Neighborhood Newsletter Fall 2021

FALL 2021-22

Neighborhood Newsletter A dynamic, engaging education. A nurturing, inclusive community.

FALL & WINTER CALENDAR

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As we navigate the pandemic, many of our events will remain virtual. Below are key dates of events that will be helpful to our neighbors. Please note, these are all subject to change based on pandemic dynamics and LACDPH guidelines.

www.windwardschool.org

11350 Palms Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90066

PERMIT NO.32365

LOS ANGELES, CA

U.S. POSTAGE PAID ORGANIZATION NON-PROFIT

HOW TO CONTACT US

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ur goal is to be accessible and address any concerns you may have. Please feel free to reach out to any of us with questions or for additional information about the School.

Windward Contacts:

Lindsay Flacks, Director of Infrastructure and Risk Management lflacks@windwardschool.org

Hiliana Gomez, Administrative Coordinator hgomez@windwardschool.org

AUGUST 2021 First Day of School Monday, August 30

SEPTEMBER 2021 Labor Day - School Closed Monday, September 6 Rosh Hashanah - School Closed Tuesday, September 7 Yom Kippur - School Closed Thursday, September 16

OCTOBER 2021 Prospective Parent Open House Tuesday, October 5 | 6-8 p.m.

Tales at the Table (Outdoor event highlighting DEI) Wednesday, October 6 Homecoming Football Game Friday, October 8 | 3:30 p.m.

Prospective Parent Open House Sunday, October 24 | 3-5 p.m.

School Closed Monday, October 25

Dawn Barrett, Chief Operating Officer dbarrett@windwardschool.org

NOVEMBER 2021

Raul Villa, Plant and Facilities Manager rvilla@windwardschool.org

Prospective Parent Open House Saturday, November 13 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Prospective Parent Open House Wednesday, November 3 | 5-7 p.m.

Thanksgiving Break - School Closed Monday, November 22 Friday, November 26

DECEMBER 2021

Stay Involved!

Winter Music Concert Wednesday, December 15 | 7-9 p.m.

Interested in staying up to date with all of Windward’s events? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all Windward news and updates!

Winter Break - School Closed Monday, December 20 Friday, December 31

Welcome Back!

Dear Neighbor, We hope that you have had a wonderful and safe summer. After months of preparation, Windward School will welcome all students, faculty, and families back for the start of the 2021-22 school year on Monday, August 30. We at Windward are incredibly excited for the year ahead, as it is the first time we’ve had all of our community members back on campus since March 2020. We sincerely hope that we will be able to open our doors once again to our neighbors for notable speakers, family-focused events, athletic contests, and theater performances once it is safe to do so.

Please be assured, we continue to implement guidelines and protocols for COVID-19, in compliance with Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, state mandates, CDC, and medical experts. In addition, we’ve required that our community be fully vaccinated (faculty, staff, full time contractors, and students).

WINDWARD ACADEMIC HUB CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

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e are close to the completion date of our new Academic Hub, located along Palms Blvd. The new facility will include 11 active learning studios, Drawing and Painting Studio, Graphic Design Lab, Division Suites, Admissions and Head of School Office, a Central Courtyard for students to gather, and an upgraded Performing Arts Wing.

Our contractor, Driver SPG plans to be finished with final touches the first week of October. We will continue to work with the contractor on mitigating construction impacts to the neighborhood through these final weeks. Once completed, we hope you will have an opportunity to tour the finished product!

TRAFFIC REMINDERS

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s school begins, we continually remind our community to be mindful of traffic to and from campus. We encourage students to use our outsourced transportation service (Tumbleweed Bus Program) and require that families carpool to minimize the number of vehicle trips. We’ve added two additional bus routes this year and are thrilled that close to 30% of our students are signed up for the program.

During the first few weeks on campus, we continually remind our community: • to be cautious when entering and exiting the campus • where they can and can’t park • to drop off and pick up their students at the assigned times

Additionally, we bring in extra support staff to help monitor the neighboring streets, serve as crossing guards for the Mar Vista community, and we partner with LAPD to ensure that all parking notices and street safety measures - such as illegal turns and parking violations are enforced.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns regarding traffic, parking, or security.

Uriel Aguirre Security Operations Manager | uaguirre@windwardschool.org

COMMUNITY OUTREACH & SERVICE LEARNING

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indward is proud to support our local community by involving our students and faculty in meaningful outreach programs that benefit our neighboring community.

With schools still following pandemic protocols, Windward students will continue to offer enrichment programs, tutoring, and crash courses that supplement local neighborhood school curriculum.

Below are a few highlights of some of the incredible efforts our students have accomplished and will continue to offer: VIRTUAL ENRICHMENT PROGRAMS Windward students supplement academic curriculum by offering virtual after school programs with local elementary schools. Last Spring students in grades 3-5 took place in three different programs: • Junior Scientist • Art Explorers • Math Adventures for Girls

Each participating student receives supply kits so they can complete lessons at home. The classes are either taped in advance and sent to families or taught live over Zoom. All programs run for 6-8 weeks.

SPANISH TUTORING PROGRAMS This tutoring program is led by Windward Juniors with assistance from teachers that provide input on how best to support the students during the tutoring sessions. The goal is to help students improve their Spanish language skills.

VIRTUAL CODING CRASH COURSE Within hours of posting this offering, over 79 students from grades 6-9 signed up for the course.

Windward Sophomores host six 1-hour classes for all levels of coding. These courses were such a success that they will undoubtedly continue offering them in the future.