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MARK T. SKINNER WEST SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
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 2020-2021 School Year
Week #1: September 11 - 17
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New Articles
Repeat Articles
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Dates to Remember
LSC Meeting: Tuesday, 9/15 @ 6:00 p.m.
Debate Team Informational Meeting : Friday, 9/17 @ 4pm
Free COVID-19 Walk-up Testing: Wednesdays in September
No School: Tuesday, 11/3 (Election Day)
Local School Council (LSC) Elections: Wednesday, 11/18 @ all-day
CPS 2020-2021 Calendar: here
Front Office Hours: 8:45am-4:00pm
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Mrs. Clark's Welcome Video!
Mrs. Clark's welcome to the 2020-2021 school year video can be found here.
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Please join us Tuesday, 9/15 for the Local School Council (LSC) Meeting
The next LSC meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 15th at 6:00pm. We hope you can join us to learn more about the work happening at Skinner!
Here's how to join:
Via phone 1-585-491-9560 PIN: 332 870 557#
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Revised Criteria for Selective Enrollment Schools
CPS announced revised criteria for Selective Enrollment High Schools and Academic Centers. Parents, read the full announcement here:
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CPS has partnered with Google Education to provide a series of virtual trainings throughout the first few weeks of school. They cover everything from the basics to specialized trainings for diverse learners and families with Pre-K students to second graders. CPS is going to continue to produce more resources as the year progresses. If you need more information contact familyservices@cps.edu.
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CPS Additional Grab-and-Go Meal Sites
Beginning Tuesday, September 8, CPS will have more than 450 meal sites for the 2020-21 school year. Students, parents, or guardians may pick up free meals at the nearest school from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Please find the nearest meal distribution site here. If families are unable to visit a meal site in-person, the district will continue to provide free delivery for those who need additional support.
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CPS Calendar Change: No School on November 3rd. Classes in Session on November 11th.
Earlier this summer, Governor Pritzker signed legislation making Election Day, November 3, a state holiday in Illinois and requiring K-12 schools to be closed to ensure all Illinoisans are able to vote and fully participate in our democracy.
Veterans Day, November 11, which is normally a day off for students and staff, will now be a regular instructional day to ensure students do not lose invaluable instruction time. The Chicago Board of Education approved of the calendar change during the August Board meeting. While schools will be closed in observance of Veterans Day on November 3, we will honor our veterans with a moment of silence and students will be provided with instructional activities recognizing the service and sacrifice of our nation's veterans on November 11.
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As soon as we have more information, we'll be sharing school material pick-up times. We are waiting on the delivery of school textbooks and other materials. We will also run a textbook return day for those who have books to return from last year.
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Learn more about the Debate Team at a informational meeting on Thursday, Sep. 17, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. You may not know this, but the Skinner West Debate Team regularly receives high rankings in competition and in previous years, students have qualified for the state championship. The meeting link can be found here. Questions should be directed to Mr. Lee at: jmlee18@cps.edu. Let's go Superstars!!! |
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The district was unable to hold LSC elections in April due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Therefore,CPS has adjusted the LSC election timeline. The nomination process is open now through October 2nd.
- Candidate Application forms due to school principal on 10/2 by 3pm
- Candidate forums will be held virtually from 10/19-10/30 (more to come)
- LSC elections will be held during Report Card Pick Up days this fall on November 18th for elementary schools & November 19th for high schools.
- LSC members will be inaugurated on January 10th, 2021.
- New LSC members will serve for 18 months (through July 1, 2022)
For more information, please click here.
** NOTE: CPS has NOT yet updated this site, so please retain this information.
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Room Parents Needed!
Room parents are parent volunteers who are liaisons between the teacher and families, and is great way to be involved in your child's class. Throughout the school year RP's coordinate other parent volunteers, communicate classroom needs, and help with class parties. Although we will not be starting the year in an actual classroom, we will be taking down a list of room parents as a resource for the teachers. RP's are needed for K through 5th Grade only.
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Free Walk-up COVID-19 Testing in West Loop
Bennett Day School, The State of Illinois, Alinea, and Morgan Manufacturing have teamed up to provide free COVID-19 testing, open to the community, in the Bennett Day School parking lot.
Testing will be available from 10:30 am to 6:30 pm starting Wednesday, September 9 and weekly on Wednesdays through September in this initial partnership. Testing will be available on a walk-up basis only at 955 W Grand Street in the alley (no drive-thru testing).
This molecular RNA test, which the State indicates is 98% accurate, is administered by HRSupport, is processed locally at Tempus Lab (600 West Chicago.) Results have come back quickly in just 2 days via a phone call, even though 4 to 7 days is what is promised. Anyone is welcome to be tested, insurance is not required as it is free, and all you need to provide is a phone number for results.
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The Skinner West Debate Team participated in the Illinois Middle School Debate State Championship Tournament for the 2019-2020 season on Saturday, May 30. The overall topic for the year was: 'Arms Sales', and the cases being debated at the Tournament were 'Ukraine', 'Taiwan', and 'Saudi Arabia'.
As an invitational tournament, only the best teams in Illinois were invited to compete, and Skinner West represented our school extremely well. Facing off against the best debate teams Illinois had to offer, the students did an outstanding job against elite competitors and won the awards listed below.
Some highlights we would especially like to point out are:
1) Skinner West won 1st place in all three divisions (Novice, JV, Varsity), sweeping the State Championships! 2) Skinner West earned 4 of the 6 spots in the finals; the Varsity Division was a Skinner West vs. Skinner West affair.
3) Skinner West qualified one-third of the competing teams (12 out of 36).
Congratulations Superstars!!
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Welcome Letter from Mrs. Clark
Hello Skinner West Families,
CPS released the final framework for Remote Learning. All Chicago Public School students will participate in remote learning for at least the first quarter of the 2020-2021 school year. The plan includes details about instructional time, attendance, and grading. To read about this plan, please click here.
Welcome new families! I understand parents and students still have many questions about this school year. We are working to design an appropriate school day for the first quarter that adheres to the final CPS framework.
A warm welcome to all of our new Skinner teachers! We are so happy to have these wonderful professionals join our Skinner West family. We are still recruiting for a special education teacher and an assistant principal. We understand that our school's partnerships with students, parents, and our community continues to be important during this remote learning time. If you have an idea of how our school can continue to build and strengthen our community during virtual learning, please send an email with your ideas to skinnerwest@gmail.com. We also need volunteers to help curate newsletters - 50% of our volunteers will be leaving this year due to student matriculation. This virtual opportunity will give you a bird's eye view into the happenings in our school community. Please use the email address above if you're interested in volunteering. Communication and parent involvement remain extremely important to us here at Skinner West. Please be sure to sign up for our weekly newsletters by going to this link. Our weekly newsletter during the school year will continue to be sent to your inbox Thursday evening/Friday morning, although in the next few weeks we will need to send additional communication as we start this year remotely. Our school website continues to be updated and is a great source of information. We are also on Facebook. Our Communications Committee is staffed by volunteer parents who will continue to work hard to get vital information to parents through these sites and newsletter. Current Skinner parents may also contact the school through our dedicated email address @ skinnerwestparents@cps.edu. We appreciate your patience in this back to school process. We are dedicated to providing a positive, engaging, challenging, and fun learning experience to our Superstars regardless of the circumstances. We are happy to partner with you in this endeavor and look forward to a successful, smooth school year. Sincerely, Principal Clark
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Welcome New Teachers
Please join us in welcoming our new teachers to our Skinner West Family. We are so glad to have you!
2nd grade: Carmen McCanna 4th Grade: Olivia Barnes 
5th Grade: Paul Hinterlong Art: Laura Florczak
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Free Internet Service for CPS Students
Chicago Connected is a groundbreaking program that will provide free high-speed internet service to approximately 100,000 Chicago Public Schools students who need it most. To learn more about the program and find out if your family is eligible, please visit the program overview here:
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School Supplies & School Fees
Please ask your teacher for an amended school supply list for remote learning. We will not be collecting school fees at this time. School fees will be revisited when in-person learning resumes.
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Updated IL Health Requirements
The state of Illinois requires students to maintain certain Minimum Health Requirements. All students must meet these requirements by October 15, 2020. Please contact our school nurse, Ms. McCoy, at jamccoy@cps.edu if you have any further questions. Medical forms/immunization records for new students may be brought with you when you register.
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Clorox Contest - Enter for Chance to Win!
This year, teachers and their students are rising to the occasion to help navigate unprecedented challenges. For the new school season, we want to support these varied educational needs both in the classroom and at home. Enter the Clorox sweepstakes before September 20th and you'll have a chance to win $20,000 for your local school, and $5,000 for your own educational supplies. Click here to learn more!
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Front Office Hours: 8:30am - 4:30pm
In-person by appointment ONLY. Phone: 773 534-7790
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All comments, suggestions or requests to submit information to this newsletter should be emailed to skinnerwest@gmail.com.
Communications Volunteers are welcome. Donate your time to help increase communications and contact us!
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Would you like to add another parent, guardian or caregiver?
Text SKINNERNEWS to 22828 or click here (Messaging & data rates may apply)
Deborah M. Clark
Principal
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