Good morning!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  We are looking forward to a great 2nd week of school.  Please read below for a few updates and reminders.

Friday, we held our #bettertogether assemblies.  Students in all the grade levels got to share what the phrase means to them.  It was an inspiring event.  Thank you to our student hosts, Muhammad and Izaak, to all of our student presents and to Skinner North Superstore for donating raffle prizes.  We are truly better together.  
  
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LSC Agenda - See attached for the agenda for our Local School Council meeting which will be at 3:45 on Wednesday, Sept. 12 in the library.  

Back to School Open House - Our open house is on Wednesday, Sept. 12 from 5-6:30.  Derrick and I will be giving 3 short presentations (same information in each) about the school and policies in the auditorium at 5:15, 5:45 and 6:15.  While teachers will be available the entire time, please see the attached flyer for specific times they will give presentations.  

Second Annual Skinner North K-8 Chess Tournament - Every current Skinner North student who already knows how to play chess is invited to participate in our second annual Skinner North Chess tournament on Sat., Sept 15.  Check-in is from 8:30 to 9:15 a.m. and the tournament will start afterwards and conclude by 4:00 p.m.   The event is free and you can register by emailing skinnernorthchess@gmail.com no later than September 13th or register onsite on September 15th between 8:30 a.m. and 9:15 a.m.  (see attached flier for more information.)

Drop Off and Pick Up Procedures- Please remember students may be dropped off starting at 8:00.  If coming before this, you must be signed up for J at School before care.  This policy is in place to make sure all students are safe and have supervision.  This also goes for after school.  Pick up time is 3:30.  Students must be signed up for an after care program or have pre-arranged supervision after this time. 


New CPS IDs  for Some Students- CPS has changed the eight-digit CPS Student ID numbers for all students affected by the unfortunate sharing of student information that occurred in June via the Office of Access and Enrollment.  Students impacted will received sealed letters  that contain their new IDs will be sent home with them.  

Skinner North Upper Grades (SNUG) Committee announcements:   SNUG Committee Meetings - The first SNUG Committee Meeting for the 2018-2019 Academic year will be on Thursday, September 20th at 5:00 p.m. in the Parent Room.  The remainder of the meetings for the year will be set at this kick off meeting. Agenda to follow.


Academic and High School Forum - 
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Skinner North Auditorium
 
Agenda includes:

1. Presentation by Ms. Jacobson regarding academic center and high school options and the application process for both; and  
2. Q&A session with a panel of with current and former SN students who have chosen different paths and who will speak about their experiences in 8th grade and beyond.  
   
   *All are welcome; however, this forum is geared to 4th – 8th grade students and their parents/guardians.

​Good afternoon!  It was so wonderful having students back in the building today.  It was a great first day of school.  Students will have seen this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmhnZgeWEnE) already, but we wanted to share with you as well.  We encourage you to watch, see our staff and hear about our theme.  


Our theme this school year is #bettertogether.  Our motto has always been working together, achieving success and the idea of #bettertogether exemplifies this.  Throughout the year, we will connect back to this idea and have community building activities around it.  We are looking forward to a great year.   

Sports Updates - Mr. Popowich sent out sports info for 5-8th grade students on the Bloomz pages the other day. We also passed out paper copies on today to any students interested. When students return forms, they can put them in Mr. Popowich's mailbox or hand them to him. Please be reminded that forms are due Sept. 10.


Staffing Updates - Please note we also had 2 recent staffing changes this school year.  A new directory will be sent our in the coming weeks after we have finalized our special education teacher.  However in the interim, Ms. Plummer, one of our nurses, is not returning.  Tara Sonnenberg will be joining us and taking over that position.  


Katie Siegel, our former social worker, got the opportunity to work full time at another CPS school, and will be working there.  LaRuby Sangster (lesangster@cps.edu) is our new social worker.  She splits her time between Skinner West and here.  We are excited to have her join us.

Letter from CPS CEO -  Attached please find an update from CEO Janice K. Jackson regarding student protections. 
 
Have a wonderful day,
Katie