you have any questions about a product.

• No treat bags unless you choose to fill bags with NON-FOOD items.

• You may refer to the website https://snacksafely.com/guide/peanut-treenut-free/ to find appropriate snacks that may be acceptable for your child’s classroom.

• All food /snacks and treats going to the classroom for any celebration ( i.e. birthdays and holidays) must be checked by the School Nurse before going to the classroom AND be individually wrapped AND in their original packaging.

• For class parties, food items must be brought in at least 24 hours in advance to ensure adequate time to check all items before going to the classroom.

Please contact Nurse McGraw if you have any questions or concerns. You may contact her at (815)552-2529.

Staff will be outside each morning beginning at 8:10 AM to begin supervising students. Before 8:10 AM, there will not be any supervision for students so we ask that parents please do not drop off your students before that. There is no parking in the drop-off lanes on 16th and 17th Streets. Parents who wish to park or wait with their children are expected to use the spaces on Washington Street. The drop-off lanes on 16th and 17th Streets are designed for parents to drive up and drop students off and proceed forward. Parents should simply wait in line until they get close to the school and then drop off students. Jumping the line to save a few seconds is dangerous and breaks down the process for everyone and will take longer in the end.

Pick-up time generally follows the same procedures except parents will typically begin lining up prior to school letting out. During pickup time it is acceptable for parents to wait in their cars for their students however parents should not park, and leave their cars in the pickup lane unattended. As the line moves we ask that parents pull as far forward as possible to ensure the traffic flows and to allow more students to enter their cars. Please note that with the upgraded curves on the 16th Street side that there is a change in the traffic pattern.

Kindergarten - 2nd Grade - Line up on the back playground each morning and enter through Door 4. Teachers will come out and get them from their lines. First and second-grade students will be dismissed out the playground doors each day. Kindergarten will be dismissed from Door 2 nearest to the kindergarten classroom. All students in kindergarten through 2nd grade must be picked up by a parent or sibling and checked out with their teachers to ensure our youngest students are safely picked up.

3rd & 4th Grade - Line up and dismissed from Door 7 on 17th Street

5th - 8th Grade - Line up and dismissed from Door 2 on 16th Street

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Taft is proud to have the “Stop It” program up and running for the 2021-2022 school year. Stop it is an online program that students can use to report bullying or any unsafe behavior while remaining anonymous. These reports come through to the Superintendent, Principal, and Social Worker via text so we can address the situation right away. This provides the student with an opportunity to share their concerns if they feel they cannot speak immediately to an adult.

We continue to teach our students to advocate for themselves in situations where they feel they can speak to a situation on their own. The students are reminded there are different approaches to stop bullying or unsafe situations outside of reporting things anonymously. Students are encouraged to share concerns with friends, staff, and family to learn to advocate for themselves. However, we understand that there are some situations where students may feel safer reporting discreetly.

If you have any questions regarding the Stop It program, please contact Mr. Davini or Mr. Calabrese.

Email: j.calabrese@taftsd90.org
Website: www.taft90.org
Location: 1605 South Washington Street, Lockport, IL, USA
Phone: (815)838-0434
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taft.vikings
Twitter: @jjcalabrese