WJHS Weekly News and Notes

I hope you and your family had a wonderful and relaxing summer! Our staff has been hard at work getting the building ready, and we are so excited to open our doors for the start of a fantastic year.

Entering my second year as your principal, I am even more honored to serve this remarkable community. Reflecting on my first year at WJHS, I am deeply grateful for the warm welcome and strong partnership we built together. Our commitment remains steadfast: to cultivate a safe, supportive, and engaging environment where every student can thrive. We can’t wait to see all of our returning students and meet our newest Wolves on the first day of school!

Stay Connected with Weekly Updates As the year progresses, please take a moment to read this newsletter. I will send it weekly (except during school breaks) and will keep it brief, complete with a "Table of Contents" so you can easily skim for key topics.

We encourage you to check out the dates for the 2026-2027 school year. I have linked the calendar for you here. In addition, D39 recognizes many religious and cultural celebrations throughout the year and these are linked above or here for your reference. I am also linking the D39 Parent Handbook for your perusal. I will send the WJHS Student Handbook next week so that you can read through that with your child.

Our assistant principals are working hard to create balanced teams and schedules for all students. This means they are making daily adjustments to ensure correct class placements and balanced enrollment. Please note that a student's team and schedule aren't final until they receive their official assignments from the district on August 13.

Beginning this week WJHS will begin welcoming our new staff into the district and building, and on Thursday, August 13, the WJHS PTO invites all new families to District 39 for a "New Family Welcome". This will take place in the WJHS cafeteria from 5-6 PM. If this will be your first year in Wilmette Public Schools, I hope you can join us to learn more about District 39!

New this year, we are thrilled to invite our incoming families to the 7th Grade Locker & Walk Your Schedule Night on Monday, August 17th, from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM at WJHS! Designed to help students find their lockers, practice their daily routes, and get comfortable in the building before day one, this brand-new tradition will give your 7th grader a major confidence boost. Please keep in mind that parent or guardian supervision is required for all attending students throughout the event—we can't wait to launch this new tradition with you!

We wanted to reach out and welcome you to the upcoming school year, and will send more detailed information next week!

Enjoy the last week of summertime!

Best,

Jon Baffico, Principal

Anne Bishop, 8th Grade Level Administrator

Rob Miller,, 7th Grade Level Administrator

As we gear up for an exciting fall, we are thrilled to welcome several talented new staff members to our Wilmette Junior High community. Each brings a wealth of passion, experience, and energy that will undoubtedly enrich our classrooms and support our students.

Get to know the newest faces joining our team this fall—read all about their backgrounds and roles below!

Gissele Drpich, Spanish (WJHS/HMS): I am an experienced educator and a native Spanish and French speaker, and I am excited to meet our students and begin this new chapter in the Spanish classroom. I believe language learning should be engaging. My goal is to create opportunities for students to participate, explore different cultures, and discover new perspectives. Outside the classroom, I am the proud mother of two adult sons. My husband and I enjoy traveling around the world and spending time with our three dogs, visiting dog parks together. I look forward to building new relationships and to all the wonderful experiences this new school year will bring!

Ben Rubin, 7th Grade Social Studies: My name is Ben Rubin and I am so excited to be the new 7A Social Studies teacher here at WJHS! I have been a teacher in Chicago Public Schools near Midway Airport the last 12 years where I have taught a lot of the American History and Constitution material we will be covering here at WJHS. I am obsessed with sports and am a former high school basketball coach. I am a diehard fan of my alma mater, the University of Illinois, in addition to the Bears, Bulls, and my hometown baseball team... the St. Louis Cardinals! Going along with that, I am an avid golfer who has traveled the country and world to play some amazing courses. My wife and I have a set of boy/girl twins at home who will be two this winter and who always keep us on our toes, but are the world's cutest duo! I am most looking forward to meeting all the new families and staff members and educating my students on the subjects I am most passionate about, which are American History and the Constitution.

Alyssa Harn, Social Worker: Hello! My name is Alyssa Harn, and I’m so excited to be joining WJHS as a school social worker. I previously worked as a social worker at Stevenson High School and am looking forward to getting to know the students, families, and staff in this community.

A little about me: I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Albania for 2 years which deepened my love of learning about different cultures! I recently became a mom to my beautiful daughter, Layla, who was born in December! Outside of school, I enjoy spending time with my family and my cat, doing house projects, thrifting, and listening to country music. I’m excited to meet you and become part of this wonderful community!

Annie Burkhalter, Social Worker, WJHS/HMS: Nice to meet you, District 39 Community! My name is Annie Burkhalter and I am so excited to be working as a social worker at HMS and WJHS this year! This is my first year as a social worker and my first year at D39. I spent my internships at Barrington High School and Youth & Family Counseling, a community mental health center in Libertyville. Outside of school and work, I like to spend my time hanging at a coffee shop, working on several crafts, baking, or being with my friends. Thanks for welcoming me into your community, and I look forward to working with you!

Max Baker, 8th Grade ALOP (Alternative Learning Opportunities Program) Advocate: Hi! My name is Max Baker and I am one of the Student Advocates at Wilmette Junior High School. I am originally from St. Louis and attended the University of Missouri where I studied sports journalism. After moving to Chicago, I worked in communications at Mercy Home for Boys & Girls for 3.5 years before discovering my passion for helping young people. When I'm not at work, you can find me on the softball field, watching the Golden State Warriors or hanging out with my friends listening to live music. I am really excited for the upcoming school year and to meet all of you.

Gabriela Sync, 7th Grade ALOP Advocate: Hi everyone! My name is Ms. Gryc and I am very excited to start as an Alternative Learning Opportunities Program (ALOP) Student Advocate this upcoming school year at WJHS to place students on a path to success. I will be creating Student Success Plans, setting goals, and tracking student progress for those struggling behaviorally, academically, socially, or emotionally. Before joining you all, I was pursuing a career in healthcare and working in an emergency department. I have pivoted since then to deepen my understanding of mental health as opposed to physical health, and pursue my passion of supporting youth! I am a proud University of Illinois Alum (Go Illini!) and outside of my position, I love to sing, play a tune on my guitar, and find my zen in yoga class. I am so happy to be here and cannot wait to meet you all!

Catherine Janus, Administrative Assistant: Hello everyone my name is Catherine Janus and I am the new secretary here at WJHS. I studied Early Childhood Education and graduated from Florida International University. I love spending time in Colorado, especially horseback riding, hiking and driving a Jeep through the mountains. I also love relaxing on the beautiful beaches of Maui. This summer, I tried pickleball for the first time and absolutely loved it!

I'm excited to be here, and I look forward to getting to know and working with all of you.

August 13: Schedules will be released on a rolling basis throughout the day. You may also access your child's schedule on PowerSchool on this date

August 13: New Family Welcome hosted by PTO

August 17: 7th Grade Locker & Walk Your Schedule Night

August 17 & 18: D39 Teacher Institute Days

August 18: 7th Grade Orientation - More information to come from Mr. Miller, 7th grade administrator, in the coming days

August 19: First Day of School - half day; Doors open at 8:15 AM with dismissal at 11:20 AM

August 20: First Full Day of School

September 7: No School (Labor Day)

September 18: 7th & 8th Grade Curriculum Night

September 21: No School (Yom Kippur)

Doors to WJHS will open at 8:10 AM daily. Students may enter through the front lobby doors of the school and one entrance is open in the back of the school by the bike racks. There are bike racks in both the front and back of the school. If you are dropping off your child via a vehicle, please follow the route linked here to help keep our students safe and drop-off and pick-up efficient.

We want to ensure that each student reaches their full potential everyday. In order to make good on this promise, we have three arrival bells for students to help them manage their time and signal when they should be in class:

1. The 8:10 am bell: Doors open to welcome students into school

2. The 8:15 am bell: Students should begin moving from their locker to their 1st period class.

3. The 8:20 am bell: Students are expected to be seated in their 1st period class, ready to learn.

In an effort to ensure no loss of instructional time we expect students to be on campus by 8:15 am.

We request that students be dropped off at WJHS before the 8:15 am warning bell which signifies that students have five minutes to arrive in their 1st period class seat. The 8:20 am bell communicates that 1st period has begun.

Ensuring that students are in their 1st period class by 8:20 am also helps our staff take prompt and accurate attendance for the day. We are hopeful that reminding students and families of our bell schedule and the start time of the school day will help students get to school on time to be in 1st period by 8:20 am, ready to learn, so everyone can reach their full potential.

Attention D39 parents: Fall athletic registration will open on Monday, August 10. Please go to the WJHS athletics website and follow the steps below to register your child if they are interested in participating in cross country, girls volleyball, soccer, or girls field hockey:

How to register:

- Parents should use a desktop or laptop to sign in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal

- Choose Forgot Username or Password? if you have log-in trouble

- Choose Forms on the left side

- Select Athletics Registration Form

- Complete the form for each child, including Concussion, Conduct, and current Physical from the past 13 months.

Please visit the athletics website for more information on practices and Coaches emails."

Thanks so much and please let us know if you have any questions.

Sarah Meier + Kirsten Best

Wilmette Jr. HS (WJHS) /Highcrest MS (HMS) Athletic Directors