39th Ward Alderman Sam Nugent

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Community Highlights

We love our North Park Village Neighbors!

We kicked off the Thanksgiving season with great friends, Casey Mark Smagala and Representative John D’Amico by serving the residents at North Park Village.

We LOVE Northside Learning Center! We joined them at their Jewel Turkey Drive.

We got the chance to tour the new People’s Gas facility. We learned all about the sustainability and efforts to engage the 39th Ward Community in their planned development.

I had so much fun at the annual Sauganash Women’s Club Fall Fundraiser! 

Thank you for inviting me, and keep up the great work.

CITY SERVICES

Yard Waste Collection

The City of Chicago coordinates dedicated bagged leaf and other yard waste collection trucks to assist residents in clearing their yards, parkways and storm drains of leaf debris.

Please call our office, (773) 736-5594 or call 311 to request a separate yard waste collection. 

Yard waste should be left in the alley or at the curb for collection, and bagged separately from garbage in the black cart and separately from recycling in the blue. 

Yard waste bags will be collected based on 311 requests and then taken to be composted. 

Yard waste consists of leaves, grass clippings, branches, brush, clippings from shrubbery, and garden waste. Yard waste does not include dirt, rocks, or gravel.

CITY SERVICES

Street Sweeping

Please be patient as the snow comes! Make sure you check sweeparound.us and sign up for updates.

CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

1st Quarter Reports

On a quarterly basis, our office reaches out to all of our neighborhood public schools in the 39th Ward in order to collect information about all of their staffing and capital needs as well as their successes. We use this information to guide us internally and we share the information with Chicago Public Schools. We would like to share the fabulous successes of our fantastic schools in the ward. Please read the reports submitted by principals below:

PRINCIPAL JENNIFER DIXON

Palmer Elementary Updates

• Watch while 4th Grader Linnea Healy gives the WGN weather forecast. We are proud of you, Linnea. (Watch out, Tom Skilling!)
• Pedro H. was a speaker at the Summer 2019 Administrator’s Summit at the Symphony Center.
• Students are developing leadership skills as members of the Peer Conference as Peace Ambassadors, Student Voices, and Student Council.
• Palmer Girls Volleyball Team is going onto the City Championship.
• Ms. Hermann won the Symetra Heroes in the Classroom Award from the Chicago Bears.
• Ms. Lohse had 100% of her students in the 18–19 School Year pass the algebra exit exam and earn high school credit for the course.
• Palmer’s PreKindergarten teachers were awarded the Circle of Gold Award for the 18-19 School Year.
• For the 4th year in a row, Palmer has sustained their Level 1+ Performance Rating on the SQRP.

PRINCIPAL ELSIE KANE

Peterson Elementary Updates

• In the area of academic progress, Peterson students are exceeding standards: performing above the 50th percentile. Our mathematics and reading growth is above average with students growing at the 65th percentile in mathematics and at the 81st percentile in reading. Peterson’s attainment is also well above average. Student attainment in mathematics is at the 73rd percentile and at the 83rd percentile in reading. Due to the collective effort of all Peterson educators, Peterson is now a STEAM School.
• This new designation will allow Peterson to continue to provide high quality education to our students grounded in the STEAM philosophy and multidisciplinary learning. As a result of the commitment of Peterson educators, Peterson was recognized as an exemplary social and emotional school, a designation that lasts for two school years (2019-2021). Peterson is very proud of its student-leadership programs, Student Ambassadors and Student Mentors. Student Ambassadors give tours to families and provide translation at events like Parent-Teacher Conferences. Student Mentors meet with younger students every day to support them and help them feel connected to Peterson.
• This year marks the first year students at Peterson will be adhering to a student-developed dress code. Students in the Dress Code Committee met throughout the last school year to develop goals and draft policies for the new dress code. Their efforts culminated with a presentation to the Local School Council where they received approval for the new dress code.
  Peterson is also extremely proud of Ms. De’Andrea Bell, one of our English Language Arts teachers. Ms. Bell was recently awarded the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program grant. Ms. Bell received this grant as recognition of her academic and professional accomplishments as well as her leadership potential.
• Thanks to the efforts of our STEAM Coach, Ms. Kathleen Hurley, Peterson has once again received the Out-of-School Time (OST) Grant for after school programming. This grant makes it possible for our students to benefit from a number of enrichment and academic after school programs throughout the year. Bethany Crino, the Visual Arts’ educator at Peterson, partnered with IPAINTMYMIND, to create an art gallery at Peterson. Ms. Kiran Ionita (7th ELA) and Ms. De’Andrea Bell (6th ELA) are partnering with Chicago Poetry Foundation Hands on Stanzas throughout this year. Chicago poets work as teaching artists with 6thand 7th grade classrooms to analyze and perform poetry.

PRINCIPAL CHRIS GAMBLE

Solomon Elementary Updates

• The following 8th graders were recognized as winners of the 2019 Patriot’s Pen Essay Contest, sponsored by the VFW: Maetheany B., Rida K. Briana D., Elliot K., and Olivia M.
• 8th grader Marissa T. sang at the Edgewater Arts Festival earlier this fall.
• 8th grade homeroom teacher, Ann Reis, has her 18th annual Veterans Remembrance Day ceremony at Solomon on November 14.
• Our Mandarin instructor, Mijia Ranquist, was invited to attend the national STARTALK conference in Phoenix this past October. This is a program for foreign language instructors to develop new strategies to engage students both during the school year and in the summer.
• Our 1st grade teacher, Andrea Sartain, is a Brookfield Zoo Science Fellow.

PRINCIPAL EMILY MARIANO

Volta Elementary Updates

• Science Olympiad Team has competed and won in the State Competition for the last 4 years.
• 8th grade student selected as 1st place finalist to represent IL at the Washington DC competition.
• School Guidance Counselor named IL Counselor of the Year.
• World Language Arabic teacher received the Dora Johnson award through the Qatar Foundation Do The Write Thing. Student’s piece of writing is published in the Library of Congress.
• Albany Park Theatre Project is collaborating for the 5th year with Volta Elementary. Students received offers for internships for the summer production.
• Student Voice Committee was awarded the “Analyzing Power” Certificate of Recognition by the Department of Social Science and Civic Engagement in Chicago Public Schools. International to attend the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Convention.

PRINCIPAL KARREN RAY

Northside Learning Center

PRINCIPAL JENNIFER SUTTON

Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center

• Girls swimming placed 4th in the city where our swimmers broke school relay records as well!
• Held first Vex Robotics competition at a CPS school at Von Steuben! Our four teams competed and made it to high ranking slots! We will be hosting another one in February.
• Von Historians installed an exhibit at the Albany Park Library documenting their Gold Stars project. Meghan Thomas and student Nayeli Vargas were selected to participate in the NHD program called Operation LIberty in the Netherlands. They learned about the "Market Garden" operation in WWII and Nayeli was able to research and say a eulogy at the grave for Von Steuben Alumni Werner Storch who graduated Von in the class of 1941. The club is seeking sponsorship to travel to Europe to continue their research on alumni who gave their lives during WWII.

PRINCIPAL CHRISTINE MUNNS

Sauganash Elementary

• Battle of the Books Winners
• Top Ten participant in City-Wide Spelling Bee
• Top Neighborhood School receiving the greatest percentage of students accepted into Selective Enrollment High Schools
• Continue to have the highest SQRP rating since its inception 1+.
• Top 10 Neighborhood School Rated in Chicago Magazine 3. 90% of Teachers have Masters Degree, Professional Learning to increase endorsements. National Board Certified Teachers
• Teacher Awarded Grants to travel and study with colleagues around

KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR SPOTLIGHT 

Meet Jin Lee

Jin Lee is the Associate Director of Business Planning and Development for the Albany Park Community Center. He is a member of the Veterans Committee, Participatory Budgeting Committee, Advocate for the Korean Community, and continues to be an asset to the 39th Ward in so many ways.

Community Events

Give Back this Holiday Season

• Donate to help Chicago households in need through the Holiday Dinner Box Project.
• Benefit a Halal pantry through State Senator Ram Villivalam's Thanksgiving Food Drive.