Principal's Newsletter

Next week we kick off the new school year with our Back to School Bash, and a couple of New Family Orientations. We hope to see you there! Here are a few updates:

KINDERGARTEN

We typically have three kindergarten homerooms, but this year we only registered enough students for two, so we closed one homeroom. We'll have to see next year if this is an anomaly or the start of a new trend. One of our kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Hammersmith, is taking her special brand of teaching (a mix of pure love of students and her special sauce) and moving up to second grade. The students are in for a real treat!

Mr. Rahlfs is moving from second grade to fourth grade to teach English Language Arts. He spent hours upon hours last year helping select our new high quality HMH Reading and Writing Curriculum, and is taking this passion and energy, and putting it into practice.

On a sad note, we are wishing farewell to Madison Staszcuk, who was exceptionally well-loved by our Onahan Community. She has accepted a new position at Jahn Elementary. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for great lessons and your commitment to students, Madison.

FOOD SERVICES

I am passing along information from the CPS Nutrition Support Services Department that there will be a reduction in breakfast and lunch options from our vendor. This is due to CPS budget cuts. Meals will still be free to all students.

CROSSING GUARDS

CPS Chief of Safety and Security, Ronan Shableski, has assured me that we will have crossing guards at Natoma and Devon, Raven and Nagle, and Raven and Milwaukee starting the first day of school. Thank you for reaching out to Alderman Napolitano, Alderman Gardiner and Alderman Nugent. They each have been great advocates and vocal about our safety concerns. I have written to thank them and I am thanking you for making an important impact, too.

VOLUNTEER FORMS

If you want to be active and help chaperone field trips or help out at a major school event, I encourage you to apply to be a level 1 volunteer, which requires a background check. It's worth it to be part of the fun. Here is the link: https://www.cps.edu/services-and-supports/parent-engagement/volunteer-programs/

BEGINNING OF SCHOOL DOCUMENTS

You may use the downloadable and fillable documents, and start early if you wish. They are linked here, at the bottom of the newsletter and on our website.

https://www.onahanschool.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=4434321&type=d&pREC_ID=2674999

To pay student fees go to Epay (or go to onahanschool.org main page, very top corner) and use the chart below. You can select the option of One Time Payment rather than creating an account or logging in. You will need one student ID, and if you are a current student, that can be found on Aspen’s parent portal, a progress report or report card. If you are not able to pay the fees, please contact the main office at (773) 534-1180.

Student Fees Pay For:

Text books

Buses

Field Trips

Consumable Workbooks

Classroom Magazines

Novel Sets

Classroom Instructional Supplies

Personnel

Professional Development

Contracts

Web-based Subscriptions

Office Supplies

Furniture

Safety Equipment for entry and dismissal

Incentives

Tech repair

Tuition Based Art After School Program: Classes held for grades on Mondays, 9/8/25-1/26/26 @ 2:45-3:45.

Thursday Night League for 9-12 year olds

Harrison's Helpers is back for our 4th Breakthrough T1D One Walk in September, and we're really excited to announce our 2nd Annual Strike Out T1D bowling fundraiser on Saturday, August 9th. Please mark your calendars and save the date for Strike Out T1D. The details are in the attached flyer.

We look forward to your continued support as we do everything we can to fundraise for a cure for type 1 diabetes!!

We'd love to grow our walk team, and show up at Montrose Harbor on Sunday, September 28 with a sea of purple shirts. Harrison enjoys the One Walk as it is a time to celebrate him and experience the support of the Breakthrough T1D Community and our family community. We hope to see you out there!!

If you're unable to join us for Strike Out T1D or the One Walk, please consider donating and sharing with your network! We appreciate you!

Link to Donate to Harrison: Harrison's Donation Page

Link to Join the Walk Team: Harrison's Helpers Walk Team (click the Join Our Team button)