Published in the Comet Newsletter, written September, 2000

Welcome to the Social Work Corner.  I am the social worker at Shepard and I wanted to let you know about some of the programs that are going on in your school.

Special groups are being held this year to assist students in a number of areas; these areas include friendship, nonverbal language, expressing affection appropriately, gaining positive peer attention, resolving conflicts, and active listening.  Participants have been identified and recommended by their teachers.  I will be working with our new speech pathologist, Susan Jaminski, to provide this service.

On August 29, 2002, I worked with the school psychologist, Allen Veberg, to train the teachers on the new Crisis Management Plan and Emergency Plan.  All teachers now have a teacher copy of the Emergency Plan and the Crisis Management Plan and are aware of how to use them and when to use them.  We also went over information on referrals and identifying at-risk behaviors in students.

Once again Shepard has a Free and Reduced Priced Lunch Program that is funded by the state of Illinois.  This program allows eligible students to receive lunch and breakfast at no cost or at a reduced price.  In order to qualify for this program parents need to fill out an application, meet eligibility criteria, and be approved.  Applications can be picked up in the social work office.

District 218 has a program to help students keep up with their schoolwork if they are medically unable to attend school for two consecutive weeks or more.  To be eligible for this program a medical report has to be completed by the student’s doctor and then returned to my office.  If you feel that your student fits these criteria please call my office at 371-1111 extension 131 and I will provide you with the appropriate paperwork to be completed.

This year Shepard has a social work intern, Kelly Ferguson.  Ms. Ferguson is in her last year of her Masters of Social Work program at the University of Illinois Chicago.  She will be assisting in providing services to students and will eventually be running a couple groups as well.