Principal Message - September 28th | Jahn Elementary School

Hello Jahn families,

As we flip our calendars to October, I am reminded that our annual Pumpkin Patch is right around the corner! Please mark your calendars for October 17th and keep an eye out for more information from our Friends of Jahn committee. It truly is fun for the whole family, and a great way to support our community and school.

8th Grade PreACT test will be on October 7th. Students with additional time will also test the 8th and the 9th. This is a big deal for our students, and has a direct impact on high school programming and choice. Arriving on time and rested is ESSENTIAL. If you have a dentist appointment or something similar, please consider rescheduling. Unless your child is ill, we expect all of our 8th graders to be here on time and ready on October 7th. Please support your children and our school by making this a priority.

Reminder: Our annual Lockdown Drill is scheduled for Thursday, October 1st, at 9:00 AM. While these drills are essential for maintaining a safe learning environment, we recognize that they can sometimes prompt questions or big feelings for children. To help guide conversations at home, we encourage you to review these helpful family resources:

How to talk to your kids about lockdown drills.
How to talk to your child about school safety.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me or your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns regarding the safety drill.

Fall Picture Day is Thursday, October 8th for all students.

Halloween is right around the corner, and quickly became a favorite day at Jahn. Kids and adults are encouraged to dress up and celebrate. Please help us promote a safe environment by not allowing children to bring any weapons or violent accessories to school with them. Imagine recess if everyone had a light saber? Similarly, please do not dress your child in anything that others would find hateful or discriminatory. Even as we celebrate, emotional and physical safety is my priority.

Our amazing Room representatives will reach out to families regarding the Halloween celebrations happening in classrooms. Healthy CPS is an Office of Student Health and Wellness initiative that seeks to promote fun as celebration instead of food. Our school has no more than 2 school-wide celebrations per year with outside food, and this year, Friday, October 30, 2026, is one of those days.

We will be holding a Costume Parade outside (weather permitting) on Friday, October 30th, starting at 9:00 AM. Parents are welcome to come and watch the parade by standing along the fence of our school playlot. It is top tier cuteness, and I highly recommend you all come! Our alternate location will be in the school hallways and our auditorium.

Food reminders:

Please remember the importance of food safety and allergen awareness. There are a number of items that people can be allergic to, such as all types of nuts, shellfish, milk, sesame, among others. Exposure to these allergens, even a tiny amount of it, could cause a life-threatening reaction.
All classrooms are allergen aware. Please communicate with your child’s homeroom teacher(s) regarding specific allergen ingredients to avoid bringing into the classroom.

Please discuss the following with your child:

Do not offer, share, or exchange any foods with other students at school.
Handwashing with soap and water, after eating, is necessary to decrease the chance of cross-contamination on surfaces at school.
Do not make light of, or have fun with, items containing these allergens in or around children with these allergies. The condition is life-threatening and is not to be taken lightly.

It is our goal to ensure that every student in our school is safe. Students with a food allergy cannot be in contact with foods containing these allergen(s), and we are requesting your support to ensure our community’s safety by being mindful of the foods or related foods that are sent to school for lunches, snacks, or treats. Trace amounts of these allergens can result in a reaction. Sometimes these elements may be hidden in processed foods, it is important to carefully read food labels. Communicate with your child’s homeroom teacher(s) to ensure there are no classroom specific allergens.

Safe Food Recommendations

Salty Snacks	Sweet Snacks	Candy	Drinks
Pirate’s Booty Cheetos – Puffs, Crunchy, Flamin’ Hot Crunchy, Baked Lay’s Potato Chips – Original and Baked Pringles – Original Ruffles Potato Chips – Original, Sour Cream and Onion, Cheddar and Sour Cream Skinny Pop Popcorn – Original Boom Chicka Pop Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn Doritos – Nacho Cheese, Cool Ranch Utz Thins Pretzels Utz Rippled Original Chips	School Safe – Brownie Bars, Cookie Bars, Mini Cupcakes, Snack Cakes Enjoy Life Cookies – All varieties Nutphrees cupcakes – All varieties Oreos – Original That’s It Fruit Bar (Target) Made Good nut free granola bars (Target)	Charms Blow Pops Charms Pops Tootsie Pops Tootsie Rolls Tootsie Candy Cane Pops Dum Dums Dum Dums Candy Canes Spangler Candy Canes Skittles Smarties Sour Patch Kids Starburst Yum Earth Candy Haribo Gummies	Capri Sun Juice Boxes Honest Kids Juice Pouches Water Minute Maid Lemonade

Thank you for your consideration and help in this matter. Please call if you have any questions or if you wish to have a further discussion about this issue. For more information or resources, visit: https://www.foodallergy.org/.

Let’s make it a great week,
Dr. Byrne