We cannot build our own future without helping others to build theirs.
— President Bill Clinton
If you are new to the Whittier community, welcome! If you are returning for another great year at Whittier, welcome back! Hopefully summer break has provided you and your family with a good balance of adventure and relaxation, and you are all gearing up for the school year.
The first day of school at Whittier is Monday, Aug. 25. This will be a full day of school for students. See below for the daily school schedule.
Grades 1-6
8:20 a.m. to 2:55 p.m.
Kindergarten
AM: 8:20 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
PM: 12:10 p.m. to 2:55 p.m.
Please also mark your calendar for Whittier’s Curriculum Night, which will be held the evening of Thursday, Sept. 4. Please note that Curriculum Night is for adults only.
We are looking forward to a productive and fun year for Whittier and the PTA! Each of you can contribute in a unique way to help build the futures of Whittier’s students and the overall Whittier community. Below you will find information about key PTA meeting dates as well as how to sign up to become a PTA member. As part of the PTA, there are countless ways – big and small – for you to help shape the future of the school and its students.
Please know how much each and every one of you and your contributions matter. If you ever have questions about PTA happenings, ideas you’d like to share, or would like more information about how you can get involved, visit the PTA website or let one of us know!
We are so fortunate to have a wonderful Whittier Community. Thank you!
Whittier School PTA Executive Committee
Co-Presidents: Rita Brezina & Valerie Hardy
Co-Vice Presidents: Tiffany Kuelthau & Debbie Levinthal
Secretary: Amy Ihde
Treasurer: Corinne Potter
info@whittierschoolpta.org
whittierschoolpta.org
PTA Meeting Schedule and PTA Kickoff Social
Attend monthly PTA meetings in order to stay informed about school and PTA activities and to share your ideas! PTA meetings are held one Tuesday evening per month in the Jaguar Jungle (gym) at Whittier, and free babysitting is provided during these meetings.
This year’s PTA meeting dates are:
- September 16
- October 21
- November 18
- December 16
- January 20
- February 17
- March 17
- April 21
- May 19
Whether you’re a PTA meeting regular or will be checking the PTA out for the first time at the September meeting, we hope to see you there! Grab a friend or come alone. All are welcome!
Directly following the September PTA meeting, PTA members are invited to head over to Emmett’s for continued conversation. Emmett’s is located at 5200 Main Street in downtown Downers Grove.
School Supply Kit Pickup
School supply kits will be delivered sometime during the week of August 18th. If you ordered a school supply kit for the 2014-2015 school year back in the spring, please stay tuned for specific information about when and where kit pick-up will be.
Questions about school supply kit pick-up? Contact Amy Cable or Peggy Tomchek.
Back-to-School Social
Join us for some fun in the sun (hopefully it will be a nice day!) and time to reconnect with friends on Friday, Aug. 22, at 3:00 p.m. on the intermediate playground on the east side of Whittier School. Popsicles and water will be served. Important upcoming PTA information will also be shared.
Whittier Wear will be available for purchase at the Back-to-School Social, so you may want to bring your checkbook! Learn more about the upcoming Jaguar Jog, Fun Lunch, PTA membership, and how to get involved in organizations like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Adventure Guides and Princesses at this event as well.
We hope to see you there!
Fun Lunch
The first Fun Lunch of the year will be Friday, Sept. 12. You should have received a separate communication including the Fun Lunch order form for the first half of the 2014-2015 school year. Please be sure to submit your completed form(s) – one per child in grades 1 through 6 – along with payment (checks payable to Whittier PTA) by September 5th. Please place the form(s) along with your payment in a sealed envelope labeled FUN LUNCH.
If you’d like to turn in your Fun Lunch order before the school year begins, you may either drop it off in the bin on Valerie Hardy’s front porch at 5214 Florence Avenue (the house faces 4th Street though; it’s the house at the NW corner of 4th and Florence) or turn it in at the Back-to-School Social at Whittier on Friday, Aug. 22, at 3:00 p.m.
Once the school year begins, you may turn your Fun Lunch order form and payment in by sending it to school in your child’s take-home folder or by dropping it off in the PTA box in the main office at Whittier.
If you have questions about the Fun Lunch program, please contact Paula Schultz or Amy Toth.
Jaguar Jog
The annual Whittier School Fun Run – The Jaguar Jog – is taking place on Sunday, Sept. 28! The 1 mile kids-only fun run and the 5k race are a great opportunity to promote fitness! This is a super fun morning for the whole family to mingle with other Whittier families and sign up for exciting Experiences (events for Whittier students, families, and adults only throughout the first half of the school year). Please look for details about registration coming soon!
Would you like to help plan the Jog? Please join us Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 7:30 p.m. at Corinne Potter’s house for a Jaguar Jog Committee Meeting. We need your help in planning this fun community-building event and important fundraiser for the PTA! If you cannot attend the meeting but would still like to help, please email us at whittierjaguarjog@gmail.com.
Do you have a connection to a business or organization who would like to sponsor the Jog? We need your help! All donations will directly benefit the children at Whittier School. We have several levels of sponsorship available – please contact us for details!
Questions? Please contact Chie Nicholson and Corinne Potter.
Call for “Experience” Hosts
So much of the success of Whittier’s fall and spring fundraisers is due to the extraordinary generosity of the many families within the Whittier community who volunteer to host or co-host an “experience” (e.g. father/daughter dance, movie night, cooking class, adults-only party, etc.). On behalf of Whittier’s students and the PTA, thank you!
Do you have an idea for an “experience” or are you willing to work with one or more other families to help plan, run, and/or financially contribute to an “experience” this fall or spring? If so, please contact Rita Brezina and/or Valerie Hardy. All ideas and all levels of contribution are welcome.
Help Needed with Whittier Landscaping Project
Have you been by Whittier lately? If so, you may have noticed that the landscaping on the west side of the school near the parking lot is quite a bit lighter! Thank you to Karrie Donat and Green Grass Landscape for their efforts in getting Whittier’s overgrown landscaping under control!
This landscaping project isn’t quite finished though. In order to keep the weeds down the area needs to be mulched. The Village of Downers Grove provides free wood chips, but we have to load, transport, and spread it ourselves.
To this end, volunteers are needed to help transport, load/unload, and spread mulch. See details below.
Do you have a flatbed truck or trailer? If so, your help loading and transporting the mulch would be much appreciated. Meet at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at the DG wood chip lot located at the corner of Curtiss and Katrine Streets (near Belmont).
Don’t have a truck or trailer but want to help? Meet at Whittier early evening on Wednesday, Aug. 20, to help unload and spread the mulch.
Rain date is Thursday, Aug. 21.
All help is welcome and appreciated! Volunteers should bring shovels, gloves, and/ mulch forks if you have them. We could also use a few wheel barrows and tarps if available.
If you can help, please contact Karrie Donat (773.484.7924).
Mark Your Calendars
- Wednesday, August 20: Landscape Volunteering
- Friday, August 22: Back-to-School Social
- Monday, August 25: First Day of School
- Tuesday, August 26: Jaguar Jog Committee Meeting
- Thursday, September 4: Curriculum Night
- Friday, September 5: Fun Lunch Forms and Payment Due
- Friday, September 12: First Fun Lunch of the Year
- Tuesday, September 16: PTA Meeting and Kickoff Social
- Sunday, September 28: Jaguar Jog
Submissions for Whittier Weekly are due Mondays by 6:00 p.m. Email info@whittierschoolpta.org.
