Julian Middle Matters Newsletter

Please watch this brief video on how to navigate PowerSchool during remote learning. Angelica Love, an assistant principal at Brooks, put this together for our middle school parents/guardians. Please contact Cory Marshall (cmarshall@op97.org) if you need assistance with accessing PowerSchool for your student.

We believe that during this time, it is important for our students to have the opportunity to come together. Starting next week, we are offering a space for Julian students to get together to socialize with their peers. Assistant principals will be facilitating these sessions next week. The “Julian Jayhawks Lunchtime Socials” will take place every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 11:00-11:30 using Google Meets. We will be sharing this information and the Google Meets link with our students on Monday morning.

• Monday: 6th Grade

https://meet.google.com/yns-ioxd-orx

• Tuesday: 7th Grade

https://meet.google.com/dnv-acxe-zbs

• Wednesday: 8th Grade

https://meet.google.com/tto-ixpv-pte

• Friday, May 8

• Friday, May 15

• Friday, May 22

Students are NOT assigned work by their teachers on these days.

Several field trips scheduled for March and April were cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic. The Julian office staff has recently submitted refund requests for those parents who had paid for their student's cancelled trip. Given that the district office staff is working remotely because of the shelter-in-place order, this refund process will take several weeks to complete for all of our District 97 elementary and middle schools. If you have not received your field trip refund by June 1, please contact our business office at 708-524-7625. We appreciate your patience during this difficult time.

We are super proud of the work our students are doing. We also know that it is important for them to take care of their social and emotional self. We will be sharing some interactive social emotional learning activities with them weekly. Students will be receiving an email Monday mornings around 9:00 with activities that have been created by the middle school Culture and Climate coaches.The first one includes a flipgrid activity. Our hope is to create a space of community, just as it was when we were in the building.

This information will also be posted on the Canvas teacher pages for students to access. Please encourage your student to spend some time reading through this document. It is here to provide them with ideas on how to manage this difficult and unusual time away from school. We are looking forward to seeing what they are doing for self care!

Technical support will be available from school and district technology staff by accessing the Help Desk through email, helpdesk@op97.org. When an email is submitted, a Help Desk ticket is created and assigned to technology staff, who will be working throughout the day to address technology concerns. Our technology team can support District 97 devices and student online programs.

We are always looking for talented, dedicated individuals to join the District 97 team! We know that some of our best teachers and staff members have come to District 97 based on a referral. If you know somebody who you believe would be a good fit for our district, please fill out the D97 Staff Referral Form. If you have any questions, please email the human resources department at hr@op97.org.

It's now been four full weeks that students have been learning from home. And we know the COVID-19 pandemic can wear on every resource—from food and shelter to our emotional bandwidth and mental health. Fortunately, the Illinois Department of Human Services has launched a support line called Call4Calm that is reachable via text. Individuals who want to speak with a mental health professional can text the word “TALK” or “HABLAR” (for Spanish speakers) to 552-020. Within 24 hours, that individual will receive a call from a mental health professional employed by a local community health center.

People can also text other terms, like “unemployment” or “food” or “shelter” to the same number to receive information on how to navigate and access support and services. Call4Calm is free, and individuals who use it can remain anonymous.

District 97 will hold meal distributions every Monday, 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. Meals are available to any District 97 family in need. Each student will receive breakfast and lunch items for five days.

If you have any questions, please contact our food service coordinator, Carla Ellis, at cellis@op97.org.

Oak Park and River Forest High School has announced that all camps for youth through eighth-grade, including Huskie Swim Lessons Camp, have been canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Click here to read the letter from the OPRF Athletics Department >

April 27-30 - Remote Learning Days

Email: tfitzgerald@op97.org
Website: op97.org/julian
Phone: 708-524-3040