A State of the School Town Hall meeting was hosted by Principal Jeremy Christian on Jan. 10. In the meeting, Christian and Assistant Principal of Operations Steve Parnther listened to parents’ questions and concerns in an attempt to involve families more in the school community. Concerns were brought up, as well as brainstorming possible solutions. Christian is planning on making these meetings a regular occurrence.

Parents communicated their thoughts on the school as well as their suggestions on what the administration needs to do to improve the school. Parents brought up concerns regarding vaping, the transition from middle school to high school, chronic absenteeism and how parents can get involved.

Vaping was one of the main issues addressed in the meeting, where parents reported that they often hear their children talking about feeling uncomfortable using the restroom because of the rampant vaping. One concern mentioned was that students who feel uncomfortable with students either vaping or crowding up the bathrooms will miss class time looking for one they feel safer using.

“Our deans along with our Assistant Principal work collaboratively to enroll students into a vaping education program when a student is caught vaping. I’ve also asked them to do a vaping presentation and bring someone in to talk to the students about the consequences of vaping but also of what vaping does to your body at a young age.  I’m also not opposed to having the students watch the Netflix documentary on JUUL,” Christian said.

The administration said there are plans to use technology and staff knowledge to figure out and give consequences to those found vaping. However, the administration has found it difficult to figure out who is vaping because of students’ right to privacy in a restroom. The consequences of those found using substances are outlined in the student handbook.

Another issue that was brought up at the meeting was the transition from middle school to high school. Parents highlighted that the transition for their children was a complicated and tiresome process for both themselves as well as their children. Parents felt that there was insufficient support from the district in summer programs and too many over-complicated forms. Landie Colon, freshman, expressed her view on feeling lost during her transition from a non-feeder middle school to Niles West.

“My experience coming here as someone who didn’t come from a feeder school was that I was completely clueless. I had some friends who helped me, but my parents didn’t know how to register me for classes until I told them. The registration was also super confusing and the communication between the school and my parents was nonexistent,” Colon said. 

Principal Christian has teamed up with the feeder school principals to address the needs of incoming freshmen. It is called the Feeder/Sender School Collaboration. This collaboration intends to better improve communication, partnership, and the preparation of students between feeder schools and Niles West.

Both Principal Christian and Assistant Principal of Operations Steve Parnther brought up chronic absenteeism. An email is going to be sent out to parents that include how often a student attends class and compares it to the average attendance from the student body.

“Right now if a student is absent, you get a phone call home which gives you information if a student misses one or more periods, which is still kind of reactive. From a proactive lens, we’re going to try to send out a letter that includes a bar graph of how much your students have missed in the past two weeks compared to the average student’s attendance,” Parnther said. 

The issue of student parking was briefly talked about at the meeting. The administration identified that several students were and continue to park in the lot without a parking pass. The consequences to those found parking in the lot without a pass are as follows: first a warning, then a ticket and finally your car being towed.

Parents as well as the administration stressed having more parent involvement in school events. The two parties want more parents to be involved in school affairs such as games and community events.

“This is not just my school, this is our school and we all deserve to have our students feel safe and comfortable in the building,” Christian said.  “Community feedback and parents, students and staff working together is how that is achieved.”