Oak Grove News

A Message from the Superintendent

Dear Families,

Over the years, I continue to be amazed at the amount of parent and community engagement with our school and the willingness of parents to volunteer to support our staff and students. To show our gratitude, this year we will be hosting our very first OGS Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast on April 27, 7:30 – 9:30 am. If you have volunteered your time in any capacity, we want to honor you at this event. We are collaborating with our staff to build our list of volunteers and invitations will be sent in coming weeks. 

We are excited to honor everyone who volunteers their time to serve our students and staff and make Oak Grove a better place.

From the Principal’s Desk

Celebration
On March 10, we took some time to celebrate our students with a parade. We celebrated our winter athletics, battle of the books winners, solo band ensemble participants, artists, and writers. It was a wonderful moment to acknowledge all of the great things taking place at Oak Grove!   

Wrestling 
Congratulations to Alexander Osbourne for finishing 2nd in state for the 105lb weight class!

State Qualifiers
Alexander Osbourne
Brayden Liu
Gunnar Meyer
Leo Bouikidis
Cameron Kovach
Dylan Treutelaar
Colten Siebert

Spring Break
There is no student attendance from March 27 through March 31. School will resume on April 3. Be sure to stay safe and have fun!

Student Drop Off 
Be sure to utilize the upper parking lot for student drop off and pick up. All drop offs should be in the upper parking lot until after 8:20 am. All pick ups should be in the upper lot after 3:20 pm. The lower lot is primarily for our buses prior to 8:20 am and after 3:00 pm. Please know that it becomes a safety issue when drop offs and buses are in the same location. Also, cars are not permitted to move around bus stop signs at any time.  This includes the parking lot. Thank you for your support in keeping our students safe. 

1st Grade 
Save the date, and mark your calendars.  First Grade will be hosting an Open House AND a Music Concert on Thursday, March 16, from 6:00 -7:00 pm.

SEL Updates 
This week we have focused on our voice! We use our voice to influence how others might feel. When we use kind words and share positive stories others around us feel that energy. We passed around a talking stick in SEL listening to each student share about something they recently enjoyed. Students shared about sleepovers with cub scouts at a museum, basketball tournaments, ski vacations, family night at home. As each student shared, they were able to see others around begin to smile. We then focused on how we can use our voice to lift others up when they are down or being hurt. Students learned the importance of being an upstander or a bystander hero. We can report bullying, refuse bullying, or support the person being bullied. Oftentimes it just takes one person to say something kind for others to follow. Next week in SEL we will complete this unit about being an upstander and using our voice by reading the following stories.  

Mental Health Minute
This month's topic is using our voice to be supportive and help others who are being excluded or treated unkindly. Skills that students are being taught through SEL lessons include: (1) assertiveness in a calm and respectful way, (2) how to use kind words to help another student, and (3) taking time to listen to someone else’s voice. When students use their voices to support another student a more caring and empowered community will grow! For more additional resources, click HERE

Important Dates
3/13:  2nd Grade Art Club, Filmmaking Club Rm 399, French Club Rm 101
3/13:  5th Grade Candor Virtual Parent Mtg 6:30 - 8:30 pm
3/14: Simply Bee presentation sponsored by the Oak Grove Foundation is 6:30-7:30 pm in the Junior High Cafeteria
3/14:  Code Ninjas, K-2nd Yoga, 5th-8th Board Games Club, JH Choir, 4th & 5th Grade Drama Club, 6th-8th Math Counts Rm 116
3/15:  Variety Show Tryouts,  4th-8th Spanish Club Rm 102
3/16:  4th & 5th Grade Choir, Italian Club,  1st Grade Open House 6:00-7:00 pm
3/17:  Be Well Fitness
3/21:  COW @ 6:00 pm & BOE Meeting @ 7:15 pm
3/27-3/31 Spring Break- No School
Please click here to view more upcoming events

A Message from the Board of Education

Dear Families,
In an effort to continue transparency around Board operations, we would like to engage with our families in building a Frequently Asked Questions page on our website. We invite families to use this link to ask any questions they have regarding Board operations -- i.e., How is the Board able to interact with the public during meetings? What is the difference between Committee of the Whole Meetings and Regular Meetings? 

Please see Board responses to recent submissions at the end of this newsletter.

Sincerely,

OGS Board of Education 

Curriculum Corner

IAR Spring Testing Window
The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR), a state mandated assessment, will begin tomorrow. Students in grades 3 through 8 will be assessed in both mathematics and language arts. We encourage students to get a good night sleep prior to the testing day and eat a healthy breakfast as well.  Students will need a charged computer and working headphones each day for the audio portion of the English language arts assessment. 

Reminder: 5th Grade Candor Webinar Tonight
All 5th grade families were previously sent an email regarding the 5th Grade Candor presentation that will occur on Thursday, April 6. There will be a parent information webinar from Candor this evening at 6:30 pm. Please RSVP if you would like to attend and you will receive a link to the meeting. This meeting will not be recorded. 

Placement Process Webinar
Thank you to the many families that joined us on Thursday for an overview of the placement process into mathematics and language arts courses for students entering 4th and 6th grade next fall. If you’d like a brief review of the topics covered, please see the slide deck here. Questions about placement? Email Leslie Weber (weber@ogschool.org) and Alexa Dunn (adunn@ogschool.org) and we would be happy to help!

PTO News

Variety Show Try Outs This Week
If your child signed up to audition for the Variety Show, they should have brought a packet of information home that included their tryout time and a permission slip. Please be sure to have your student bring their signed permission slip to their audition this week. The packet is available here if you need it. Please contact Christine Merrild or Ashley Wilson if you have any questions.

Meet the School Board Candidates Night This Week
Join us this Wednesday, March 15th from 6:30 - 7:30 pm to learn more about the candidates running for OGS School Board. The event will be held in the JH Cafeteria. RSVP is not necessary, but if you know that you’re coming, please sign up. 

Son + One was a GLOWING success!
Thank you to our amazing Son + One chairs who created a memorable event: Amy Peterson, Joni Kane, Kate Robinson, and Beth Koopman! It takes months of careful planning so an event with hundreds of guests runs smoothly. Thank you to everyone who attended and supported the event and to the team volunteers who helped the evening of the event: Heather Bildsten, Ryan Spaulding, Adam Byers, Brian Bettiker, Alan Lenczycki, Zach Kane, Jeff Koopman, Trey Robinson, Doug Peterson and Ambika Mayer.

We also want to say a big thank you to our lane sponsors for their kind generosity: Heli Chicago, Lynsey Wolfe Berkshire Hathaway, Paulson Builders, Libertyville Bank & Trust, Lake Forest Gymnastics Academy, Cabo Tan, Good Times Summer Day Camp, Siebert Construction, 730 North Optometry, Black Cat Yoga, Poko Loco, Libertyville Gymnastics Academy, Arpino Orthodontics, Lisa Wolfe Keller Williams, 1st Choice Chiropractic as well as the Acharya, Gill & Barry Families. Thank you as well to the many businesses and individuals who donated raffle items - our event wouldn’t have been such a success without you.  

IAR Treat Bags
Thank you to the volunteers who assembled treat bags for 3rd through 8th grade students: Annette Ferstenfeld, Rachael Lester, Haeli Byrnes, Jennifer Davis, Ambika Mayer, Aayshah Mirza, Raabia Khan Mohammed and Jeff Barry. Students taking the IAR this week will surely love these little rays of sunshine from the PTO!

STEM Guest Speaker

Space Force Brigadier General Devin Pepper, a Chicago native, joined the 6-8 students from Colorado Springs today. He shared the importance of STEM jobs and degrees in different roles within the Space Force. Students were given the opportunity to submit questions ahead of time, they showed a wide variety of interest. We want to thank General Pepper for taking the time to share the real world importance of STEM.

6th - 8th Grade Track & Field starts on 4/3

Practices typically go Monday - Thursday 3:30-4:45 pm.   Don't forget that you must have a sports physical turned into the front office and/or the nurse's office before 4/6. If interested, use this google classroom code to enroll: akiir4x, and then hit “join class”.  Please email Coach Callahan with any questions.

23-24 8th Grade Play Announcement

The OGS Fine Arts Team is incredibly excited to announce that the 2024 8th Grade Musical will be . . . Newsies JR-- a show full of fun songs, energetic dances, and many fantastic acting scenes based on actual historical events during the Newsboys' strike of 1899.

Board of Education FAQ's

Please see the question(s) below submitted by our community and Board response(s). The list of generated FAQs will be archived on the OGS Board of Education website. 

Q. Why does the Board not cite any specific policies when responding to community questions like these? It instead just provides its answer as if it is the truth. For example "how can the board interact with the public"? You are able to interact with the public however you wish, but you choose not to but don't ever cite any specific prohibition, policy or guidance.

A. The intention of the FAQ page is to bring clarity and transparency to Board operations. As such, and whenever possible, the Board will reference policy, school code, or legislation that underpin its operations or decisions. The Oak Grove Board of Education policy on public participation aligns to guidance from the Illinois Association of School Boards' (IASB) Office of General Counsel. Oak Grove is a member of IASB's Policy Reference Education Subscription Services (PRESS) and adopts policies created and reviewed by school attorney's across the state based on new legislation. These policies align to the Illinois Open Meetings Act 5 (ILCS 120/2.06) in regards to public participation at meetings. As a matter of practice, public bodies (and Oak Grove's School Board) allows for public comment. During each regular and special open meeting of the Board, any person may comment to or ask questions of the School Board (public participation), provided it’s within the reasonable constraints outlined in the district policy. The Board listens to comments or questions during public participation and are then managed through policy 3:30, Chain of Command which outlines that concerns brought forth by the community are managed through the Superintendent and his/her administration. 

Virtual Backpack

Please click HERE to view the flyers in our virtual backpack. Flyers are updated weekly, so please check back often so you won't miss any of the events going on in our community.