September 19, 2021
The Shaker eNews is a weekly roundup of important information including District events, school newsletters and District, PTO Council, Shaker Schools Foundation and City news. Be sure to read the entire Shaker eNews each week to stay informed!
The Shaker eNews for the 2021-2022 school year will release weekly on Sundays.
Visit our District Calendar online for a complete list of upcoming activities, events and athletic competitions.

Please note the following upcoming important dates:

  • Curriculum Night (held virtually):
  • Monday, September 20 | Woodbury, 6:30 p.m.
  • Wednesday, September 22 | Kindergarten only, 5:30 p.m.
  • Board of Education Work Session | Thursday, September 23, 5:00 p.m.
  • Raider Night | Friday, September 24, 7:00 p.m.
Forward Together Workshops

The City of Shaker Heights, the Shaker Heights City School District and the Shaker Heights Public Library are jointly funding and leading a process to develop a Facilities Master Plan. The process to develop the Facilities Master Plan is called Forward Together.

Are Shaker Heights schools, libraries and city facilities important to you? Do you want to guide their future direction? Join Forward Together as we begin to implement the vision for Shaker Heights facilities! For information about upcoming community workshops, click here.
8th Annual Fatherhood Walk

On September 23, 2021, join Shaker Heights fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles and father figures in Cuyahoga County and walk your child to school in support of education.

This is an important WALK for education and quality of life. Drive if you must and stay 10-15 minutes for engaging conversation, coffee and donuts on the lawn of your child's school. Please be considerate of social distancing practices.

View the flyer for more information.
District Conferences to be Held Virtually

In light of the continuing pandemic and rising COVID cases in the state of Ohio, all parent/teacher conferences on Thursday and Friday, October 21 and 22, will be conducted virtually. Reducing the number of visitors to the Shaker Heights school buildings at one time will support our efforts to continue to provide undisrupted in-person learning for our students.

Additionally, we found last year that virtual conferences provide a greater level of access for our families, eliminating the need for families with young children to find child care and making it easier for multiple parents/guardians to attend from a single household and provide an excellent opportunity for older students to conference with their teachers. 

Further instructions on the schedule will be shared prior to the conference days from your building principal.
Raider Rainbow Run

Join the Middle School PTO for their largest FUNdraiser of the year on Friday, September 24, 2021 from 4:00-5:30 p.m.!

The Raider Rainbow Run is a 2 mile fun run... AND WALK through the SMS neighborhood. Registered runners who raise at least $25 will be given an official white Rainbow Run t-shirt and will make their way on a course with 8 color stations. Volunteers from Shaker Schools will spray runners with a variety of colors as they pass. An opening Celebration Ceremony on the upper field will kick off the Run plus music, food and other festivities afterwards. You won’t want to miss this classic Shaker tradition!
All are welcome to sign up! To register, click here. (For any non-Middle School students registering, please enter your student's grade in the "team name" field.)

Corporate & Family Sponsors are needed too! Contact Anne Jarrad at annecjarrad@gmail.com or Gina Cuffari at gcuffari02@gmail.com.

For more details, visit the Shaker Heights Schools website.
COVID-19 Notifications and Guidelines

We would like to take this opportunity to remind families of the COVID-19 notification protocols that are in place. The District's online COVID-19 Dashboard will continue to be updated weekday evenings when new cases are reported or when cases are removed. The District will continue to notify families and staff of positive cases of COVID-19 in their same classroom, bus or extra-curricular activity if the individual who tested positive was contagious when onsite. Phone calls also will be made to individuals identified as close contacts.

The District has updated the Health and Safety Guidelines to include guidance on events. We encourage all families to review the updated guidelines, which are available here (new event guidelines are located towards the bottom).
Shaker Heights Night Game and Livestream Athletic Schedule:

This week's schedule of livestreamed athletic events includes:

  • Monday, September 20 | Field Hockey, 5:00 p.m. Night Game!
  • Tuesday, September 21 | Field Hockey, 4:30 p.m.
  • Wednesday, September 22 | Freshmen, JV, Varsity Volleyball, 4:30 p.m.
  • Friday, September 24 | Varsity Football, 7:00 p.m. Night Game!

All livestream events can be found on the Athletic Department website.
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) seeks to ensure that everything we do District-wide—learning and teaching, strategic planning, hiring, professional learning, technology, operations and communications—considers diversity, equity and inclusion.

The division supports the execution of the educational equity policy, which states that “educational equity is based on the principles of fairness and justice in allocating resources, opportunity, treatment and creating success for each student. Achieving equity means students’ identities will not predetermine or predict school success.” 

The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion currently includes the Family and Engagement Coordinator, Diversity Equity and Inclusion Coordinator and Diversity Equity and Inclusion Learning Specialist. In the upcoming weeks, the community will have a chance to further learn about the initiatives, individuals and organizations within the division via the Shaker Heights Schools eNews and our podcast! 

We have created a DEI Resource Guide, containing useful resources to bring conversations about diversity and inclusion into your home and classroom. For more information about the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion please email dei@shaker.org or visit shaker.org/Equity.aspx.
SGORR Tryouts

The Student Group On Race Relations (SGORR) tryouts will be held before and after school on Wednesday, September 29 virtually and in person. SGORR is an organization of diverse high school students in the Shaker Heights schools that promotes positive social relations across all boundaries of difference. Tryouts are for any student in 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th grade who wishes to participate in SGORR, no matter if they have tried out before or not. If you or a student that you know is interested in trying out, SGORR encourages you to fill out this interest form. For more information on tryouts, please follow us on Instagram (@shakersgorr) or email the SGORR Adviser - G. Tiara Sargeant (sargeant_g@shaker.org).
Stay Connected with the PTO

Shaker Heights PTO uses the Membership Toolkit portal and app for family directory, volunteer signups, and email communications. It’s secure, easy to use and free to families.

Instructions on how to sign up 
  • Go to: shakerpto.org
  • Click on the Login button or the Registration button.
  • If you already have an account with another organization that uses Membership Toolkit, you can use the same email and password to login. 
  • If you do not have a Membership Toolkit account, select “Create Account” and fill in your name and email, and create a password.
  • Click “verify my email” and then check your email for a link to complete the process. The link expires in 2 hours. If you do not receive the email, check your spam or junk folders.
  • After you have verified your email address, log back in and finish the registration process.
  • Complete the Parent/Family and Student Information forms.
  • Complete the Directory/Publish Preferences. (You control the info you want everyone to see and also don’t forget if you want an email and push notifications to set that option as well.) Once these forms are complete, you will be connected.
  • Once the Primary Account is set up, the Primary User can “invite” other email addresses to access his/her account. This allows a Secondary User (such as a spouse or co-parent) to have their own login information, but still have access to the family account.
 
How will the Shaker PTO use Membership Toolkit? 
The PTO will use the email you give us as the primary method of communication between the PTO and parents. We will send out emails about events (Speaker Series, fundraisers, school events), our needs (opportunities for volunteers), as well as resources for parents.   

What is the Directory? 
The Shaker PTO Online Directory is for use by the families of the school, compiled by the PTO. If your child wishes to socialize with classmates outside the classroom (play dates, birthday parties), this directory is an essential source of contact information. We have decided to put our directory online to save on volunteer time, costs, and paper. We are using MTK to accomplish this task. The online database gives you and us the ability to have information automatically updated each year and allows families to change information easily. 
Help Kick Off the 30th A Night for the Red & White

A Night for the Red & White turns 30 this year! Help kick off the party planning with cocktails and conversation on Monday, September 27 from 5:00 to 6:30 pm at the Shaker Historical Society, 16740 S. Park Blvd. Light refreshments and beverages will be served as we gather outside in the garden behind the museum. (There is a covered option in case of inclement weather.)  

Whether you are a past Red & White volunteer or have never been to this gala celebration, we want to hear your ideas and suggestions for this year’s event. What to bring: your passion for Shaker Schools, ideas for the event and your friends. We want to grow this special 30-year Shaker tradition which benefits all Shaker students and supports key initiatives in every building.

Please RSVP so we can plan for refreshments. Not able to attend, but want to share your ideas or stay in the loop? Email us!
COVID-19 Testing at Shaker Heights Fire Station

The Cuyahoga County Board of Health and MetroHealth is once again offering free COVID-19 testing for individuals age two and older. Testing will take place at the Shaker Heights Fire Station at 17000 Chagrin Blvd. You must pre-register to be tested. Visit the City website for registration codes, or call 216-957-3939, Tuesday to Friday, 8:30 am-4 pm.