Christian's Weekly Communication
September 21, 2020
Dear Families,
We are heading into week 4 of our Remote Learning 2.0 sessions. I am proud of our students and appreciative of your support. We are in the process of analyzing and assessing our students progress and our procedures related to the learning experience. Next week I will ask for your feedback in hopes of continually improving our services to our students and their families. Thank you for your patience.
Zoom
Zoom Bombing
It's been a busy first few weeks for our students, staff and families, and we are incredibly proud of all the positive things we've seen with remote learning so far. With that being said, we want to make our families aware of a few incidents that occurred earlier this week, as well as the steps we are taking to ensure minimal disruptions in our virtual learning spaces moving forward.
In our middle schools, there have been a few students who have attempted to enter Zoom learning sessions using names that are not their own. In some cases, students were using names of their classmates, and in others our teachers did not admit students into the meetings because they did not recognize their names. We have been investigating these incidents, and will be implementing new settings that have just been enabled by Zoom.
Starting Friday, September 18, staff will be altering settings on their meetings that will require only @students.op97.org Google accounts to be authorized to join the Zoom meetings. The students will not need to do anything different than what they already do on their district-issued devices. If your child is using a personal device for any reason, after clicking the Zoom link via Canvas they will need to authenticate with their Google email and password to enter the waiting room. At this time, the student’s first name, last name, and Google username with authenticate and allow them to join. If your child receives an error message like this one, it means they are not logging in with their district Google account.
Thank you for your patience as we have been working with our staff and Zoom engineers on implementing this newly created solution from Zoom.
Best,
Principal April Capuder, Brooks Middle School
Principal Jeremy Christian, Julian Middle School
Michael Arensdorff, Senior Director of Technology
Former MANN Families:
Making Our School Better!
Tuesday, September 22, we will start at 6pm. We’ll have 1000 prairie plants to get into their new homes. Bring a hand shovel (trowel) if you have one and be ready to get your hands dirty.
Thursday, September 24, we will start at 6pm. We will hopefully finish planting at this time. Although it gets dark there should be enough light from the athletic field to complete this process. Our volunteers are dedicated to making our school better. This event is sponsored by volunteers from our PTO.
YEMBA
Free Webinar on Supporting Children During COVID-19
Thrive Counseling Center is hosting a free Thrive Talks webinar, "Calm the Chaos!" on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m. to provide parents with tools to support their children with the ongoing stress and uncertainty of the pandemic. The session will feature:
- Child psychologist Heidi Hamernik, PhD
- OPRFHS Special Ed teacher Douglas Hill
- District 97 school social worker Lori Janu-Chossek, LCSW
- PCC Wellness pediatrician Brooke Turnock, MD
- Steve Parker, Marriage and Family Therapist
Please use the following link to join the webinar:
https://zoom.us/j/93567350158
Continued Social-Emotional Wellness Check-Ins for Students
District 97 school psychologists and nurses have collaborated to offer access to virtual mental health wellness checks at each school this fall. Parents may sign up children for 25-minute Telehealth sessions where they can access an open ear for their sources of stress and learn self-care and coping strategies. Students may attend up to three sessions per trimester and may then be referred for other school-based supports if needed.
To sign up or learn more about these services, please visit https://bit.ly/3m3Xece.
If your child is experiencing an immediate mental health crisis, please do not use this service and instead call the Thrive 24-Hour Crisis Hotline at 708-383-7500. You may also refer to this local resource guide created by the Community Mental Health Board of the Oak Park Township.
Next Meal D97 Meal Distribution: Tuesday, Sept. 22
During Trimester 1, meals will be provided free of cost to any District 97 student in need. 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.
Each bag of food will contain five breakfasts and five lunches. Click here for the September 2020 menus.
Click here for more information about food service during Trimester 1. If you have any questions, please reach out to the district's food service coordinator, Carla Ellis, at cellis@op97.org.
D97 to Host Virtual Parent Circles on September 23
District 97 families are invited to join us for Virtual Parent Circles, which will be facilitated in partnership with the E-Team of Oak Park. The event will be held Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. (click here to register)
This session was organized to accommodate families who were unable to participate in parent circles during our Aug. 13 Parent University. It is designed to build community among District 97 parents and guardians and provide support as we navigate remote learning.