WJHS Highlights

Dear WJHS Families,

In order to more accurately measure the school climate in each of our buildings, all six District 39 schools will be administering a school climate survey over the coming weeks. This is a unique and exciting opportunity for us to reach out to all members of our learning community to solicit their feedback.

We have assembled a diverse joint leadership team of teachers, school secretaries, maintenance workers, and administrators that is eager to review feedback and work collaboratively to go through the data to identify areas of strength and areas that we can target for improvement. The work of this team will help us formulate appropriate action steps to guide our work to ensure a safe and supportive learning environment for our students.

This year, D39 has chosen the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) and we will be seeking responses from students in grades 3-8, all faculty/staff, and families as a way to give us a thorough, 360-degree look into our schools. This survey is a change from the 5Essentials survey that we have used in past years, as we believe that it is more student-centered, better matches our school’s focus and work, and allows for actionable data based on responses.

Students in grades 3-8 will complete this survey in class between March 13-20. All responses from both students and families are completely anonymous (no names, email addresses, or personal identifying information is used). However, if you wish to opt your child out of participating in this survey, please notify your student's homeroom teacher by Tuesday, March 12.

I encourage all of you to find time to complete this survey to help us with this important work. Respondents may skip questions in which they are uncertain or uncomfortable in answering. The survey will take between 15-20 minutes to complete and please complete one survey per household for EACH of your children. Should you have multiple children at the same school, it is recommended that you take the survey for each child, as you may have different experiences for each.

You can access the WJHS survey through this link: https://rezed.io/1NYPRM

We ask that you please complete your survey(s) by March 22. Thank you for your partnership and support of WJHS and we look forward to sharing this data with our learning community later this spring.

Sincerely,

Kate, Eric and Nicole

Many people helped put on our WJHS Student Council Dance! We also had local businesses donate prizes for the games that were played and we are so grateful for their generosity. Thank you to:

• Graeter’s Ice Cream
• Chuck Wagon
• The Ridgeview Grill
• Wild Child
• Ballyhoo Hospitality

As we do several times a year, the Lost & Found will be donated prior to spring break. Please feel free to call or email the office and schedule a time to come and look through the lost and found for items that have not returned home.

Oakley, one of our safety dogs, came to visit again this week and found WJHS to be safe on Thursday! We are thankful for this partnership that helps keep WJHS safe!

Many of our SEL lessons in District 39 help students learn about themselves, their emotions, their families and their traditions as they also learn about others’ perspectives. This helps to create a community of belonging for all of our students at our schools and in our classrooms.

Learning about traditions that are the same as, and different from your own helps your child increase their understanding of the world around them. This month we have the opportunity to learn more about Ramadan, which begins the evening of March 10 and ends around April 9 with the holiday of Eid-al-Fitr. During this holiest and most important month for Muslims around the world, many practice fasting during daylight hours. Enjoy reading a book together about Ramadan to learn more! District 39 teachers are aware that many students will be celebrating Ramadan, and are prepared to make accommodations for students to be able to participate. Please make sure you reach out and let us know if your child is participating so that we can support them as needed.

As a reminder, this calendar provides dates and information on many celebratory dates for students and staff of District 39.

We have updated our WJHS Winter Clubs. We have linked the lists below:

7th grade clubs (period 5)

8th grade clubs (period 6)

*After school clubs are open to students in both grades.

8th grade graduation will take place on Wednesday, June 5 at 5:30pm in the new Winnetka Main Gym, at the Winnetka Campus of New Trier High School on Wednesday, June 5, 2023. We are excited to offer one graduation ceremony this year for the entire 8th grade class, set to take place at 5:30 pm. Due to space in the gym, each student will be offered four tickets for family.

District 39 uses a content filtering system to keep our students safe while using digital tools. Along with the content filtering, communication through school accounts is also monitored. Students can communicate with others through their Google Apps, such as Google Docs, Schoology Discussion, Email and many other ways to collaborate, work together, get support and ask questions. These communication tools are monitored for appropriate use, such as language, where they will get flagged if anything inappropriate is happening. If they are sent messages with inappropriate language or content, they will also get flagged. We teach, model and guide students to use appropriate language and communicate respectfully when using these tools. We also remind them that they should be doing this in their daily life, whether digitally or face to face. Please partner with us to help remind them to be mindful of how they communicate.

Email: office-wjhs@wilmette39.org
Website: http://wjhs.wilmette39.org/
Location: 620 Locust Rd, Wilmette, IL, USA
Phone: 847-512-6600
Instagram: @hawkwolf39
Twitter: @hawkwolf39