Greeting Panther Families,
Hispanic Heritage Month begins September 15, which is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for several Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively. Additionally, many Latin and Spanish-speaking countries commemorate their indigenous people by celebrating Día de la Raza on October 12, which also falls within these 30 days. This month allows us to reflect on the diversity within the U.S. Hispanic population.
In order to celebrate at Westmont Junior High, our Unity in Diversity students will be participating in various activities such as leading a music bracket in which students and staff are able to vote for their favorite songs from different Spanish speaking countries each day.
Taiwan Exchange Program Information
We are very excited to be hosting students from our sister school in Taiwan this fall. Currently, we are in need of host families. If this is something you and your family would be interested in experiencing, please contact Pete Landreth or Vicky Gomez, contact information below.
From: Sheng Li Junior High (Hsinchu, Taiwan)
Dates: Departing Taiwan and arriving in Chicago on 11/3
Departing Chicago on 11/24
# of students: 12 to 14 Junior High students (2 students per family)
6 to 7 Westmont Junior High families needed to host
Compensation per Host family:
$900 per family for Junior High (based on 2 students in one family)
If interested, please contact both Pete Landreth and Vicky Gomez by email:
Westmont Jr. High will be having a schoolwide assembly on Friday, Sept. 27th from 8:30-9:30 a.m. Laura Stack, an award-winning keynote speaker, bestselling author, and noted authority on personal productivity will be speaking on behalf of Johnny's Ambassadors about the effects drugs can have on adolescent systems. After losing her 19-year-old son to suicide in November 2019, she founded the nonprofit, Johnny's Ambassadors, with a mission to educate parents and teens about the effects of today's high-THC marijuana on adolescent brain development, mental illness, and suicide. For more information about Johnny’s Ambassadors, please visit: https://johnnysambassadors.org/.
If you would like to opt your student out of our assembly, please email Ms. Quattrone at aquattrone@cusd201.org to let us know.
Our first PTO Meeting was on Wednesday evening. Thank you to those who attended. Your support of WJHS is vital to maintaining and enhancing our culture. We appreciate you, and, of course, all you do for our school.
In the meeting, I discussed our school goals, which are directly in line with our district goals. I think it's important to share those with our entire community as well.
ELA:
1. By the end of the 2024-2025 school year, all three grade levels will reach no less than 70% proficiency in ELA as measured by the IAR assessment.
2. By the end of the 2024-2025 school year, no less than 75% of ELA students will reach their typical growth goal as measured by the iReady assessment.
Math:
1. By the end of the 2024-2025 school year, all three grade levels will reach no less than 55% proficiency in Math as measured by the IAR assessment.
2. By the end of the 2024-2025 school year, no less than 75% of MATH students will reach their typical growth goal as measured by iReady assessment.
School goals are essential to us because they provide a roadmap for our staff and students, promote accountability and improvement, and ensure that our school's efforts are directed toward achieving meaningful outcomes for students and the community.
As a staff and administrative team, we have created an action plan focusing on how we will achieve and monitor progress toward achieving these goals and have already begun diving into the data to find our baseline data.
We began our required emergency drills this past week. If you would like to excuse your student from any of the following critical incident drills; please notify our office @ 630-268-8200, no later than 9:00am on Thursday, October 3rd.
- Friday, October 4th - Fire Drill
- Thursday, October 17th - Armed Intruder Drill
- Wednesday, October 30th - Weather Drill
We have surpassed 20 days of school now at the start of the year and our Attendance team is closely monitoring absence data.
Attendance:
The district-wide goal is "no more than five" in order to keep kids in school as attendance is a critical component to academic success. "No more than five" is an end-of-the-year goal for each individual student.
One major metric we look at is when students are "Chronically Absent". Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason (illness, appointments, unexcused absences, etc...).
Students who have been absent 2 or more days this year are currently chronically absent from school. This percentage goes down as the school year goes on, as long as students do not accumulate more absences.
As our team monitors schoolwide attendance and chronic absenteeism you may hear from us in the form of a phone call or letter home in the mail. Our communication is all in service of making sure our students at WJHS are set up for success.
Attendance Tip:
Schedule appointments outside school hours as much as possible. If an appointment has to be made during school hours, talk to the scheduler/provider to minimize missed school as much as possible. Stress the importance of your child being in school. For appointments at the very beginning or very end of a school day, have your student attend school before/after the appointment.
The Junior Citizens’ Police Academy is a FREE, educational, informative and fun program, where young adults can meet police officers and learn about their job. The mission of the program is to increase community interaction, understanding and communication between the Westmont Police Department and our young citizens of the community. Participants are encouraged to ask questions, and actively participate in our discussions and hands-on activities throughout the class. This class may qualify as community service hours for certain programs, including the Westmont Jr. High SSLP. We will provide an engaging and enjoyable experience for everyone. All classes will be held in the Westmont Police Department training room. Use this form to complete your pre-registration. We will contact you once class dates are finalized and confirm that your child will be able to attend. If you are unable to attend, we will retain your contact information to reach out about future classes.
CLASS TOPICS:
Welcome and Tour of the Police Station | Communications and the 911 System | SWAT Demonstration & Presentation | Social Media | Crime Scene Investigation & Processing | Fingerprints | Traffic Stops
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:
Participants must either 1) live in Westmont, or 2) attend school in Westmont, and:
Have parental permission to participate.
Have reliable transportation to and from class.
Have few or no prior criminal contacts with law enforcement.
You are between 12 - 15 years of age
FOR QUESTIONS, PLEASE CALL DETECTIVE DURST AT (630)-981-6365, OR EMAIL JDURST@WESTMONT.IL.GOV
PLEASE SIGN UP HERE! CLASS WILL BE LIMITED TO 20 STUDENTS!
If you are interested in information and help learning the risks kids now face online in an AI driven world, this online event is for you. Click here for registration and additional information.
Due by October 15th, and per Illinois state mandate: All 6th grade students and students new to the district are required to have 1) A complete physical performed within the last 1 year, and 2) Tdap and Meningitis vaccines. Any student without the required health forms submitted by October 15th, will be excluded from school until the required documentation is received.
September is Deaf Awareness Month!
- Did you know that the first kind of texting was invented for Deaf people? The TTY was a telephone typewriter invented in 1964.
- Did you know that a person who is deaf trying to read lips will miss 1 out of every 3 words?
- Did you know that the football huddle was first invented by a Deaf football team?
- Did you know the first hearing aid was invented in 1892?
- Did you know there is a university for Deaf people? Gallaudet (gal-uh-debt) University in Washington DC was established in 1864 as the first university for the Deaf.
- Did you know that the hand signals in baseball were invented by a Deaf professional baseball player.
Deaf people can do anything that hearing people can do!
There are Deaf firefighters, lawyers, doctors, teachers, construction workers, and NASA engineers!
Thank you to our DHH (Deaf and Hard of Hearing) Family for sharing these fun facts and bringing awareness to all of us at WJHS.
