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OLHMS Weekly

~Week of 11/9/21~

OLHMSWeekly ~Week of 11/9/21~
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OLHMS Veteran's Day Presentation and Quick Reminder

Mustang Families,

I hope we each had an opportunity to think about our Veterans Day assembly here at OLHMS over this past weekend!

Genuinely, I hope the sincere words from our scholars and distinguished guests reminded each of us how truly fortunate we are and showed some gratitude this past weekend and moving forward, use our events as a launchpad of appreciation and learning for Veterans Day later this week.

There is no doubt that life is hard, we do have our challenges, but WE have a chance to continue facing these challenges, succeeding and persevering to grow through these struggles into the best versions of ourselves. Taking advantage of our time and ability to positively impact those around you and yourself was a great message this past Friday!

Thank you to our entire school community for an outstanding and incredibly emotional event. Speaking with many tearful Veterans, they were overjoyed with our demonstration of appreciation!

Special thank you to all of our coordinators of the event, volunteers, ambassadors, Richards HS ROTC members, NJHS, PAC, individual students, speakers, our band, our chorus, our amazing staff and all of our scholars for respectfully observing our events on to close last week. We know this great learning will only continue heading into Veterans Day on Thursday! Everyone can expect a “Special Edition” Newsletter coming on Thursday acknowledging our Veteran’s Day Celebration.


Here are a couple updates and reminders:


SHIELD Testing: Tomorrow (11/10/21) we will be COVID-19 SHIELD testing at OLHMS only for those that have already completed the OPT-IN form and signed their student up in Skyward Family Access.

  • The SHIELD Illinois program is a quick, simple, and non-invasive COVID-19 screening test. Students that have opted-in to the program will provide a small amount of saliva that is tested at a professional lab. Results of the test are then provided to families and our school district within the days following. The program offers students the opportunity to reduce or waive quarantine requirements in the event of close contact with a positive case or if the student demonstrates symptoms. You can opt-in to the program at any time by accessing Online Forms in Skyward Family Access. More information about the SHIELD Illinois program can be found at: d123.org/shield-illinois-testing-program

  • Registered families will only receive results in the event that a student tests positive.

  • Please reach out to the school if you have registered via Skyward and the system didn't accept it.

  • Please remind scholars that they should not be eating or drinking one hour before testing.


Parent Pick Up and Drop Off: Please continue to exercise a courteous approach when dropping off and picking up scholars! Scholars should not be running across the street to get into your vehicles- we have had a few very close calls with students almost getting hit by a car. We have also gotten concerns from our neighbors about driveways being blocked or parents parking in driveways for drop off. Please be conscious of our neighbors and their ability to get in and out of their residence. The main entrance is for bus drop off and pick up.

Social Media

Mustang Families,

As everyone should be aware, the start of our week has been an emotional one. I am extremely proud of our scholars for demonstrating a great amount of confidence to share information about things that have been observed or posted on social media that potentially jeopardized all of our safety. Thankfully, the individual and unrelated incidents of the past couple days were handled with immediate urgency, involving the Oak Lawn Police Department and were deemed non-credible.

I am so grateful for the amount of staff, families and scholars who reached out with information to support our investigations. Individual students who decide to participate in actions similar to the past couple days are and will be disciplined accordingly. Individuals choosing poorly will face extremely severe consequences that may include suspension, expulsion and/or possibly leading to being criminally prosecution for their decisions. Again, thankfully these were not credible. As we are all aware with continued events in and around our community it is extremely important for all of us remain vigilant and continue having conversations with our students.

I am urging all of our families to continue involving our scholars in dialog at home around social media use and appropriateness. Please continue checking and learning these apps with our scholars. If you do not already have them in place, set up rules, expectations and boundaries with our scholars while using different apps and technology.


D123 Community Leaf Raking Event

A family event of service!

In cooperation with The Village of Oak Lawn and City of Hometown, School District 123 will be sponsoring a senior citizen leaf raking day. Community families are invited to participate in helping rake leaves for others in our community.

This year we will be extending our service to veterans as well. This event is intended for us to help better serve our community. It is always a fun and rewarding day! As we did last year, we will be deploying COVID19 protocols for this event. This will be a family-only event. Due to COVID19, we can't support having mixed groups of participants being transported in cars to leaf locations; therefore, we are working exclusively with family “units” - 2 or more with transportation. Family units will report to the Middle School to receive assignments and maps for each family. We apologize that we cannot support independent volunteers participating at this time.


Families interested in participating will meet at OLHMS (5345 West 99th Street) at 8:00 am with rakes in hand. Come prepared! Please bring your own rake or raking device to the event. Comfortable work clothing, a set of gloves and mask (for building entry) are suggested. A complimentary Grab & Go lunch at Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School will follow the leaf raking for all participants at 12:00PM. We also need your help in identifying the seniors, veterans, and/or those within our community that could benefit from this service. Please send in any addresses of those homes to your school, even if your family is unable to participate in the raking.


Please use this link to sign up and return it to your school no later than Wednesday, November 10, 2021.


Questions? Larry Fetchko, Community Liaison Officer, Director, Family + Community Resource Network (FCRN) - lfetchko@d123.org - Cell: 708-203-7280

Saturday, December 4th!

This is how you can participate:

  • Get a fundraising form from your advisory teacher or from Mrs. McCarthy in the library.

  • Fundraise a minimum of $25.

    • Cash, checks made out to Outreach, and credit cards used online are all accepted.

    • Each participant must raise $25 including each family member, friend, etc.

  • Turn in your form to a teacher or Mrs. McCarthy.

  • Show up at your assigned time on Saturday, December 4th for all the fun. ($ due Nov. 5th)