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Edison Language Academy – Together Through Two Languages (310) 828-0335 www.edison.smmusd.org
ANNOUNCEMENTS The Edison Rally for Safe and Kind Schools was very special! Much appreciation to: teachers and PTA volunteers helping students make posters; PTA for providing the poster supplies; Parent David Alvarez for turning our vision into a design and grid; David, Alex Morales, and Heidi Vega Aimonetti for laying out the design on our field late Thursday night; and parent photographers Michel Pacifici and Manuel Lozano for spectacularly recording the event. The 5th graders led us in singing “Give Peace a Chance/Queremos la Paz”, and teacher Karina Tejeda de León led our cheers and chants. It was a beautiful morning and you can see the pictures on the Edison PTA facebook page and on the District web page. 5th Grade JAMS Transition Activities –Thanks to JAMS Principal Steve Richardson and Parent Engagement Coordinator Aida Díaz for coming to campus last week to brief our 5th grade families on the Immersion program at JAMS. This is the way JAMS has decided to do its outreach to incoming families this year. LCAP Community Meeting – Supterintendent Ben Drati has rescheduled a community briefing on the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) to Tuesday, April 24 from 6:00-7:30 pm at Will Rogers Learning Community. SMMUSD is seeking input on goals, priorities and strategies for the coming year. Thanks to families who attended recent briefings on the Edison SPSA and Safety Plan. To increase campus security, we have changed some of the times that gates are open at drop off and pick up. Please see the attached gate schedule.
FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK: HONORING THE LEGACY OF CÉSAR CHÁVEZ On Friday evening, March 23, Edison recognizes César Estrada Chávez – a civil rights, Latino, and farm labor leader, a community organizer, a champion of militant nonviolent social change, and a crusader for the environment. Come join the Edison community for dinner (thank you ELAC families!) and concerts by our 2nd graders, afterschool 3rd/4th grade chorus, and parent chorus (thank you Maestra Jacqueline!). César Chávez spent most of his life in the fields of California and organized farmworkers to fight for fair wages, safer working conditions, and the protections offered to other workers in the US. Together with Dolores Huerta, he founded the labor organization United Farmworkers (UFW). Their non-violent tools in service of La Causa were organizing, strikes, boycotts, marches, and hunger strikes. One of the ways that we can honor Chávez’s commitment to improving the lives of farmworkers is to understand the challenges they face and support on-going efforts to improve their lives. Learning about the conditions faced by farmworkers is the first step, as our urban children often don’t understand what rural life is like in California – or that fact that so much of our state is agricultural. Did you realize that over a third of the nation’s vegetables, two-thirds of fruits and nuts, and 90% of strawberries come from California? Or that most of those crops are harvested by the 500,000 to 800,000 seasonal farmworkers in California who move often following the harvests? Did you know that national data indicate that one-third of farmworkers are women and over 400,000 are children? Are you aware that farmworkers still do not have many of the protections that other workers in the US enjoy? Exempt from most minimum wage and hour guarantees, they are not entitled to overtime pay or mandatory breaks for rest or meals. They are not protected from retaliation when engaged in labor organizing. On small farms, many do not even have access to toilets, handwashing facilities and drinking water. And there are few protections for children, who can legally begin working in the fields for 40/hrs. per week at 12 years old; with many starting much earlier. These children move so often that only about 10% graduate from high school. Further, conditions in the fields are hazardous and the EPA estimates that 300,000 farm workers are poisoned by pesticides each year nationwide. These conditions result in an average life expectancy of US farmworkers of only 49 years. Farm work is hard and dangerous with low wages, so few US Citizens or permanent residents want to do this kind of work. Most farmworkers are either undocumented or are present in the US only on temporary agricultural visas – making them an even more vulnerable group. If you want to learn more about the work of César Chávez or Dolores Huerta, or support efforts to help farmworkers, you may want to explore these websites: www.ufwfoundation.org , www.chavezfoundation.org , or www.doloreshuerta.org
SPRING BREAK March 25 – April 6
THE BIG SHOW! April 11 6:00 pm. Young Storytellers
MOVIE NIGHT Friday, April 13