In the special Board Meeting held yesterday, the Board decided that there would be no school next week on Monday, January 25th and Tuesday, January 26th. Remote learning will resume Wednesday, January 27th. These days will be Remote Planning Days for teachers. We will use these days to prepare for school to reopen and set up classrooms for our hybrid learning model, which will start the 1st week of February:
Students will transition into hybrid learning in phases. Students will participate in remote learning when they are not on site.
Monday, Feb. 1: Grades 4-5
Tuesday, Feb. 2: Grades 4-5 and Grades 2-3
Wednesday, Feb. 3: Grades 4-5, Grades 2-3, and Grades K-1
Thursday, Feb 4, and Friday, Feb 5 are no longer conference days and all K-5 hybrid students will be in school.
In-person and hybrid learning from 8am-12pm
School lunch period from 12pm-1pm
Specials and remote learning for all from 1-3pm and Wednesday from 1-2:30pm.
Thank you to all the parents who attended our PTO meeting on Tuesday night. Your questions and feedback were so helpful as we plan for the upcoming transition! For those of you who missed it, the presentation has been added to our website. Please review the information, especially if your child will be returning to in person learning. We will need everyone to follow some very specific safety procedures in order to make hybrid learning a success. Students staying remote will continue to receive the same high quality experience, but with a schedule change. More specific information around your child’s specific schedule and entrance/exit locations will be coming next week. Thank you for your continued patience and support as we prepare for the new model!
Materials Pick Up - independently retrieve your child’s bag between 8am-4pm!
Monday, January 25 (3rd and 4th grades)
Sarah Mendez
Hatch School Principal
1000 N Ridgeland Ave
Oak Park, IL 60302
(708) 524-3095
D97 Updates/Reminders:
Notification of Self-Certification Process Per ISBE Return to School Requirement - CrisisGo
To protect our staff and students as they return to in-person learning, we have partnered with CrisisGo, an Illinois Association of School Administrators Gold Level Corporate Partner. The CrisisGo Safety iPass self-certification platform speeds up the ability to confirm an individual’s safety status and get them into a safe learning environment while monitoring school safety information for data-driven decisions.
Here is a link to the CrisisGo website for the Safety iPass solution, https://safetyipass.crisisgo.com/safetyipass and link to their terms and conditions. We will begin to use this tool when students return on February 1 in compliance with ISBE regarding the self-certification process. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Michael Arensdorff at [email protected] and Jim Hackett at [email protected].
Remote Learning Requests: Parents who opted into hybrid learning for Trimester 2 are permitted to switch to remote learning at any time. If you requested hybrid learning for your student but wish to enroll in full-time remote learning, please contact your building principal.
*Please note that we are unable to accept requests to switch from remote learning to hybrid during Trimester 2. A new enrollment form will be sent to families in February for Trimester 3.
District 97 students will be given a snack break during in-person learning. All snacks must be nut-free. Teachers will communicate other classroom-specific foods that will not be permitted due to allergies. Snacks will be scheduled following the district's COVID-19 safety procedures:
Food will be consumed outside during recess, weather permitting.
Students will remove face masks for no more than 15 minutes to eat.
Students should put on clean face masks after finishing their snacks.
Next Meal D97 Meal Distribution: Tuesday, Jan. 26: 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.
D97 Breakfast/Lunch Menus - January 2021
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.
Social-Emotional Learning Survey: Oak Park School District 97 is prioritizing students’ social-emotional wellness and needs throughout this school year and has partnered with an education market research firm, Hanover Research, to conduct a Social-Emotional Learning Survey between January 13 and January 22. The survey is intended to field feedback from students in grades 3-8, parents or guardians of all students, and staff members on students’ overall social-emotional wellness and to identify areas of need where District 97 can best align support. The survey should take no more than 10 minutes of your time to complete, and District 97 will receive survey results from Hanover Research in aggregate form (i.e., no personally identifiable information will be collected or reported). We look forward to hearing from you to help us best serve our school communities!
You can access the survey here: https://hanover-research.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3w6iKAZYytvK7yZ