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Edison Language Academy – Together Through Two Languages (310) 828-0335 www.edison.smmusd.org
FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK:
ANNOUNCEMENTS Take to the Stage! Maestra Martha Oropeza Ramírez is looking for 13 people – 5th grade students and any interested parents -- to perform a Teatro Campesino piece about farmworkers on March 23 at Noche de César Chávez. If you’re interested, please contact Martha at martha@sparcinla.org. March is Women’s Herstory/ History Month and March 31 is designated as a day to honor César Chávez – Have you ever wondered how schools use these kinds of special days or months? All year long, we make sure that the curriculum we teach and materials we use are inclusive. We look at history through multiple lenses and look at the effects of actions on different communities. We choose literature that tells many different stories and features heroes and heroines of different backgrounds. And we explicitly teach about inclusion and equal rights. We use these special months and days as a way to shine a spotlight on the contributions of communities that have been historically under-represented or absent from the curriculum taught in schools. Since most parents don’t have the opportunity to be in the classrooms, we’re trying to be more visible and explicit about the ways that we do this. Please stop by the library to see the gallery of projects on African Americans in STEAM, join us at Noche de César Chávez, and watch this space for updates about Women’s Herstory projects. Love Your Library – Do you have a little time to help with repair, shelving, and cataloguing of books? With a new adoption for English and Spanish language arts, we have thousands of new materials to process. If you can share some time (training provided!) please contact Carol GarciaRamirez (cgramirez@smmusd.org ). Busy Month for 5th Grade Families – Please see the update in this week’s Wednesday packet.
KEEPING KIDS SAFE AT SCHOOL, PART II On January 22, I used this space to update families on our school safety plan and how we work to keep children physically safe at school. I’m returning to the topic of safety again this week. School safety experts advise that measures to keep intruders out in the first place is the most important thing schools can do to prevent violence. Our exterior gates are already locked when school is in session and admission is only through our front office. Only visitors with a reason to be on campus are buzzed in. But as staff recently reviewed our safety protocols, we identified some ways that we can increase perimeter security right now. We are in the process of doing the following: The district has agreed to install “sweeps” or automatic closers on the gates between the small parking lot on Virginia Ave and the campus so that the gates will close automatically behind exiting parents. The code on the Staff Entrance/Exit between campus and the Kansas Avenue parking lot will be disabled and entrance will require a key. This gate is frequently left open and is only intended as an exit in emergencies. Access to campus for pick-up of TK and K students at 1:35 pm will now be only through the-code operated “after/hours” gate adjacent to the front office – and then only between 1:30 and 1:50 pm. The code (which will be changed periodically) will be given to all families of K-TK children. The large gate will not be opened while school is in session. There may be other changes to gate hardware or policy as we evaluate the effectiveness of these approaches. I fear that some of these changes may feel unfriendly to parents – and that it not the intention. But it does feel like student safety warrants trying something different. I hope you’ve received an eBlast and/or dialer invitation to a Coffee with the Principal on March 7 at 8:30 am in Room 207 and that you will share your thoughts and ideas on safety with me at that time. There will also be an evening meeting scheduled, so please watch this space. Please feel free to email me about safety issues (or anything else that’s only your mind) at any time at lorum@smmusd.org. I also want you to know that on March 14, our campus and other SMMUSD elementary schools will be holding developmentally-appropriate activities that promote school safety by focusing on peace, kindness, mindfulness, tolerance and stopping bullying behaviors. We are doing this in conjunction with the national call for student walkouts on March 14 to protest gun violence. Our students are too young for us to allow them to leave campus unsupervised, but we want to let them have a voice about the things that are most likely to make elementary school children feel unsafe at school. Those things are usually peers who are aggressive or unkind. So, our rally will focus on how we need to treat each other with kindness, fairness and respect. Some activities will take place in classrooms, but you are welcome to join us on the field at 8:40 am for a 17-minute call for kindness. MARCH 8 MARCH 7 Emotional safety 5th Grade Play PTA Board Meeting Bullying 6:00 pm 6:00 p.m. Rally on March 14
MARCH 12-16 Stairway of the Stars Concerts