Parker JHS Newsletter

Thank you for reviewing our important updates and information below:

Grade Level Community Meetings - School Safety (09. 19. 2024)

We conducted Grade Level Community Meetings to remind Parker Scholars of our Safety Protocols. Please see information below that was shared:

I want to address the recent non-credible threat that was made against our school. Scholars that make verbal statements in a threatening manner will receive school related disciplinary consequences. Your words mean something and we take it very seriously.

I want to remind you of a few important things:

1. If you see or hear something suspicious, report it to a teacher, administrator, or family member immediately! Your safety is our top priority, and we rely on you to help us maintain a safe environment.

2. Take all drills and safety procedures seriously! It is important to know what to do in case of an emergency, and practicing these procedures can help keep you safe in a real-life situation.

3. Be aware of your surroundings and look out for your classmates! If you notice anything out of the ordinary, speak up and alert someone in authority.

4. Take care of yourself and each other! If you are feeling anxious or stressed about the situation, please reach out to a trusted adult for support.

Remember that we are all in this together, and it is important for us to work as a team to ensure the safety of our school community. Your safety is our number one priority, and we are here to support you in any way we can.

Scholar Pictures and IDs

Scholars will receive pictures and a "picture calendar card" during Homeroom Monday, 09.23.2024. Please reference the picture calendar card for the order number needed to submit any reorders and purchases.

IDs and lanyards will be distributed to scholars Monday, 09.23.2024. It is the expectation for scholars to wear IDs at all times throughout the school day. Please note that lunch codes and PBIS barcodes are included on IDs for Parker Staff to access.

Upcoming School Holidays

October 11th - Yom Kippur Observed. No Classes

October 14th - No Classes

Transportation

School Street is one way for Arrival and Dismissal

• Please assist with maintaining proper traffic safety procedures.

• Braemar Street to School Street to Douglass (Optional right or left turn).

• No Parking on School Street! Please maintain traffic flow and drop off scholars from Braemar Street. NO STOPPING ON SCHOOL STREET!

Flossmoor SD 161 Elementary School Access

Parker JHS scholars are not permitted on FSD 161 Elementary School grounds until classes have been dismissed at 3:30 pm. If scholars are meeting or picking up a sibling, they must adhere to this procedure. Please reiterate this to your children as we strive to maintain safety for all schools of Flossmoor SD 161.

Educationally Yours,

Ursula Parris, Principal

Parker Junior High School

9.21.24

• Recyclepalooza - 7:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Parker Parking Lot

9.23.24

• School Spirit Week Begins

• Fall Play Rehearsal - 3:05 p.m. - Media Center/Room 31

• Girls BBall Game Parker vs Colin Powell - 3:30 p.m. - Colin Powell MS

• Cross Country Meet vs Huth - 3:30 p.m. - Apollo Park

9.24.24

• Girls Basketball Practice - 3:00 p.m. - North Gym

• Cross Country Practice - 3:00 p.m. - Parker

• Fall Play Rehearsal - 3:05 p.m. - Room 31

• Dungeons & Dragons Club Begins - 3:05 p.m. - Media Center

• Cheer Practice - 3:30 p.m. - South Gym

9.25.24

• H-F Late Start Day

• Fall Play Rehearsal - 3:05 p.m. - Media Center/Room 31

• Dance Team Tryouts - 3:05 p.m. - MUR

• Cheer Practice - 3:30 p.m. - South Gym

• Girls BBall Game Parker vs Obama MS - 3:30 p.m. - North Gym

• Cross Country Meet vs Huth - 3:30 p.m. - Central Park

• Baseball IESA Regional Games - 4:30 p.m. - Western Avenue, Pony Fields

9.26.24

• Dance Team Tryouts - 3:05 p.m. - South Gym

• Fall Play Rehearsal - 3:05 p.m. - Room 31/North Gym

• Cheer Practice & Parent Meeting - 3:30 p.m. - MUR

• Anime Club - 3:05 p.m. - Media Center

• Girls Basketball Practice - 3:00 p.m. - North Gym

9.27.24

• School Spirit Week Ends

Welcome, Mr. Ramos!

The Parker team is excited to welcome Mr. Ramos to our team as the new 6th grade dean! Mr. Ramos has experience in building relationships with scholars and positively impacting classroom instruction.

6.20 School Dress Code

We expect all students to be dressed appropriately and comfortably for school each day. Students are expected to be reasonably dressed and prepared to participate in a professional and hard working school environment. Any student whose dress is deemed to be inappropriate will be provided with a shirt or shorts that will appropriately cover the dress code violation.

Clothes must be worn in such a way that the genitals, buttocks, stomach, sides, back and chest area are fully covered with opaque fabric. All undergarments must be fully covered.

The following apply to all student attire:

a) Shirts must have opaque fabric in the front, back and on the sides under the arms that extends to the waistband.

b) Pants/sweatpants/shorts/ skirt/dress/leggings must be worn at waist level and in such a way that genitals, buttocks, undergarments are fully covered with opaque fabric.

c) Shoes must be worn at all times.

The following guidance is intended to illustrate implementation of the above requirements for students, parents, and school personnel while on school property:

1. Jackets, coats, hats, hoods, gloves, and other forms of outerwear apparel are not to be worn in school. Fleece and sweatshirts may be worn in school as long as a hood is not covering a student’s head.

2. No head covering or cap may be worn in the school unless for religious or health reasons.

3. Only prescription glasses may be worn in school.

4. Attire, earrings, jewelry, pins, or any other type of wearing apparel or accessories that advertise, promote, or depict alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, drugs, gangs, weapons, nudity, obscenity, or profanity are not to be worn in school.

5. Students are not permitted to wear or advertise in any manner drug, alcohol, weapons, or any controlled substance paraphernalia.

6. Pajama attire is not to be worn in school, unless given special permission [PBIS reward, etc.].

As you know, our September PBIS goal is around positive common area behaviors. Our scholars have voted and if we reach our school wide goal of earning 50,000 Falcon bucks overall we will have a PAJAMA PANTS party on Monday September 30th. Talk to your scholars and remind them of our expectations to be respectful, responsible and ready at all times.

For the month of September, our CKH focus is empathy. Empathy is defined as the ability to share feelings of or with another person. Scholars should practice empathy by being respectful and responsible in the hallway and common areas.

Rock Your School is a worldwide initiative that encourages educators to create engaging and fun learning experiences for their students. The program's mission is to:

• Celebrate the little things,
• Collaborate with people outside of education,
• Support and raise awareness for teachers
• Inspire students in new ways, and
• Revolutionize the classroom experience

Testing

Upcoming NWEA Testing Dates

Winter: December 9 -13, 2024

Spring: April 23 - 30, 2025

Upcoming AIMSWEB Testing Dates

Winter: January 22 - 28, 2025

Spring: May 6 - 12, 2025

Testing Tips

• Get a good night's rest

• Charge Chromebook the night before

• Eat a healthy breakfast

MTSS team will begin analyzing data with teachers and launch Tier 2 and Tier 3 Math and Reading Interventions

Homework Help is available Tuesday - Thursday from 2:35 pm-3:05 pm. Please make sure your child has transportation home. Bus Transportation will not be provided.

Please remind scholars to utilize the 3 Ring Binders and Tab Dividers for their classes. Parker teachers are providing lessons to help our scholars with organization and thee tools are required for academic success of our scholars.

• Entrance and Exit - Parker Staff will be available to escort scholars to Grade Level Entrance

  • 6th Grade Scholars - Door B

  • 7th Grade Scholars - Door G

  • 8th Grade Scholars - Door J

  
  

• School Street is one way for Arrival and Dismissal

  • Braemar Street to School Street to Douglass (Optional right or left turn)

  • No Parking on School Street. Please maintain traffic flow and drop off scholars from Braemar Street!

  
  

• Transportation

• Bus information is available in Skyward for families. If you have any transportation questions, please contact Ms. Wanda Alexander at 708-647-7001.
• Please prepare to arrive 10 minutes before the scheduled pick up time on the first day of school.

Baseball

The team has their first regional game on 9/25/24. Good luck Falcons!

Girls Basketball

Lady Falcons are dominating the court! The ladies beat Chicago Heights Middle school and Brookwood this week! Their next game is Monday 9/23 against Colin Powell. Good luck ladies!

Cross Country

The team has their next meet on Monday 9/23/24 against Huth @ Apollo Park. Their meet on Wednesday 9/25/24 will be @ Obama . Good luck Falcons!

Dance

Dance packets are available outside the main office! Tryouts will be on 9/25/24 and 9/26/24. You MUST have a sports physical on file to try out!

Scholars be sure to check the Media Center Canvas page for additional announcements!

There is a fee for admittance to all home games.

$2 for Adults

$1 for All Students and Seniors

Kids 5 and under FREE

Cash only please, no cards are accepted!

SSJHSA conference rule: ALL Scholars MUST be accompanied by THEIR PARENT in order to attend any home games. Parents must stay with their scholar for the duration of the game. If the parent leaves the game, so does the scholar.

Parker Junior High School will be a phone-free space. Scholars will be required to use the Yondr Pouch while in school. All scholars have been issued a Yondr pouch and are expected to place their cell phone inside the Yondr pouch every day upon arriving to school.

ALL 6th grade students are required to have a physical with updated immunizations completed and turned in to the nurse PRIOR to exclusion day October 15th. The physical must be on the Certificate of Child Health Examination form. A sports physical DOES NOT meet the requirement of a school physical.

Transfer/new students to PJH must present a 6th grade physical. It is the parent's responsibility to provide a copy of the physical/immunization forms from previous school records. Out of state transfers must have a physical on the Illinois form.

Medications - The only 2 medications (over the counter or prescription) that a student can have in their possession (including backpack, purses, etc.) is an inhaler or epi-pen with authorization. An epi-pen requires physician and parent authorization on the required forms. An inhaler requires parent authorization on the District form and the inhaler prescription box. Students may not have any over the counter or prescription medications at school at any time without the required district authorization forms.

Action Plans - An annual updated action plan is requested for all students with allergies, asthma, seizures, diabetes and other medical conditions.

This is asthma season with weeds and the fall coming, from now until probably mid November a lot of asthma issues coming up. So keep taking allergy meds daily if you take them. Use your inhaler if you need it, drink plenty of water.

Bug bites- we have been seeing a lot of bug bites at the urgent aids. Usually bites are from mosquitoes or some type of mite that is out there. So be mindful at dawn and dusk times those are when those bugs like to come out. If you’re outside, wear appropriate clothing or use appropriate sprays.

Step by Step training video for families regarding "My School Menus" can be found here: https://vimeo.com/395170590

Email: uparris@sd161.org
Website: https://www.sd161.org/o/parker-junior-high
Location: 2810 School Street, Flossmoor, Illinois 60422