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PRINCIPAL UPDATE

Friday, August 4th

PRINCIPALUPDATEFriday, August 4th
Welcome to all our new and returning Irving families. We are getting close to the start of the 2023-2024 school year and wanted to update everyone on back to school plans.


Throughout the school year, I will be sending out a principal update every Friday that includes all the happenings at Irving, any reminders, District 97 updates, and upcoming dates.


Our Irving administrative and office team are back in the building to prepare for the school year though. Please don't hesitate to call the main office (708) 524-3090 with any questions.

STAFFING NEWS

GOOD LUCK

Please join us in wishing Tom Ames, James Callan, Krystal Fowlkes, Jabriah Lee, Jincy Ninan, Allison Schrag, and Aurora Tabar all the best as they will not be returning to Irving School this school year. We are excited for their new opportunities inside and outside of Oak Park, but they will be very missed at Irving.

WELCOME

We have some new faces joining us at Irving this year. Some staff our new to D97 and some are joining us from other schools in D97. Please help me welcome these staff to our Irving team.


Jordan Cole, 1st/2nd Grade Multi-Needs

Sara Falkin, 1st Grade Teacher

Juan Carlos Funes, School Psychologist

Kaitlyn Fox, Special Education Resource Teacher

Grace Hoak, Occupational Therapist

Colleen Kearns, Social Worker

Venus Miller, Teaching Assistant

Margaret Nelson, Special Education Resource Substitute Teacher

Rebecca Pepp, Social Worker

Sarah Termini, Special Education Teacher

NEW POSITIONS

We are excited to share that two of our Irving staff members are stepping into new roles this school year. Help me in congratulating both of them.


Emilie Dolan

  • Emilie was our MTSS interventionist. She will be transitioning to the UDL coordinator this school year. In this role, Emilie will support Irving and Mann Elementary School's intervention teams, student service teams, and 504 teams.


Kiera Moody

  • Kiera was one of our kindergarten teachers. This year she will transitioning to the MTSS interventionist role where she will meet with students who qualify for math and reading interventions outside of the classroom.

IRVING RELATED

D97 CALENDAR & SAVE THE DATE

Please refer to the D97 2023-2024 School Calendar for information regarding holidays, trimester end dates, report card distribution dates, family-teacher conferences, and winter and spring break.


Please mark your calendar with the following Irving dates:

Kindergarten meet & greet: Tuesday, August 22nd at 8am

Curriculum night: Wednesday, August 30th

Picture Day: Thursday, September 21st

BREAKFAST & ARRIVAL TIME

School starts at 8am each morning with reminder bells to line up ringing at 7:55 and 7:57. We have staff supervision outside starting at 7:45 each morning.


Students are welcome to join us for breakfast starting at 7:15. They enter through lunchroom doors, which are on the south west corner of the school.

SCHOOL SUPPLY LISTS

Please refer to the School Supply Lists when purchasing back to school supplies. When it states headphones or headsets, all our K-5th grade students will have iPads so the headphones need to be compatible with an iPad (and not earbuds). They should be the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

TEACHER/CLASS PLACEMENT

We know that families are very excited to learn who their student’s teacher will be this fall. Teacher placement emails will go out to families on Friday, August 18th via email. Below is a list of each teacher by grade level.


Kindergarten

Joel Blecha

Amy Chinn

Jorie Grogan

Mohogany Williams


1st Grade

Torri Gibson

Sara Falkin

Elena Kontos

Annie Planek


2nd Grade

Adam Bautista

Tamara Koransky

Lori Pelling

Fran Sbarboro

Emile Williams


3rd Grade

Shehara Brinson

Julia Gray

Lauren Kaunelis

Nick Sakellaris

Julia Stenger


4th Grade

Matt Daniel

Savannah Heidloff

Mary Kelly

Kara Sakellaris


5th Grade

Seth Baker

Tyler Banks

Jen Browning

Mary Kate Montroy

Sue Tresselt


Kindergarten Multi-needs

Megan Vella


1st/2nd Grade Multi-needs

Jordan Cole


2nd/3rd Grade Multi-needs

Heidi JIrka


4th/5th Grade Multi-needs

Marta Mohammad

FREE/REDUCED LUNCH APPLICATION

We know that a common experience for many families during this health crisis is the loss of jobs and income. This change in income may qualify your children for free or reduced-price meals and reduced or waived school fees. We encourage all families who currently qualify to take a few minutes to complete the application as soon as possible. Information regarding food service and to access the application can be found here.


If you have any questions, please email the district's food service coordinator, Carla Ellis, at cellis@op97.org.

DISTRICT RELATED

REGISTRATION

District 97 student registration is all ONLINE! Please head to the D97 registration website for complete details.

PTO RELATED

ATTENTION KINDERGARTEN & 1ST GRADE FAMILIES

NEW FAMILIES DINNER

UPCOMING DATES

Thursday, August 17th

New Family Dinner, 6-8pm at Avenue Ale House


Friday, August 18th

Teacher Assignments Emailed to Families


Tuesday, August 22nd

Kindergarten Meet & Greet, 8am


Wednesday, August 23rd

First Day of School


Wednesday, August 30th

Curriculum Night


Monday, September 4th

No School (Labor Day)


Thursday, September 21st

Picture Day


Monday, September 25th

No School (District Closed)

IMPORTANT LINKS