Smyth is practicing COVID-19 safety and asks everyone to wear a mask for the next couple weeks to minimize airborne spread. If your student tests positive, please use the COVID-19 Self-Reporting Form , and follow the guidance on our safety page. For those who test positive: isolate at home for five days, or if symptoms persist after five days, continue to isolate at home until symptoms resolve. Upon returning to school, wear a mask until ten days after symptom onset or ten days after the positive test if asymptomatic. You can use the rapid at-home COVID-19 tests that have been made available at Smyth. If you did not obtain a test, they are available for free at any Chicago Public Library — please call ahead. You can also request tests online at covid.gov/tests . • To sign up for free weekly in-school testing, please visit color.com/readycheckgo-cps . • Please remember to stay home if you are feeling ill. • Get vaccinated! CPS continues to offer COVID-19 vaccines and boosters plus flu shots at our four permanent regional clinics and school mobile programs or visit cps.edu/vaccinations or chicago.gov/flu . • The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) encourages families to prevent the spread of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Please read this fact sheet [ ENGLISH | SPANISH ].
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Celebrating Principal Appreciation Month October has just begun, and there are many ways to celebrate the principals that are leading us forward this school year. Thissocial media toolkit, created by our partners atThe Chicago Public Education Fund, is a good place to start if you need some inspiration. You can alsorecord a message for your favorite principal.
Across the city, our fantastic principals have been working hard to welcome our students back and help them have one of their best school years yet. AtWoodlawn Community Elementary School, Principal LoWanda Bell has a passion to ensure that every student leaves her school better than they enter it. Her approach to cultivating successful students centers on maintaining a culture of respect, incorporating staff suggestions, and collaborating closely with her fellow school leaders.
Supporting our Students Through Outdoor Play Congratulations to Horace Mann Elementary School on the opening of their new Space to Grow schoolyard! This outdoor play structure, along with a track, turf field, and garden, will serve as an extension of the classroom, and will allow the students at Mann to balance time spent learning inside with the chance to move, play, and explore outdoors. Our district is grateful to everyone who made this investment possible, including Openlands, Healthy Schools Campaign, and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. This space will be a place where the students at Mann, along with friends and neighbors from the surrounding community, can gather and connect for years to come. Dear Colleagues, Families, and Supporters,
Our first day of classes - Monday, August 30 - is right around the corner, and CPS schools are fully prepared to welcome students back! Teachers return next week to begin planning for the new school year, and we know how excited they are to see their students in person again. They will be working hard these next nine days to create spaces where children feel welcome and supported and where they can get excited about learning.
One group that is especially thrilled about our return to the classroom is our CPS principals, who have been leading with confidence and compassion since the start of these unprecedented times. We have been amazed by their ability to stay positive and focused in the midst of such serious challenges and have no doubt they will be successful in getting our school year off to a strong start. This video features two CPS principals, Principal Bermejo of Edwards Elementary School and Principal Harper of Simeon Career Academy, sharing how they are getting ready to welcome students back to school.
We want to thank everyone who participated in our town hall meetings earlier this week. These were a great opportunity to help parents get their questions answered and understand what school will look like this year. If you were not able to join us for these meetings, you can see a recording in English and Spanish on the district’s YouTube channel at YouTube.com/ChiPubSchools.
We remain committed to providing you with the most up-to-date information on back-to-school, which this week includes new vaccine protocols for student athletes. We are thrilled that this year, our children will be able to return to the extracurricular activities they love, including sports. To ensure any COVID cases are identified quickly among our student athletes, children in grades 5-12 who play a sport will be required to either submit proof of vaccination or participate in weekly COVID-19 testing during their sports season. Parents of student athletes will receive more specific information on this policy closer to the start of school.
To get us all in the back-to-school spirit over the next week, we have created a social media toolkit for parents and families. We also still have a handful of Back-to-School Bashes scheduled in the next nine days, and we strongly encourage CPS families to participate. These events will get you excited, engaged, and informed about the upcoming school year, which begins for all CPS students on Monday, August 30!
Sincerely,
Chicago Public Schools
Helping Students in Temporary Living Situations Enroll in School The CPS Students in Temporary Living Situations (STLS) program helps students without permanent homes enroll in school and access the supports they need to be successful. For some students, a temporary living situation may mean staying in a shelter, in transitional housing, or with relatives or friends. For others, it might mean living in a motel, a car, or in different places at different times. It can also refer to a student who is living on their own without their parents or legal guardian. If you or your family is in a temporary living situation and need help identifying a school to attend, enrolling in school, or receiving needed supports, please contact the STLS program at (773) 553-2242 or STLSinformation@cps.edu. For more information about the STLS program, visit cps.edu/stls.
CPS is Offering COVID-19 Vaccines to Students and Families Since vaccination is one of the best ways to keep our communities safe from the COVID-19 virus, CPS has now transformed three of our school-based staff vaccination sites to serve our students and families. We will also have vaccinations available at several of our upcoming Back-to-School Bashes and through school-based summer programs happening in several high-need communities.
The vaccine is free and no proof of health insurance or immigration status is required. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. For complete details on the vaccine opportunities offered by CPS this summer, please visit cps.edu/vaccinations. For additional questions, families can reach out to vaccines@cps.edu or call 773-553-5437. Families can also visit vaccines.gov for more information, text your zip code to 438829, or call (312) 746-4835 to find other COVID-19 vaccine locations near you.
CEO Search Update The search for CPS’ next CEO continues to be underway. A final report has been released outlining the progress that has been made over the past several months toward selecting our district’s next leader. For more information, please visit our CEO search webpage.
A Look Inside our Schools We’re a little over a week from welcoming students like Kareinna back to school starting on Monday, August 30. She is a soon-to-be eighth-grader at Perkins Bass Elementary School in Englewood. She excels at math and has a goal of keeping her grades steady by displaying a strong work ethic from the first day of school all the way through graduation. Eventually, she’s considering becoming an anesthesiologist.
Our school leaders like Joseph Campbell, the assistant principal at Ronald Brown Elementary Academy, are also feeling energized about the new year. He wants this to be a “back to the basics” year that meets the needs of all students by helping them focus on three key areas: behavior, attendance, and grades. He is also prioritizing giving his staff members time, grace, and understanding.
At the high school level, our principals are applying what they’ve learned over the past few school years to better support students. Principal Barbara San-Roman is focused on social justice to address opportunity gaps that exist for Black and Latinx males, and Principal Lynn Fields Jr. is making sure that each one of his students has a trusted adult that they can talk to about their goals.
High school students from across Chicago like Ibrahim and Jessica will be returning to their schools ready to make a difference after participating in the district’s first-ever Civil Rights Summer Fellowship. This opportunity has equipped them with the tools they need to spread kindness, create more inclusive learning environments, reduce acts of bias-based harm, and strengthen relationships between students and staff. Important Dates:
To be emailed to parents and school staff, posted on the school website and in the school by October 5, 2020.
Dear Parents/Guardians, Community Members and School Staff Members:
The 2020 Local School Council Election will be held later this fall. Exact dates and times for the election will be sent out later after the procedures to protect voters are finalized. In the Election, parents and community members will have the opportunity to vote for up to 5 candidates to fill 8 positions on your school's LSC (6 parent members and 2 community members) and school staff will have the opportunity to vote for up to 2 candidates to fill 3 positions on the LSC (2 teacher members and 1 non-teacher staff member).
We encourage and invite you to vote in the parent/community election or the school staff poll.
A Virtual Candidate Forum will be held at ___3:30pm______ on ___Thursday, October 22, 20202____ Time Day and Date
You can join the forum by using this link: https://meet.google.com/acm-mhje-fks or using this phone number and PIN code: 1-399-788-5397 PIN 749 186 761#.
We encourage and invite you to attend the Forum to hear the Candidates speak about their qualifications and their plans if elected (or appointed) to your school's LSC.
Form 8-20 (List of Candidates for the LSC), with the name(s) of the candidate(s) who have filed to run in the LSC Election at your school, is attached below for your reference.
For more information about the election, please contact the Office of Local School Council Relations: (773) 553-1400 or email to lscrelations@cps.edu.
We look forward to your participation in the Local School Council Election and thank you for your interest in your school. Working together, we can continue to improve our children's education.
Sincerely,
Dr. Guillermo (Willy) Montes de Oca Director
SPECIAL NOTE: • In order to vote, parent and community voters must present 2 forms of I. D. to the election judges.
• Parent voters must present at least one form of I. D. or documentation establishing that they are the parent, legal guardian or temporary custodian of a child enrolled in the school.
• Community voters must present at least one form of I. D. with a current residential address within the school's attendance area or voting district.
• School staff voters must also present 2 forms of I. D., one of which must be their CPS Employee I. D. Dear CPS Families,
Our top priority in planning for the fall has been to provide a high-quality education for every child while keeping all our school communities healthy and safe. Today, after carefully considering advice from public health experts and feedback from many of you, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will begin the year learning at home through the end of the first quarter.
Prior to the beginning of the second quarter, we will assess the state of COVID-19 and the safety of switching to a hybrid learning model similar to what we proposed in our preliminary reopening framework.
Listening to public health officials and affording families time to plan As we have committed to you and our families, our decision to reopen schools would prioritize the health and wellness of our school communities and be driven by science and the guidance of our public health officials. As educators and dedicated education professionals, we all want students to be in school, but at this time, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) believes that current COVID-19 transmission trends would not allow us to reopen schools in a safe and responsible manner given the sheer number of people we serve every day. And rather than waiting until the end of August to make a decision on reopening schools, we wanted to afford our parents and families ample time to plan for the fall.
Listening to our CPS families and educators Through virtual community meetings and a myriad of surveys, over 87,000 CPS students, families, and staff members provided feedback on returning to school in the fall. While many families expressed a desire to begin the year in a hybrid model, a large number of families did not feel comfortable sending their children back to school—approximately one in five African-American and Latinx families planned to send their children back to school in person this fall. Our decision to begin the school year remotely is a reflection of the feedback we received in response to our preliminary framework.
Lessons learned in the spring and how we’re planning to improve remote learning for students Students will be learning at home this fall, but we’re committed to providing students with an engaging learning experience that is significantly different from what students and families experienced last year. Each day, students will be engaged for the entirety of a typical school day through a combination of live real-time instruction with classmates and teachers, small group activities, and independent learning. Established daily expectations, including classroom attendance and graded assignments, will also help students develop routines. A more detailed set of expectations for remote learning will be shared with families on Friday.
Expanding equitable access to technology and the internet Unlike last school year when the district utilized digital and non-digital learning pathways to allow schools flexibility to respond to the emergency, teachers will provide digital instruction every day this school year.
We know students need consistent access to devices and high-speed internet to be successful in digital learning, and we are committed to providing devices for all students. Last school year, we distributed more than 128,000 computing devices to students, and we will provide an additional 36,000 devices to children who still need them prior to the start of school. We will continue to monitor our students’ needs and take all necessary steps to ensure students have access to devices.
Over the summer, we also began offering free, high-speed internet access to approximately 100,000 CPS students from limited-income backgrounds through our Chicago Connected initiative. Families eligible for this program have been contacted individually, and 35 Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) have been recruited to get students connected prior to the start of the school year.
Final reopening framework coming this Friday Families should expect to receive our final reopening framework with detailed remote learning expectations this Friday. Later in the month, teachers and principals will receive specialized training and guidance on expectations for remote learning, and we will follow our remote learning plan through the end of the first quarter. Later this fall, CPS will consult with CDPH on the possibility of adopting a hybrid learning model for the second academic quarter, which will begin Monday, November 9.
We remain committed to helping every student reach their full potential, even under these unprecedented circumstances, and we are confident that with your support, CPS will remain a school district on the rise. Thank you for helping make our plans for the 2020-21 school year as strong as possible.
Sincerely,
Dear CPS Families,
Our 2019–20 school year is officially a wrap, and it was certainly unlike any we have experienced before. While this was a hard year, it was also full of immense growth, strength and accomplishment. Our staff and community members came together to support our schools through a difficult time. And I want to say a huge thank you to all of the parents, guardians, and family members who wore many hats these past few months and ensured our students continued their learning from home. I am so proud to be a member of the CPS family.
Please continue to keep your child engaged this summer. As we all experienced firsthand this year, learning is not limited to the classroom. Keeping your child engaged over the summer is critical to ensuring he or she continues learning and is prepared for the next school year. We are fortunate to have community partners and educators from across the city working to ensure your child has access tofree and fun online enrichment learning opportunities all summer long. You can takevirtual field trips to Chicago’s most iconic museums and cultural institutions, attend avirtual online summer camp, and build stories through the Chicago Public Library'sSummer Learning Challenge.
Grab-and-go meal sites will remain open this summer. As a reminder, our summer grab-and-go meal sites will be open Monday, June 22 through Friday, August 28, from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. every weekday. Find the most up-to-date list of meal sites near you atcps.edu/mealsites. Please note that meal sites will be closed on Friday, June 19 due to a scheduled day off for staff.
Be on the lookout for opportunities to provide input on our plans for the next school year. As I shared last week, we will soon be launching a series of surveys to get your feedback on how we can provide a safe, welcoming, and productive learning environment for students this fall. We sent a student survey yesterday to students in grades 4–12. Please check your child’scps.edu email account. You and your family are critical partners in this work, and I look forward to hearing your feedback.
The district will move Local School Council elections to November. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the district was unable to hold the Local School Council (LSC) elections in April. LSCs play a critical role in our schools––making policy changes that directly impact student outcomes, selecting school leaders, and approving how school funds will be spent. Yesterday, Governor JB Pritzker signed a law that will allow the district to move the LSC election to November and extend current LSC terms until the new election takes place. The law also allows for flexible voting formats to protect the health and safety of all participants. We will share new election dates and voting formats with you as soon possible. Thank you to the dedicated, passionate members of our CPS community who are running for election to create positive, well-rounded learning environments where every child has the opportunity to succeed.
I hope you have a safe and healthy summer.
Sincerely, Janice K. Jackson, EdD Chief Executive Officer Chicago Public Schools |
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