January 2021 Village of Westchester Newsletter by Village of Westchester, IL

Village of

Westchester JANUARY, 2021

POLICE DEPARTMENT

PUBLIC WORKS

FIRE DEPARTMENT

LIBRARY

SCHOOL DISTRICT

SHOP WITH A COP

SCOUTS

Happy New Year! Happy New Year! I’m sure those words have been on everybody’s minds for a long time this year. It’s been a difficult year for most of us but we’ve made it to the symbolic finish line. If this year has taught us anything, it’s that we are stronger than we think and we are survivors. So, if you had a bad year, struggled with the pandemic and how to

deal with the lockdown, know that you are not alone. We’ve all been going through this together even if we haven’t been able to see each other, so if you’re feeling alone, reach out to your family and friends and just know that this too shall pass. Here’s to a better 2021 may it bring you happiness and joy and may God bless you all.

JANUARY 2020

P olice D epartment

Reactive vs. Proactive As a chief of police, we must always be proactive not just reactive. You must always be researching and planning to make sure, when things go bad you are ready to take the proper action with the proper plan. The year 2020 was a year for learning in every capacity within the field of law enforcement. The Westchester Police Department has been working diligently regarding implementing new policies for officers when handling calls of service, building a police unit with a license plate reader that warns of wanted and suspended drivers while patrolling. All officers will be wearing body cameras starting January 2021 that will capture audio and video when officers are handling calls of service. We also have begun to work on placing surveillance cameras in hot spots that can capture video and read license plates 24/7 allowing police officers to keep patrolling other local areas letting the camera and reader do the work. In 2021, we hope to place these types of camera technology at the Jewel Osco and Mariano’s groceries stores to protect all those that live and shop in the Village of Westchester. Sincerely Chief Daniel Babich

POLICE BLOTTER 1) At 2:01pm on November 11, 2020 a Criminal Damage to Property was reported at High Ridge Park located at Canterbury and Evers. A witness observed a young female spray painting graffiti on park equipment. The subject left the area in a vehicle before officers arrived. 2) At 12:43pm on November 23, 2020 a Ruse Burglary was reported on the 1300 block of Boeger Ave. 3 subjects came to the door advising the resident that their roof needed repairs immediately. The resident refused to let the subjects enter the house and contacted the police. Officers stopped the suspects and identified the subjects. Citations were issued to all three individuals. 3) At 7:12am on November 27, 2020 an Attempted Burglary was reported on the 10300 block of Cambridge. The resident reported that their RING camera captured a male subject attempting to gain access to their vehicle and the garage but was unsuccessful. 4) At 11:40am on November 27, 2020 a Burglary to Motor Vehicle was reported on the 1200 block of Westchester Blvd.

The resident reported that unknown person(s) entered their unlocked vehicle parked in the driveway and removed $160 in items recently purchased but left in the vehicle. 5) At 12:02pm on November 27, 2020 a Theft was reported on the 1600 block of Portsmouth. A resident reported that he noticed a suspicious person around his neighbors front porch. When confronting the subject they ran to a vehicle discarding a package they had taken from a porch. 6) At 9:22pm on December 14, 2020 a Theft of Motor Vehicle was reported at Shell located at 1950 Mannheim Road. The vehicle owner reported that he left his vehicle at the pumps unlocked and that other customers advised him that a male subject exited another vehicle and entered his vehicle and left the parking lot. 7) At 3:28pm on December 16, 2020 a Burglary was reported on the 3000 block of Downing. A real estate agent for the property advised that a basement door was damaged but that nothing appeared to have been taken from the residence.

JANUARY 2020

PUBLIC WORKS

Tree trimming will begin in February 2021. The section to be trimmed for the 2021 program will be the southeast section of town from Roosevelt Road to Cemak Road from the west side of Bristol through Westchester Blvd. Sinnott Tree Service will be doing the trimming. Branch pickup and yard waste pickup will resume in April 2021. Restoration of parkways that have been damaged by sewer and water excavations and snow plow damage will resume next spring, as weather permits.

The Public Works Department has been filling potholes with cold patch throughout the winter months, weather permitting. Please call Public Works at 708-345-0041 to report a pothole.

Adopt a fire hydrant this winter season! Help keep the hydrant clear of snow so that the fire department can easily access the hydrant in case of an emergency and so that the snow plows can easily identify the hydrants while plowing snow. As always, Village residents are asked to call Public Works at 708-345-0041 or the police non-emergency number (after hours) at 708-345-0060 if an unusual amount of water is visible in the street or parkway. This could be a main break or water leak that requires our immediate attention. Snow Season Is Here! The Public Works Department’s snow plan is in effect and plows and spreaders are ready to go on a

moment’s notice….. Please assist us by following these suggestions: • Place garbage cans and bins behind the curb line- do not place them in the street • Do not throw or blow snow back in to the cleared streets • Please observe the “ NO PARKING SNOW ROUTE” signs The snow portion of the signs will be enforced only after 2 inches of snow have fallen and will be enforced between December 1st and March 31st. If you reside on a Primary designated SNOW ROUTE, after 2 inches of snowfall you must remove all of the vehicles from the snow route. The cars and trucks must stay off the street until the streets are cleaned thoroughly by the plows by Public Works. If the

snowfall is continuing the restriction is in place until Public Works completes the plowing for the day. Please check the signs at the corners of your block. AFTER 2 INCHES OF SNOW, on a secondary route, there is no parking Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday on the even numbered house side and no parking Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on the odd numbered house side. Please check the signs at the corners and center of your block for guidance. (This includes ALL side streets not designated a Primary snow route) Public Works crews work hard to keep the Village streets clear and safe during these long winter months. We appreciate your cooperation! Please drive carefully!

F ire D e partment JANUARY 2020

L ib r ary 6

JANUARY 2020

IMPORTANT LIBRARY DATES: Thursday, January 21st: Meet Mary Schmich program. Friday, January 29th: Winter Reading Club ends.

Registration required. Registration required.

Contact Adult Dept for more information at askus@westchesterpl.org. Contact Youth Dept for more information at (708) 562-3573.

S t . J ose ph JANUARY 2020

S t . J o s ep h 8

JANUARY 2020

S chool D i strict JANUARY 2020

A Letter from the Superintendent I think it is safe to say that 2020 has been a year like none of us have ever experienced before. We have all been on an emotional roller coaster since March. I belie ve “COVID fatigue” has taken its toll on many of us. Despite the ups and downs, I always look for lessons learned in these experiences. My biggest takeaway from this past year has been the strength of our school community. Opinions may differ and approaches may vary; however, the one thing that connects us all is our ability to put all of our differences aside to make the best of a difficult situation. Time and time again, I have seen evidence of this. Our staffs’ ability to adapt to incredibly difficult circumstances, our parents and grandparents who have changed their schedules, our cafeteria workers and bus drivers for preparing and delivering meals, our custodial staff for keeping buildings clean and sanitized, our principals for their leadership and our students who have demonstrated tremendous patience and un-derstanding over these last months. No matter what the scenario, the genuine care that is being shown for each other is inspiring. These types of acts will help us overcome the “COVID fatigue” that is out there and propel us into a better 2021. I am glad that so many of you could participate in our “virtual” Parent-Teacher Conferences on November 23rd and 24th. I am so proud of the students for their effort during the first part of the year. Our teachers and staff continue to find unique ways to challenge our students, despite the challenges of being remote. In closing, I know the holidays looked very different this year for many of us. While we may not have experienced the usual gatherings we are used to, it does not mean that we did not celebrate or show our appreciation for loved ones. On behalf of the entire District 92½ staff, I hope you enjoyed your holidays. Cheers to 2021 and a new beginning! We will get through this together. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at psalemi@sd925.org or call 708-670-1927. Sincerely, Philip Salemi Superintendent Westchester Primary School WPS families and staff were in the holiday spirit in December. Our families and staff donated a plethora of homemade and store-bought ornaments to decorate a tree at the Westchester Park District. WPS would like to thank the WPTC for sponsoring this tree as part of the Westchester Community TrimA-Tree event. The holiday celebrations continued through the second-grade students participating in daily learning about Holidays Around the World with highlights of many diverse cultures and traditions celebrated in and around the Westchester community. Some parents were even kind enough to virtually teach a special lesson and activity about the holiday traditions they celebrate in their culture. Thank you to all the

parents that presented! Moreover, WPS students took part in virtual grade-level sing-alongs with songs to celebrate the holidays. While the holidays can be exciting, they may also be hard for some of us. To provide support to our families who may be experiencing heightened anxiety, financial challenge, isolation, grief, and other forms of stress because of the holidays or the pandemic, parents and guardians in our schools were invited to join a Westchester School District Virtual Parent Support Group on Wednesday, December 9th at 5 pm led by the district’s social workers and counselor through the use of Google Meets. There are plans being made to hold additional Virtual Parent Support Group meetings. Please email Angela Hobbs, WPS social worker, at ahobbs@sd925.org or Christen Shorrock, WIS social worker, at cshorrock@ sd925.org with any questions. Additionally, in December, WPS students took part in The Hour of Code! We live in a world surrounded by technology, and we know that whatever field our students choose to go into as adults, their ability to succeed will increasingly depend on understanding how technology works. However, only a tiny fraction of us are learning how technology works. Only 47% of all high schools teach computer science. That is why our entire school joined in on the largest learning event in history during the week of December 7th11th. The WPS Hour of Code made a statement that Westchester Primary School is ready to teach these foundational 21st-century skills. See https:// hourofcode.com/us for more information. On Monday, January 4th we welcomed students back remotely to school. To ensure that we are meeting the needs of our students, the middle of the year benchmark assessments are given and data is collected. The professional learning teams from our grade levels will analyze this data and identify our

strengths as well as any gaps in learning that we need to address. These assessments are truly a celebration of our student’s learning especially this year! Westchester Intermediate School During the last month we celebrated the holidays, granted in a different way. Our students did a great job making ornaments for our holiday tree at the Westchester Park District. We hosted a virtual grade level sing in place of our All School Sing. Our students

S c h o o l D ist r i ct 10

JANUARY 2020

also participated in the Hour of Code which is an annual event introducing students to coding on computers. It has been a great way to build in 21st century skills. Mrs. Shorrock, our social worker, and Ms. Canoy, our social work intern, established a Grief Support group for our students. So many of our families have suffered hardships this past year including job loss and loss of family members. We understand how difficult that has been for students and are supporting them in as many ways as we can. As part of that support process, WIS has spent the last few months developing a plan to become a Trauma Informed School. We have been doing this with the support of Center for Childhood Resilience which is associated with Children’s Lurie Hospital. This work begins with increasing the knowledge of our teachers in recognizing the signs of trauma in students as well as developing strategies that can be used to support students and families here at school. This is all grounded through an equity lens so all students get what they need when they need. We are putting our first action steps in place this month. Typically we would also have students participate in Winter Benchmarking using the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment along with several other tools. We aren’t going to use MAP this year but we have a number of other tools that we will use to assess how our students have been progressing in this first half of the year and set new goals accordingly. Go Huskies! Westchester Middle School Happy New Year! The entire WMS family wishes our community a happy and prosperous new year. We would like to congratulate our November Warriors of the Month! 6th Grade: Jacob Deer and Loureen Alvarado, 7th Grade: Adyson Caminiti and Monika Micuta, 8th Grade: Myron Bea and Jacob Hunter. Warriors of the Month are selected by their teachers for setting a strong example and exceeding the expectations of the Warrior Way: Ambitious, Respectful, Responsible, Inclusive, Optimistic, Ready to Learn, Safe and Successful. We presented them with a certificate, Warrior of the Month t-shirt and a gift card. Westchester Middle School The Hour of Code takes place during Computer Science Education Week and started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify “code”, to

1st Place - Gabrielle Arnold (left), 2nd Place - Monika Micuta (top). 3rd Place - Valeria Secundino (above) show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities, but expanding to all sorts of community efforts. This campaign is supported by 400 partners and 200,000 educators worldwide with over 8000,000,000 people including WMS in all Advisory classes during the week of November 30th. Contact Ms. Kuhn if you have any questions regarding our activities at WMS. WMS is proud to recognize Leilah Garcia and Blake Renfro for their positive contributions to WMS. Blake has been recognized for his leadership in Creative Thinking. Mrs. Kincanon stated, “Blake is a leader in CT class... He is a pleasure to have in class and is always Creatively

Thinking! Shine on!!” Leilah has been recognized for her creativity and leadership in Creative Thinking. Mrs. Kincanon stated, “Leilah leads the class in ideas and participation. She is creative during her improvisation games. Leilah is always open to share. Thank you, Leilah!” WMS is proud to announce the members of the National Junior Honor Society. This year’s induction ceremony was held on Tuesday, December 1, 2020. Under the direction of Mrs. Deters and Mrs. McKenzie, we welcomed Filip Ciepiela and Evan Smith as new members. They join the following students in the WMS Chapter of the National Junior Honor Society: Amala Agwuncha, Thalia Becker, Alexandra Bravo, Skyy Campos, Samantha Coniglio, Kaylie Creamer, Hunter Creaney, Kaede Crone, Lillian Fisher, Frederick Franzwa, Nathaniel Fullerton, Elizabeth

Henning, Isabella Jelic, Lia Jozwiak, Ruby Leon, Sophia Loera, Eileen Lopez, Caitlin Metcalf, Jonathan Perez, Christian Reese, Josephine Rentas, Jaylyn Scavella, Maeve Schoo, Giovanni Sena, Louis Stubblefield, Fabian Valdez, Luke Voegtle, and Nubia Zapata. Westchester Middle School students participated in the local Lions International Peace Poster Contest sponsored by the Westchester Lions Club. Students were able to express their vision for world peace. This year’s theme was “Peace Through Service.” We are proud of our artists! 1st Place - Gabrielle Arnold, 2nd Place - Monika Micuta. 3rd Place - Valeria Secundino. Gabrielle was not only our school winner, but was also selected the District 1A winner. We are proud of our artists

JANUARY 2020

S ho p

with a

C op

JANUARY 2020

Westchester holds ‘Shop with a Cop’ Shop with a Cop provides a fun-filled day for many children in need from our community while creating positive relationships with law enforcement. Seven Westchester children between the ages of 5-12 and their families benefited from this year’s event. Officers volunteer their time to meet with their “Partner for the Day” before going lights and siren in a law enforcement procession down Roosevelt Rd. for a morning of shopping. Through private donations, each child is given a set amount of money to spend. The children purchase gifts for their immediate family members and themselves as their “Partner for the Day” escorts them around the store and help select appropriate gifts for each family member. Each child also received a bike and other surprises while the parents received a Honey Baked Ham gift card. We had such a great time that day - we hope the kids did too!

S co u ts 14

JANUARY 2020

Boy Scouts Troop #73 news On December 3rd, Ja’Ron Brown, a 2020 graduate from St. Joseph High School became the Troop’s 56th Eagle Scout. Ja’Ron is the first African American Eagle Scout in the Troop’s 80+ year history. Congratulations Ja’Ron! The troop also took advantage of the unseasonably nice weather last month, by holding an outdoor Saturday meeting. The boys worked on skills to help them achieve rank including fire building, knife safety and making knots and lashings. The boys also cooked their own lunch on a cooking tripod that they built using their newly acquired skills. Troop #73 wishes everyone a safe and healthy New Year!

Junior Girl Scouts Troop 45148 news Happy 2021 from the Westchester Junior Girl Scout Troop 45148! Our girls have completed work on their government badges, our last activity was visiting the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie in November to view the NOTORIOUS RBG: THE LIFE AND

TIMES OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG exhibit. We also made ornaments to hang on our tree at the Community Center and have played some fun holiday Kahoot games for the holidays! January is always known as the start of cookie selling season for all girl

scouts and that has not changed! Our girls are currently selling cookies and are utilizing an online platform to help sales during these times. To start 2021, our girls will also begin working on earning new badges, such as, Drawing and Cookie CEO.

JANUARY 2020