In this issue:

• Message from the Oakton PTA co-presidents
• Message from Principal Robinson 
• Oakton PTA Magnet Program Survey
• Superintendent Horton hosts Community Chat ‘n Chew Jan. 25
• PTA website gets a refresh
• Success Space at Oakton helps kids calm big emotions
• Reading confidence sessions for girls ages 8-15
• Can you help in the Oakton Library?
• Help Clothe D65 Students!
• D65 COVID-19 dashboard and health and safety guidance

Important dates:

• February 1 | School Improvement – Early Dismissal at 12:05 pm (see the 2022-2023 school calendar)
• Week of February 13 | Parent Teacher Conferences
• February 17 | Student Non-Attendance Day 
• February 20 | Presidents’ Day – No School

Greetings Cougar Family! This weekend, Oakton hosted its first in-person chess club tournament since before the pandemic. Some wins, some losses, and it was successful and super fun. Thanks to all the chess club competitors for having the courage and fortitude to put everything on the table. Oakton Chess Club coordinators, you have all of our appreciation. Once again, there was a great support network of Oakton community volunteers. Contact oaktonchessclub@gmail.com with questions about the club or to join for free.

Mark your calendars! PEP Fest is coming back! Join the PTA Equity Project for PEP Fest on Saturday, June 3, on the Washington Elementary School Playground. This is a must-attend event and a perfect end-of-school-year/beginning-of-summer event. Learn more and get involved now. We will post reminders here as the event date gets closer.

If you are able to, please consider attending the following local events this week concerning our community:

• Wednesday - Chat ‘n Chew with Superintendent Horton 
• Thursday - Virtual 8th Ward Meeting

See further below for more details. 

Have a fun week!

With Cougar Pride,

Amanda DePalma-Gable (she/her/ella) and Justin Brissette (he/him/él)
OaktonPTAPresident@gmail.com

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Hello Oakton Families and Caregivers!!

I first want to send a shout out to our chess coordinators for organizing the first chess tournament since the pandemic started. Thank you chess coordinators and the students who participated in the competition this weekend. 

I also wanted to give parents an update on how we address situations of physical aggression between students at Oakton. I want every family and caregiver to know that we take these issues very seriously. There are students who express themselves through big emotions and at Oakton, we ensure that we offer support and classes on how to deal with those big emotions in the appropriate way. We have social workers who meet with students on a consistent basis who need this support. We have calm corners and a Success Room where students can let out those big emotions. We ensure that parents are actively involved in the planning and support of their children. Finally, we ensure that there are logical consequences in situations where students make other students unsafe.

The pandemic has caused many after effects and one of those being the lack of social and emotional development that was not happening during the pandemic. At Oakton, we are committed to ensuring that our students develop positive coping strategies while also teaching about safety.

Once again, I thank you all for all you do.

Christopher Robinson
Principal-Oakton Elementary
Evanston-Skokie School District 65 
436 Ridge Avenue - Evanston, IL, 60202
Pronouns: (he, him, his)

Every Child, Every Day, Whatever it Takes.
Todos los niños, todos los días, cueste lo que cueste.

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Oakton PTA Magnet Program Survey

If you are part of one of Oakton's magnet programs (TWI or ACC), or even if you are not, the PTA would love your feedback on what having a magnet program at Oakton means to you and within our community so that we can help promote these programs at Oakton to incoming families.  Take the brief survey here 
 

Superintendent Horton hosts Community Chat ‘n Chew Jan. 25

District 65 parents/caregivers and community members are invited to join Superintendent Horton and members of the District 65 Leadership Team for our next Community Chat 'n Chew!

• When: Wednesday, January 25, from 5-6:30pm
• Where: Yo Fresh Cafe, 635 Chicago Avenue, Evanston  

Join Dr. Horton for informal conversation and to discuss the important initiatives underway in support of our District 65 students!

Spanish interpretation will be provided.  Refreshments will be served.
 

PTA website gets a refresh

Oakton PTA’s website has been updated! It works on a computer or your phone and it’s now available in English and Spanish. To find the Spanish version on your phone, click on the menu and switch from “EN” to “ES.” Check it out here: oaktonschoolpta.org
 

Success Space at Oakton helps calm big emotions

Stress, anxiety, and trauma can increase strong and uncomfortable feelings that make it difficult for students and staff to focus, concentrate, and regulate emotions when in class. To help alleviate stress so that students are ready to learn and staff are ready to teach, the Cougar Cares Team, with support from the Oakton PTA, has created a Success Space. The goal is to decrease/reduce negative sensory input while providing calming visual, auditory and tactile experiences that help ease distress. This is a place where students AND staff can go to regulate their emotions. To learn more and see photos of the space, click here for English and click here for Spanish.
 

Reading confidence sessions for girls ages 8-15

Armor Down Girls, an organization founded by Oakton’s own Dr. Parsons and devoted to inspiring girls’ confidence by increasing their self-esteem, is offering sessions to build confidence through literacy for girls ages 8-15. Sessions take place twice a month on Tuesdays at Robert Crown Community Center from 4:30-5:30 pm. For more information, see the flier.

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Can you help in the Oakton Library?

Help Clothe D65 Students!

We need 2 more volunteers (high school-to-adult) to help out on Tuesday, January 24, by assisting D65 students in shopping for gently used and new winter clothing.  ESCCA is serving over 400 students this winter but they need our help. The commitment is 6:30 pm - 9 pm at the JEH building (1500 McDaniel) and your responsibility is to simply help a child/family pick out clothing. Grab a friend, neighbor or even family member and join! (ETHS students earn Community Service Hours.)

https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/1257002693369404022/false#/invitation

Virtual 8th Ward Meeting

COVID-19 dashboard

District 65 has a COVID-19 dashboard that is updated each Friday and includes reported positive cases of COVID-19 among staff and students as well as the number of individuals in quarantine. Please note that all positive COVID-19 cases are self-reported and do not indicate that they were contracted within a District 65 facility. 

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D65 Digital Backpack

The D65 Digital Backpack is a free site screened and maintained by District 65 to share our community's youth and family events and programs.  Parents and caregivers can search the site by age range and type of program.  Organizations can post to the Backpack through a simple upload process linked here.

Check out the latest flyers here.

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