OLHMS Update (8/26/25)

Did you know that we love to celebrate the start and end of each week?

Every Monday around OLHMS is Mustang Monday! Remind our scholars that Monday is always a great day to show some school pride by sporting our school colors or school gear! We always end the week by acknowledging Future Forecasting Friday! We love seeing all the college, university and career gear!

Did you know that the start for the year can be stressful for our resilient scholars?

Here is a nice article, Supporting back-to-school mental health to assist our transition back to school and setting the tone for a tremedous year.

OLHMS Families,

Welcome back to what promises to be an absolutely incredible year at Oak Lawn Hometown Middle School—the proud home of the Mustangs! I hope your family is settling back into the school routine and ready to dive into the amazing opportunities ahead.

At OLHMS, we live by the belief that we are “Creating a dream and making it a reality!” This year, we are ready to take it to the next level—our theme is LEVEL UP!

LEVEL UP isn’t just a phrase—it’s a mindset that will guide our entire community as we:

• Push for academic excellence and meaningful growth

• Lead with compassion, structure, and support

• Celebrate as one unstoppable Mustang team

We have already had a tremendous first week back! Our entire school came together for a full-school assembly, setting the tone for an exciting year ahead. In addition, each grade level had the opportunity to meet with our administrative and grade-level teams, ensuring that every scholar begins the year feeling welcomed, supported, and ready to succeed.

Our staff is energized, passionate, and committed to walking alongside every scholar. Together, with your partnership, we will nurture student voice, create powerful learning experiences, and build a culture rooted in safety, inclusion, and achievement.

This year, we will continue to live out our Mustang Musts everywhere we go:

• Be Safe

• Be Responsible

• Be Respectful

The energy is here, the excitement is real, and the best is yet to come. Let’s LEVEL UP together!

With Mustang Pride,
Dr. Sean McNichols

Oak Lawn-Hometown School District 123 transitioned to Qmlativ (Skyward 3.0) for the 2025-26 school year. Qmlativ offers enhanced features across a wide range of areas, including student information, grades, scheduling, attendance, food service and much more. Hopefully, each of our OLHMS families have logged into the new system!

If you are logging in for the first time to the new Qmlativ Family Access, you will need to click "Forgot Your Username or Password" and follow the steps to log in to your account.

Log in to your account here. Please note, School District 123 does not keep track of passwords, however, your school’s main office can send you a reset link.

For additional information and resources about Qmlativ Family Access, we have created a family resource page on our website with helpful videos to guide you through the new Qmlativ Family Access platform.

Teacher Assignments, Schedules and Transportation

Advisory/ homeroom assignments, schedules and bus routes were posted in Qmlativ Family Access. Please know there will be additional adjustments made to assignments, schedules and bus routes. We appreciate everyone’s understanding and cooperation with additional adjustments. We plan to have all courses secured at the end of next week of.

PLEASE NOTE: Bus transportation adjustments are being made by First Student, please check Family Access for updated information/ adjustments.

Student Portal: Our Mustangs utilize the this site to access their Google Classrooms, Google Drive, Gmail, Skyward and student apps. This is also where daily announcements are posted for students. This is also the location for scholars to select club options. Trimester 1 club options/ sign up will be made available soon.

• Membership(Click Here) is $7.00 per student and $10.00 per adult

• PTSA Meetings are at 6:00pm monthly

• PTSA Meeting- September 8, 2025 at 6:00pm
  
• PTSA Spirit Gear- Order NOW until 9/8/25!
  
• Reach out to Delecta Harris, our PTSA President for more information (olhmsd123ptsa@gmail.com)
  
• PTSA Facebook
  

• All parents/ guardians/ staff & students are highly encouraged to join the PTSA and attend meetings. This is an incredible opportunity, partnership and fun way to support our scholar’s experience at the middle school!

• If you are interested in supporting our school in a different capacity please reach out to our PTSA! Maybe you do not have the time to donate, but your contributions can still be made through your membership!

Starting in the 2025–2026 school year, OLHMS will return to a Traditional Grading system. This decision was made after thoughtful consideration of feedback from teachers, parents, and students. We believe this change will help support our scholars by aligning more closely with the grading practices and expectations students will experience in high school, and allow for a smoother transition as students rise into the 9th grade.

Why This Change?

• To closely align with high school grading systems.

• To support efficiency and consistency in communicating student progress to OLHMS families.

• To respond positively to the preferences and feedback from the OLHMS learning community.While we transition to traditional letter grades, we remain committed to continuously monitor student progress toward grade-level standards through meaningful assessments and expanded opportunities for classroom feedback.

What Will the Traditional Grading System Look Like?

• Grading Categories & Weights

• 70% of the trimester grade will be calculated from: Summative Assessments (i.e. unit tests, major projects, etc.)

• 30% of the trimester grade will be calculated from: Formative Assessments (i.e. quizzes, exit tickets, classwork, homework, etc.)

• Grading Scale (No plus or minus grades):

• A = 90–100

• B = 80–89

• C = 70–79

• D = 60–69

• F = 59 and below

Please note: As a non-credit-bearing institution, OLHMS will not calculate GPAs or publish honor roll.

Additional Key Information:

• Traditional grades will be used across all subjects and grade levels at OLHMS.

• Qmlativ Family Access will currently serve as our platform for tracking progress and staying informed.

• Periodic progress reports will be provided to support consistent family-school communication.

• Retakes will be available for students in the Summative Assessment category. OLHMS leadership is currently drafting building-wide retake procedures to ensure growth and mastery throughout the learning process.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s teachers or a member of our administrative team. We are here to support our scholars and families through this transition.

Thank you for your continued partnership in your child’s educational journey.

We are excited to welcome back Office Craig, our School Resource Officer! As we continue to partner with local agencies, we will refine our practices to ensure safety is always on the forefront of our minds. As part of our ongoing commitment to student safety, we continue to closely scrutinize all initial entry into the building to ensure a secure environment for everyone. We kindly remind all families to bring a valid driver’s license or photo ID when picking up a student during the school day. Additionally, visitors are not permitted to leave the main office without a staff escort. These safety procedures are in place to protect our students and staff, and we appreciate your continued cooperation and partnership in maintaining a safe school community. We will also expect that all students, staff and guests wear designated ID's at all times.

Digital Hallpass: We are excited to continue using the digital system to support our entire school!

Sports Tryouts: Fall sport tryouts has started! Athletes wishing to participate/ tryout must have a sports physical on file to tryout.

Clubs and Activities: Our Mustangs use this quick LINK located on the student portal to stay up to speed with club options and registration each trimester. Located on this page is an example of club offerings last year!

Student Device Repair Program:

Your student's device is protected against accidental damage, theft, fire, flood, natural disasters, power surge and vandalism. If your child’s device needs repair, below are the costs associated with each incident during a school year:

• 1st incident - No Charge (one-time fee waiver)

• 2nd incident - $25.00

• 3rd incident - $50.00

Free & Reduced Lunch Reminder

The federal program allowing districts across the country to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of income has expired. At this time, the federal government has not extended the waivers for this school year to allow free meals for all students. As a result, schools across the nation will be reverting back to free and reduced-price meals based on income eligibility guidelines set by theU.S. Department of Agriculture. Families who do not qualify for free or reduced lunch will have to pay for school meals. Students whose families are eligible for free or reduced-price breakfast or lunch will be able to access meals this school year at no cost or a discounted rate. D123 will continue to explore ways we can help families with this adjustment since this may create a financial burden for some of our families. At no point would we ever want any child to go hungry at school. If you would like to apply for free or reduced priced meals, please click here.

Health Examination and Immunization Requirements

There are specific requirements for students entering preschool, kindergarten, second grade and sixth grade, as well as for all new students. Visit our Health Forms & Guidelines page for more information. Please note that these vaccinations and/or health examinations are required by state law.

• All incoming 6th Graders must have a physical and dental report on file.
• All 6th, 7th and 8th Graders interested in sports will need a sports physical to try out for teams.

We appreciate all of our families supporting our entry and dismissal process! Parents and families dropping off and walkers enter the building in the back of the school on Oak Center Dr. Parents please be patient, follow guidance from support staff and do not block the driveways of our neighbors on Oak Center Dr.

• 6th Grade scholars use Door 4

• 7th Grade scholars use Door 6

• 8th Grade scholars use Door 5

Parking lots are for staff parking only. All parent/student drop off and pick up takes place in the back of the school on Oak Center Dr.

• Main Entrance: Bus entrance only and will be closed from 8:15-8:45am and 3:15-3:45pm to guests!

• Please be patient with bus routes the first few weeks of school. First Student is our the bus company we use in D123 to transport our scholars and their drivers do take additional time the first couple of weeks to follow their given routes. At the school we will also be monitoring and checking PM routes which will cause delays initially. We appreciate your patience and understanding in advance.

• Oak Center Drive: One-Way moving West to East for morning and afternoon drop off and pick up.

Main Parking Lot, Circle Drive and 99th Street: Family drop off and pick up is done on Oak Center Dr. If family members are helping out, please let them know to use the rear of the building for drop off or pick up. Students should not be dropped off in the morning or picked up during dismissal via the main parking lot while buses are present. The main parking lot will be CLOSED from 8:15-8:45am and 3:15-3:45pm daily.

• Designating a pick up and drop off area/ location for our scholars to meet their ride has been extremely helpful and allows families to avoid the congestion.
• Please do not have students run across 99th street or Oak Center Dr. to be picked up without adult supervision. We want to make sure all of our students and families are kept safe.
• The rear doors (Oak Center Dr./ Circle Drive) will close at 8:35am during morning arrival and the rear doors will be closed at 3:30pm during afternoon dismissal.
  
• School tardies will be assigned after 8:30am.
• Please be patient and courteous!
  

Student attendance is critically important to our success! Please ensure our scholars are here daily and on time! Student tardies and overall attendance will be recorded and may impact student privileges! We look forward to working with our Mustangs daily!

Student Schedules (8:30am to 3:20pm)

Scholars follow a specific grade-level schedule. Each student will have a unique 10 period schedule consistent with their grade-level peer. All grade levels have grade specific Encore and lunch periods.

• Core Classes: All students have 4 Core class
• Math (80 mins), ELA (80 mins), Science (40 mins ) & Social Studies (40 mins)
• Daily PE (40 mins): All student have a PE period (Student must wear gym shoes)
• Spanish: Optional 3 year program
• Encore Classes (All 40 mins): All Encore are randomly assigned during Encore periods
• Global Studies, Connections, Communications, Art, Health, Music, Journalism, Multimedia Productions, Family Consumer Science and Financial Literacy.

Stress: How parents can spot and help reduce it in children: We all know this time of year can be very stressful! Our Counselors asked that I share a nice resource.

Thursday, August 28, 2025

OLHMS Open House. This is a wonderful opportunity to begin our learning partnership!

• Doors will open at 6:30- 8:00 PM

• Basic Structure for the Event:

  • 90-minutes in length

  • 2 - 25-minutes Teacher/ Advisory Team Presentations

Friday, August 29, 2025

Fall Pictures

Monday, September 1, 2025

Labor Day, No School

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

D123 Late Start