YMS Update for September 16, 2022

September 16, 2022

Hello YMS Families,

Hola familias de YMS. Si desea acceder al boletín de esta semana en español, haga clic aquí.

As we continue to move through the year, we thank our families for supporting our efforts in regards to safety and building a strong YMS community. Nothing is more important to us than keeping our students safe both physically and socially emotionally. If there is something going on with your student, please have the student reach out to their dean, counselor, social worker, or trust adult in the building, or please feel free to reach out to a staff member yourself. In addition, we thank you for continually helping us maintain safety at arrival and dismissal, and entry into the building.

Our team is ready to serve our community and our students. Below is the information and roles of our administrative team. Please feel free to reach out with any questions, concerns, or feedback.

Ms. Aubrey Allen, Principal - aallen@y115.org

Mrs. Meghan Kerr, Assistant Principal of Teaching & Learning - mkerr@y115.org

Mr. Matthew Schreiner, Assistant Principal of Student Services - mschreiner@y115.org

Ms. Lauren Lihosit, Dean of Students (7th grade) - llihosit@y115.org

Ms. Tabitha Coleman, Dean of Students (8th grade) - tcoleman@y115.org

Ms. Lauren Hoppensteadt, Athletic Director - lhoppensteadt@y115.org

Information for student services, including our counselors, social workers, and other support staff can be found on our website.

Included in this update:

Upcoming Dates - new item

Parent Advisory Group - old item

Arrival & Dismissal - updated item

Notes from Dean’s office - new item

Notes from the Main office - new item

Notes from the Nurse - new item

Highlights of the week - new item

Y115 Staff Musical - new item

Food Services - updated item

Kendall County ROE Internet Survey - old item

Upcoming Sports & Activities - updated item

In addition to my weekly email updates, I encourage everyone to follow us on Twitter at @115yms and “like” our Facebook page to learn about all the great things happening at YMS. We have so many great things happening — so don’t just FOLLOW but SHARE our FOX PRIDE within our community—help us build our following!

As always, if this update raises questions, please ask. Thank you for all that you do—it does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. GO FOXES!

Upcoming Dates

Storywalk - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at YJWC Heartland Park (5 p.m.)
Early order deadline for Yearbook -
School Picture Day - Monday, October 17, 2022

Parent Advisory Group

One last request for any parents, guardians, and/or caregivers who would like to join our Parent Advisory Group. Ms. Allen will reach out to interested families the week of September 19th. If you would be interested in serving on the Parent Advisory Group, please complete the google form or reach out to Ms. Allen at aallen@y115.org

Arrival & Dismissal

Our new arrival & dismissal process is remaining quite smooth. We have just a few tips in regards to keeping the students safe and keeping traffic moving. In the morning please remain single file. If the cars move to two parallel lines it creates an issue at the exit and leads to a backlog. As you move down the front of the school, please move as far forward as you possibly can. This allows for more cars to pick up and drop off. There is a cone that lets families know about a pothole, but the end of the drop off or pick up is the stop sign at the end of the sidewalk. Finally, for the safety of all students please make sure that students are only being picked up at the sidewalk. Students being picked up on the street or in other areas of the parking lot does create a safety concern. We do want to remind all families that school grounds are a hands free zone for cell phones.

Notes from the Main Office

You can find the “Daily Announcements” HERE. Each day the daily announcements will be refreshed based on new information needed by families and students.

For safety purposes, we ask that families and students do not have Doordash, Ubereats, or Grubhub deliver food for students. The arrival of the food causes a break in the safety procedures for the school. If you will be dropping lunch off for students, please remind them in the morning before first period that they should pick up their lunch on the way to lunch as the front office staff will not be able to call into the classroom to let them know.

When calling the school please listen to the prompt to ensure that you get the appropriate person to take care of your needs.

When picking your student up early please provide the main office some grace when picking up your child. The Office staff has to have enough time to locate your student and get the message to them that they will be leaving. So for example if you know your student has an appointment at 2:00pm and you plan to pick them up by 1:30pm please call at least 20 minutes ahead of time. We do understand unexpected situations occur and you may not have that 20 minutes. We just ask that you be patient with the main office as they are working to get your student out to you as quickly as possible.

Note from the Dean’s Office

Cell phones are great tools for our students and for us, but just a reminder that the school policy is that from 7:30 AM-2:30 PM students phones are off and away. The only time students can use their phones is during their lunch period. Thank you for your support in communication with your students on this.

How to help your student with peer relationships and response to teasing…

Parents can help by letting all kids know that teasing and making fun is never OK — that it is unkind, unfair, and hurtful. Parents are usually the first person a child will talk to about teasing. Please contact the school if your child reports being teased or needing help with peer relationships. The student services department is here to support and help your child. Call the office at 630-553-4544 or use the Y Not Say Something hotline. Our counselors and social workers can work with a child to give them tools to respond to teasing. If a student is being teased or perceived bullying we encourage them to contact the student services office, they can do this in person, using the student services form on Canvas, or the hotline above. We take every report seriously and the policy can be found in the Parent-Student handbook on page 58. We can’t control what others say, but we can choose our response. Here are some tips to help your child if they are experiencing teasing.

Encourage your student to tell a teacher or another adult.
Use a confident voice to tell the child who is making fun to stop.
Ignore or calmly walk away from the teasing.
Avoid acting too upset by teasing (getting a big reaction can satisfy the teasers and make them likely to try again).
Think of a short phrase or joke to say in response.
Walk away and find a friend to be near.

Here is an article with tips on Dealing with Bullying.

Note from the Nurses' Office

Vision and Hearing screenings will take place on Tuesday, September 20th. If your child wears glasses/contacts, please bring their glasses to school that day.

Highlights from Yorkville Middle

This week our students and staff took advantage of the beautiful September weather to collaborate with each other, and build critical thinking skills. The administrative team continued to meet with the grade level teams discussing the “Camp YMS” theme and the goal of building a sense of belonging and pride at YMS. Many departments began to prepare for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Food Service

This year, we have returned to our traditional food service offering at YMS. This includes both Breakfast and Lunch. Meal prices are $1.80 for Breakfast and $2.80 for Lunch. Additionally, we do have some a la carte items that students can purchase as well. You can find more information about our menus, nutrition, student lunch accounts on the District website.

It has been a few years since you may have had to maintain a lunch account balance. Please be sure to monitor your student’s account, as they will not be allowed to purchase anything other than a main line meal if their account becomes negative.

Kendall County ROE Internet Survey

Kendall County officials are encouraging residents to take an online survey about Internet performance in Kendall County. The survey is part of the county's efforts to bring broadband Internet service to the more rural portions of the county. Please find the survey link below:

https://kendallcountyil.servicezones.net/KendallCounty

YEA Staff Musical

Many members of our incredible Y115 staff are coming together to put on a musical! This endeavor not only brings our community together, but also raises money for our Future Educator Scholarship which helps to fund tuition costs for one of our Yorkville students who is pursuing education. We are already having lots of fun at rehearsals for James and the Giant Peach. We hope everyone will come out and see this year’s performances!