This week, the Principal Selection Committee interviewed first round candidates from an incredible applicant group for Skinner West’s principal position. The group will meet in closed session next week to discuss the interviews and the LSC will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, January 26, to vote on advancing the top three first round candidates to second round interviews.

Here are next steps after second round interviews:

The committee expects to wrap up the principal search by mid-February and will continue to send updates.

A.N. Pritzker Elementary School, in partnership with The Rana-Reagan Pharmacy, is hosting a Pfizer and Moderna vaccination clinic from 1 to 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 27. This clinic will offer first, second and booster shots of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

The vaccination clinic is open to and welcomes all Skinner West families and friends. Use this registration link to book your spot. Fill out the consent form and bring it with you on the day of the event.

As a part of the principal selection process, the Skinner West staff participated in a survey on the needs of the Skinner West community.

An overview is available in the video: Staff Survey Results - Cliff notes version. More information is available on the Principal Selection Committee page.

The Principal Selection Committee (PSC) met this week to review applications for the principal position. All applicants were reviewed & evaluated using criteria provided by the Office of LSC Relations. Recommendations for first round interview candidates were presented to the LSC on Jan. 13th. The LSC voted to proceed with round 1 candidate interviews the week of 1/17. From there, we hope to narrow down the candidate pool and proceed to round 2 interviews. We will continue to provide updates on our progress.

Fall Picture Day Retake (Main building and Branch) - 2/10

Graduation (8th and K) - 2/17

Spring Picture Day - 3/24

The Skinner West Debate Team participated in the Chicago Middle School Debate League's Tournament Two for the 2021-2022 season on Saturday, December 4.

The overall topic for the year is: 'Water Resources', and the cases being debated at this Tournament were 'Fracking' , 'Agricultural Runoff', and 'Water Infrastructure'.

About 111 debaters across 56 teams from 7 schools competed at the tournament, but the students did a great job against some tough competition and won the awards listed below.

17th Novice Individual Lucy K.

16th Novice Individual Shifa H.

15th Novice Individual Deven G.

14th Novice Individual Maya S.

13th Novice Individual Simra K.

12th Novice Individual Ellery K.

11th Novice Individual Alina Z.

10th Novice Individual Kinzie W.

9th Novice Individual Carter K.

8th Novice Individual Amber H.

7th Novice Individual Grayson K.

5th Novice Individual Joshua M.

4th Novice Individual Nyla M.

2nd Novice Individual Sonya T.

1st Novice Individual Kennedy W.

5th JV Individual Tvisha H.

2nd Varsity Individual Tanmay G.

1st Varsity Individual Aurelie G.

15th Novice Team Joshua M. Carter K.

14th Novice Team Jonah W. Aryan R.

11th Novice Team Sophia H. Zoi P.

10th Novice Team Grayson K. Mason K.

9th Novice Team James H. Connor G.

8th Novice Team Clarke B.

7th Novice Team Ellery K. Shifa H.

5th Novice Team Katherine X. Alisa H.

4th Novice Team Simran M. Simra K.

3th Novice Team Lucy K. Simone S.

2nd Novice Team Maya S. Nyla M.

1st Novice Team Kennedy W. Sonya T.

1st Varsity Team Aurelie G. Tanmay G.

Thank you for your support! And many thanks to Skinner's debate team coach Mr. Lee!

Lincoln Park High School is inviting 3rd - 8th graders at nearby CPS elementary schools that would like to participate in a dance clinic with the LPHS Varsity Poms Team.

Participants will have the opportunity to practice along side the Varsity Poms Team and perform with them at a home game!

Beginning in quarter 2, students will receive grades in the category of Speaking/Listening as part of a new district initiative from the Office of Literacy. Providing grades for Common Core State Standards in Reading, Writing and Speaking/Listening aligns with the key practices of the CPS PK-12 Vision for Advanced Literacy.

Students develop advanced literacy skills when they are immersed in reading diverse, engaging, and culturally relevant texts; when they and their classmates have opportunities for extensive discussion of what they are reading and writing, using discipline-specific academic language; when they engage in the writing process, creating and sharing their own stories, informational texts, persuasive pieces, and poetry; when they have opportunities to apply language and literacy skills in authentic, real-world experiences; and when they use technology to investigate, critique, and create content in a modern, digital environment.

Speaking/Listening grades will not be used for promotion or selective enrollment applications. Currently, only the reading grade is utilized for these purposes/programs.

CPS is improving how it rates the quality of its schools and needs your help. The district wants to know what every student (grades 6-12), parent, teacher, administrator, and staff member thinks is important when measuring school quality. To accomplish this, we’re asking you to complete this short survey.

As an additional thank you for your time and effort, you can enter to win one of 25 $50 Amazon gift cards after completing the survey! You will need to provide your contact information to enter, but it will not be linked to your survey responses.

If you have questions about the survey or how CPS measures school performance, please email SQRP@cps.edu.

Lake View High School is hosting a baseball camp on January 29 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 4015 N. Ashland inside the main gym. The camp will include hitting, pitching, running and catching with coaches and players. This camp is for grades 4 - 8 and is a free event.

Please email Coach Butcher at jwbutcher@cps.edu to register. For more information, visit Lake View Baseball. View flyer.

Rocket Club Academy is a STEAM and entrepreneurship after-school certificate program and community, hosted virtually and in-person for school-aged children from around the world. The curriculum, which focuses on problem-solving, critical thinking, and emotional quotient, is developed in collaboration with founders from some of the world’s most influential companies, covering 24 cutting-edge STEAM and entrepreneurship disciplines that are changing global industries.

The program is focused on cultivating “childpreneurs” and teaching children at an early age about topics such as blockchain, non-fungible-tokens (NFTs), artificial intelligence, climate science, and the stock market.

The academy has members in 29 states, England and Ireland, and recently opened a physical location in Lincoln Park and is actively recruiting new members. Almost at capacity with 40 total members, they only have 8 spots left.

For more information or to sign up, visit https://rocketclub.com/chicago.

Additional information about the program:

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is offering online and on-campus winter and spring courses for ages 10 to 18+ which are designed to allow young artists to focus on their interests, learn new skills, and bring their ideas to life. Courses start in January and February. Learn more.

For the entire school year, CPS is offering COVID testing through a partnership with ThermoFisher Scientific and Color Health and their ReadyCheckGo™ testing program. This program is completely voluntary.

The link to sign up for student weekly FREE testing is here: Register for COVID Testing with Color Health

Read more:

1. Send a copy of your child's vaccination card along with the child's full name to our school nurse, Stephanie Johnson at sjohnson90@cps.edu

CPS Policy states: Fully vaccinated students who are not experiencing symptoms do not need to quarantine. It is recommended that they be tested 3-5 days after the last day of exposure.