Thank you for helping us to have an extraordinary school year. I am still reflecting on how emotional our clap-out was on the last day--a testament to the caring relationships our teachers formed with our students and how safe they made them feel to be at school during the evolving COVID environment. I hope you have shifted to summer mode and are enjoying the sunshine, pool weather, and quality time together amid summer school/camp schedules, sleepovers, and all the fun!
My family is balancing the soccer, baseball, swimming, and tennis schedules while getting caught up on outside projects and Obi-Wan Kenobi episodes. We are planning our summer trips to Michigan, as I expect to be out of the office most of July.
As it is now late June, I wanted to communicate some summer updates as much work is underway in preparing for the 2022-2023 school year.
If you dropped by Walker recently, you may have noticed that the spider web play structure and (leaning) ball tower have been removed, as they were both near obsoletion. Before long, construction will begin on our new Outdoor Classroom, a project brainstormed by our PTO Strategic Planning committee and approved by our PTO Executive Committee and D181 Board of Education. We are excited to unveil it to our students upon our return in August.
Inside Walker School, summer cleaning has begun. New LED lighting and new door locks are being installed throughout the building. All of the furniture that went into storage during the height of COVID-19 to make room for socially distanced seating has returned, and Custodian Miss Daisy and I will begin the re-sorting process to return items to classrooms throughout the school.
A special Thank You to our PTO Executive Members, who held steadfast to this year’s initiative to re-establish our school community with many awesome events that reminded us how powerful our little Walker School can be when we all work together:
Co-Presidents: Megan Mannor & Corri Natarelli
Co-Vice Presidents: Marsha Ma and Jenny Schoenberger
Co-Treasurers: Anne Marie Bodrozic & Kristin Wiklund
Recording Secretary: Chrissy Zajicek
Communications: Jen Forcash & Heidi Lauerman
WalkerFest Chair: Amy Phillips
As I said before, in my experience, it seems the right people have been placed before us at the right time, and I am personally grateful for the tremendous collaboration our PTO and Walker staff enjoys, as our school community is stronger and healthier as a result.
Enjoy your summer! I'll send another update as August rolls around:)
Eric Chisausky
Walker School Principal
