Community Events

Letter from Mr. Hodge – Walking Safely

March 22, 2012

Dear Students and Parents/Guardians:

I want to remind our Irving families about critical safety issues for students when they walk to and from school.  On March 21, an Irving student was approached by a stranger near the intersection of Austin and Fillmore. The child’s parent contacted the Oak Park Police Department and the school.

Incidents such as this, remind us all of the importance of discussing safety issues with your child(ren).  Parents, please take a few minutes to discuss the importance of the safety rules listed below.  You may have additional ideas to share with your child that will help him/her to make the right decision should such an emergency arise.

Students:

  1. Always try to walk in group or with at least one other person.
  2. Walk on sidewalks and other open areas rather than alleys that have less visibility.
  3. Be aware of your surroundings and any strangers who are nearby.
  4. Seek help is you have a concern about another person by going to a house that has a Safe House sticker displayed in the window, going to a neighbor’s house, finding an adult to assist you, or going back to school.
  5. Never approach a vehicle unknown to you even if the occupant speaks to you.
  6. Yell loudly and run if you feel you are in danger.
  7. Be sure to tell your parents if something happens.  Parents should contact the police and the school.

Thank you for spending time on this important issue.

Sincerely,

John Hodge, Principal

Letter from Mr. Hodge

 

Opera for the Young & District Choral Festival

Upcoming events at Irving: Tuesday, April 3rd, Opera for the Young’s annual performance will take place at 9:30a.m. in the gym. This is an all school event sponsored by the PTO.This year’s performance is Hansel and Gretel. All students will participate singing from the audience. 16 students in 3rd-5th grade will be chosen to participate with the opera singers.

Upcoming District Choral Festival: Wednesday, April 11th at Oak Park River Forest High School. 6:45 pm arrival time, 7:00 concert. Please see attached letter and permission slip to be signed and returned to Ms. Tarabus. She is also looking for a parent to ride the bus on the days of rehearsals to Beye and to OPRFHS. Our first rehearsal is this Tuesday, March 20th. Students will not be allowed to attend rehearsal without permission slip signed. See attached permission slip for more details. There is also the option to fill permission slip online through Ms. Tarabus’ website.

Irving Schoolyard Fundraiser @ Autre Monde

Fun and Delicious way to raise money for the Irving Schoolyard this month – Autre Monde, located at 6727 W Roosevelt Rd, is generously donating a portion of every Tuesday’s proceeds for the month of March to the Schoolyard Project. Save Tuesday nights in March for your date nights, your girls’ nights out and “I don’t feel like cooking tonight” and head to Autre Monde! Check out Yelp for the fabulous reviews. Please share with everyone you know!

Update on Schoolyard Presentation to Park District Board
Thanks, everyone, for the huge turnout at Thursday night’s Schoolyard presentation to the Park District Board. We had about 75 people attend to support the project and over 700 sign the petition! It was clear to the Board that there is strong community support for our plan. They did not raise any questions about the plan itself, which was received positively. They strongly encouraged the school district to move ahead with a formal partnership between these two taxing bodies so that the Park District can consider the Schoolyard when they do budget planning in June. The school district has always been supportive, and they welcome this chance to partner with the Park District.
The Wednesday Journal wrote about the meeting. You can find the story on oakpark.com
We are excited about the progress being made and we’ll keep you updated as things move ahead.
Thank you for all your tireless support,
The Irving Schoolyard Project