News

OLW School Opening Update (Part 2): Thank You!

The school administration and teachers worked tirelessly over the summer in preparation for this new school year. In addition to the curriculum and lesson plans, much was also done to prepare the building, classrooms, and school grounds. While we know many people support the school with time, talent and treasure, we do want to share the following specific thank you’s.

We received an anonymous $50,000 donation in March of 2019 as part of fundraising for the Annual Gala. It was intended to help with the campus security and safety fund-a-need project. A security system for the school buildings was installed last summer and the last phase of the playground improvement project was expected to be completed over the summer; when the COVID pandemic caused a state-wide shutdown, all projects at any school or parish in the Archdiocese were halted. We are happy to report that this project will start in October! The existing rubber curb of the north side of the playground will be removed and replaced with a new sloped sidewalk to eliminate the tripping hazard and hold back mulch; new sod will be placed on the north side adjacent to the fence and the existing mulch will be regraded. A contract has been signed and permits are being submitted to the Village. The cost of this project is over $19,000 and we are thankful to this generous donor.

Also using money from that donation, Mr. Wood was able to purchase: a new writing curriculum, additional K-5 iPads, three plexiglass partitions in some classrooms, and 14 window air conditioning units for elementary school classrooms. He was also able to contract with a parking lot striping company to paint games and dividing lines in the interior courtyard/parking lot – this is necessary to designate the different cohort areas at recess.

We are also very grateful for two families who, together, donated $25,000 before the start of the school year so we could add electrical outlets to power those new window A/C unites in 14 elementary school classrooms. This was an expense the school could not have met without this donation. We thank Father Arthur who pushed the project through quickly once the donation was secured, and Connelly Electric who was able to meet our expedited timeline. There have been some very hot days and air conditioning makes the classrooms much more comfortable, especially with everyone wearing masks.

In late Spring 2020, we were gifted $6,400 from the family of Arnie Curnyn to purchase 16 new school iPads for one homeroom. This generous donation helped us become 1:1 with iPads in 1^st through 8^th grade. This is an important advantage for our students should any cohort need to move to remote learning or should there be a mandated school closure. When each student has a school-issued iPad, we know it is easier for them to engage in remote learning, if the need arises. The Curnyn family has five children who graduated from OLW.

Thank you to Shauna Martin Ritter (OLW class of 1998) and Jeff Martin of Martin Law, LLC of Arlington Heights for purchasing and delivering plexiglass partitions and donating them for Miss Sweeney’s first grade classroom. “One of these little first graders is my daughter and the rest are like members of my family. I wanted to add an extra layer of protection to keep them safe,” Shauna Martin said. “All these kids mean so much to my family that I wish we could do more. We are hoping that other local businesses will consider donating protective barriers for every classroom throughout the elementary school. Mr. David Wood and the OLW staff have done a fantastic job of implementing measures to keep students safe. As a business in this great community, we can help too.”

If there is a company in our school or parish community that would like information about purchasing and donating plexiglass partitions for an entire homeroom, or helping the school in any other way, please contact Danielle Kenney, dkenney@olwschool.org.

And we want to thank the hosts of the “Quest for the Best” sign up party.  Since it’s not possible to host this Gala sign-up party, which is a sporting competition for dads and sons, they have chosen to donate $1,050 for additional recess equipment so that each cohort will have their own fun equipment to use.

What a generous school community we have!!

The students, faculty and staff truly appreciate everyone’s donation and constant support.