Schedules for all 8th graders and 7th graders who turned in their immunizations by the last day of school were mailed Thursday, July 25.

The remaining 7th grade schedules were mailed Tuesday, July 30.

All schedules will be viewable on ProgressBook at the beginning of August.

Reminder to students -  don't share your locker combination with anyone and please do not share/text a picture of your schedule showing your combination with your friends!

Please mark your calendar for the OJH Open House, which will be held Monday, August 12 from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. Open House will be a ‘drop in’ model this year, so families may come and go as schedules allow to meet teachers in their classrooms. More details will follow as the date approaches! Students, don't forget to bring your schedule to open house!

School will start Wednesday, August 14 for OJH students.

ORIENTATIONS

Please note that orientations are for students only with the exception of the new-to-OJH 8th Grade Orientation.

Thursday, August 8, 2024

• 8:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - 7th Grade Orientation
  • Meet in the Auditorium, don't forget to bring your schedule!
     
• 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. - New-to-OJH 8th Grade Orientation
  • Meet in the OJH Office and bring your schedule!

If you think you have a serious problem with your schedule – maybe you’re in the wrong type of math class or you’re in band instead of orchestra – then you need to speak to the counselor, Miss. Waugh. 

When OJH students receive their schedules, they will be able to enter their Class of... Google Classrooms and use the self-guided School Supply List Google Form. This will generate a class-by-class list of needed school supplies, which will be emailed directly to the student as well. Please note students must be logged into their school email accounts in order for this to work.

The website is a great place to find information about these activities! Click the “Activities” button near the top of the OJH main webpage to see a listing of all OJH student clubs and activities. There is also an Activities Fair on the front lawn at the beginning of the school year, check the morning announcements for information.

At OJH, the lunch hour will be from 11:49 a.m. to 12:49 p.m. Students are permitted to bring a packed lunch or to go home during the lunch hour - just be sure to be back in time for your 5th period class at 12:49 p.m. For students who plan to purchase a school lunch, we anticipate offering a daily selection of a la carte options that include fruit, vegetables, sandwiches, beverages, and dessert items in addition to entrees from local vendors. While it will be possible to purchase a lunch for $4.00 or less per day, the cost is dependent on which items and item quantities students select. Current lunch options can be found at the Hungry Jack Café webpage.

In terms of seating, OJH students are encouraged to sit with friends and eat in the cafeteria, outdoors in areas including the Portico, the Alumni Plaza, the Courtyard, and the Stadium, and in the Pit when the weather doesn’t permit outdoor eating. Students are responsible for cleaning up any messes they make and for notifying staff if the mess requires additional cleaning.

Our cafeteria has a point of sale system that uses a student PIN (Personal Identification Number), which will remain the same throughout your child's school years. Your child's PIN is a four or five digit number that is found on the top-right corner of their schedule in the box labeled "NUMBER"; please have them memorize this number. For more information regarding the point of sale system see PaySchools.

Money can be added to lunch accounts online via PaySchools (which charges a convenience fee) or by check made payable to OJH or Oakwood City Schools. If paying by check, please include your child's first and last name and grade level in on the memo line and turn it in to Mrs. Roeckner in the OJH Office. Funds can also be loaded with cash or check given to Mrs. Wahl in the Hungry Jack Cafe from 8:00 - 8:10 a.m.

Please write separate checks for lunch and school fees, if paying by check.

If you can’t get your locker open or you have forgotten your combination just ask any nearby teacher or come to the Junior High office and someone will be happy to help you.

If you can’t find the answer to your question, someone in the Junior High office will be happy to help you!

When your junior high student will be absent for a partial or whole day, please email nave.emily@oakwoodschools.org and include 1) your name, 2) your relationship to the child, 3) the child’s name and 4) grade level, 5) anticipated absence date(s), and 6) the specific reason for the absence. You may also call Attendance Office (not the Jr. High Office) with the same information at 937-297-5330, but be sure to call before 8:30 a.m. for morning absences and before 1:00 p.m. for afternoon absences.

If your child visits a practitioner and is able to submit documentation of a completed appointment immediately upon return, this will allow us to code the absence as medical. Otherwise, it will count toward the allowable number of parentally-excused absence hours for the year.

If your child has a dental, medical, or other professional appointment during the school day, please email nave.emily@oakwoodschools.org or call the attendance office at 937-297-5330. If it is the morning of the appointment, your child can bring a note to Mrs. Nave before school. 

Your note or call should indicate 1) your name, 2) your relationship to the child, 3) the child’s name and 4) grade level, 5) the specific reason for absence, and 6) the time you would like to pick up your child. This is not your appointment time, but when you want your child to meet you.

The Attendance Office will deliver an excuse slip to the student, which will excuse the student from class at the appropriate time. The student may then leave the building to be picked up by the parent. You as a parent do not need to come into the building to “sign out” your child. Your child will come out and meet you at your car. Please make prior arrangements with your child for the pick up location. If the Attendance Office line is busy, there is an answering machine for you to leave your message regarding the early dismissal. This answering machine is monitored on a regular basis by Mrs. Nave. Please allow plenty of time for the Attendance Office to notify your child of the early dismissal.

Any attendance, late arrival, or early departure questions are all handled through the Attendance Office, not the Jr. High Office.

If you are tardy, you are to report to Mrs. Nave in the Attendance/Athletic Office which is the first door to the right when you enter the junior high main entrance.

When students are absent due to illness but are well enough to spend time on school work, a good starting point is to check Google Classrooms for tasks to keep up and to then check back with each teacher upon return. For students who have missed three or more consecutive days due to illness, missed work can be collected for pickup in the OJH office by contacting the teacher(s) via email. 

Vacation/Trips During the School Year - If your child would miss school for a planned vacation or trip, the principal's prior knowledge and approval is required for absence excusal. When trips are approved, it is the student's responsibility to approach teachers and learn what work will be due and what (if anything) will be required prior to departure. Without approval, work may not be accepted and zeros may be entered as grades.

Parking is very limited around our campus, and most spots adjacent to the school are reserved for faculty and staff parking from 7:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. on school days. Even if a spot is open, it could be assigned to a traveling staff member who is soon returning to the building. The best parking options are typically on Dellwood and Spirea between Schantz and Shafor or on Shafor between Spirea and Dellwood.

 If you are picking up or dropping off your child between 8:15 and lunch or between lunch and 3:15, you may briefly park along the curb in the loading/unloading area near the Alumni Plaza. This is also true for dropping off or picking up students with mobility needs at any time.

Before school, during lunch, and after school, please make every effort to avoid driving on Schantz between Dellwood and Spirea. We have approximately 1000 students on our campus, and it will feel as if they are ALL on Schantz if you are driving at arrival or dismissal times. Please help us keep our students safe! Pulling into parallel parking spots on Dellwood, Shafor, or Spirea will require a short walk for your child but will help us to this end.

In the very likely event your child forgets something, you are welcome to bring it for student pick up. Please place it on the shelf outside of the OJH Office, send your child a message or email, and be sure you have the student's name on the item. It is the student’s responsibility to retrieve the forgotten item between classes, during lunch, or after school. The students will be informed early and reminded often that if they think they have forgotten something or they have called a parent to bring something in, it is up to them to check the shelf outside of the OJH Office for it. Thank you for working alongside us to support growing independence!

The primary weekly communication from Oakwood Junior High is through our weekly newsletter. You can find all the information needed to sign up or modify your communications settings by selecting "get communications" in the "I want to" menu in the top righthand corner of the website.

As the people who know your children best, our families are always the best judges of what our students are ready to manage independently versus what still requires adult help. At OJH, a point of emphasis is to give our students opportunities to practice and build upon their independence and responsibility. Teachers will email students directly, and students will increasingly manage their worlds with less parental oversight. This is not an exact science, however, and we welcome and encourage our families to help our students navigate these evolving skills in individually and developmentally appropriate ways.

Though no two students are exactly alike, it is often true that your biggest role in the coming years will be to help your child navigate unpredictable changes in friendships, thoughts, and interests - and to do so when your child only sometimes welcomes your guidance. You probably aren’t going to earn a 100% A+ in ‘parenting a junior high student’ because our students tend to be VERY tough graders on the home front. 

We are here to help academically, socially, and emotionally - please don’t hesitate to contact us if you feel help is needed and don’t quite know where to start!