Hearst Weekly Update
November 12, 2018
Principal's Message
Good afternoon, Owls! I hope that you've had a restful and rejuvenating long weekend. We have three events this week at which we hope to see you, the PTA meeting on Wednesday from 6:00-7:30pm in the library, the fall concert on Thursday from 9:15-10:15am in the gym, and the Open House on Friday from 9:00-10:30am. If you're able to volunteer for the open house, please do reach out to our PTA as they are coordinating volunteers for this event. Thanks and have a great evening!
What I'm reading this week: Better Leaders Better Schools Roadmap by Daniel Bauer
About Us
Email: attendance@hearstes.org
Website: www.hearstes.org
Location: 3950 37th Street Northwest, Washington, DC, United States
Phone: (202) 282-0106
Facebook: facebook.com/hearstes
Twitter: @hearstes
News and Announcements from Hearst
Quick Updates
- Join me in welcoming Amina Koroma to Hearst on Tuesday as our new Early Childhood CES Teacher. We're excited to have Amina join the team and I hope that you'll give her a big Hearst welcome!
- Read-Aloud with Interim Chancellor Alexander: "I Can Be Anything! Don’t Tell Me I Can’t" (11/13)
Arrival and Dismissal
We've noticed increased congestion and dangerous behaviors from families and kids at arrival and dismissal. In order to make sure that all kids are safe each and every day, please review our traffic safety plan, developed by DDO, below, as well as the attached image.
- When arriving by car, we strongly suggest that all parents follow a one-way traffic pattern on 37th Street. Parents should travel in the northbound direction so that children will be exiting onto the school side of the street.
- Please observe the No Parking Zone immediately in front of the main entrance on 37th Street. Dropping off and picking up students is allowed in this area, but only if the driver remains in the vehicle at all times and leaves after the child exits the vehicle.
- If you need to park to walk your student into the school, please find a safe and legal parking space. There are 15-minute parking zones on 37th Street to the south of the school entrance adjacent to Hearst Recreation Center.
- When dropping off or picking up students, make sure to pull all the way up to the curb and let your children out on the school side of the street.
- Never stop in the traffic lane to drop off or pick up anyone.
- Do not make U-turns near the school.
- Do not block crosswalks, fire hydrants, alleys, mail boxes or trash collection receptacles.
- Obey the speed limit and cell phone laws!
- Be polite to other drivers and children.
- Teach your children to respect our neighborhood’s private property.
- All pedestrians/bike riders use the crosswalks or cross at intersections only.
Ways to relieve traffic congestion near the school:
- Students who live nearby should walk or ride bikes.
- Park near the school, for example on Upton Street or near the back entrance to Hearst Park, and walk the rest of the way.
- Ride share or use public transportation.
- Leave a few minutes early to allow plenty of time before drop-off and pick-up times. Give your children their book bags, lunches, and hugs and kisses before they get to school.
PTA Corner
A big thank you to everyone who came out to Potomac Pizza on Thursday night and thank you to Deb Dasgupta for organizing our community dining nights!
EVENTS:
Gear Sales: We have a variety of options for you on our new Hearst Collections site, including a soccer shirt and a tie-dye shirt! Click the link to start shopping: https://www.customink.com/fundraising/hearst-owls-gear-dc
Order before November 28th and your items will arrive in mid-December. All proceeds from these fundraisers will support Hearst's PTA and thus our students and teachers.
PTA Meeting: The PTA will hold its next regular meeting on Wednesday, November 14, at 6pm in the library. Pizza and childcare will be available for all potty-trained kids. Please provide a water bottle for your child(ren). To sign up, please click here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Dbm0kkXBjLWlAVZDZF6zfmcMF9B_aZbWkUX_vGsdoew/edit
Parent Pie/Cake Swap: Parents, join us on the Hearst playground on Tuesday, November 20, from 3:15pm to 4:15pm (weather dependent) to swap a pie/cake. Your baked or bought goody should include a list of ingredients, especially if nuts are contained. Questions? Reach out to Charles Greene at charles@charlesgreene.com
Community Dining Night: Join your fellow Hearsties for dinner at Nando's Peri-Peri on Wednesday, December 5, from 4pm to 9pm. It's fun, tasty and 40 percent of the proceeds will go back to Hearst! Nando's Tenleytown is located at 4231 Wisconsin Ave. NW.
Proper Topper Hearst Shopper: Private sip and shopping on Sunday, Dec. 9 from 6-8pm. 10 percent of the proceeds will benefit Hearst. We will see you Proper Topper at Cathedral Commons (3322 Wisconsin Ave. NW).
Politics and Prose: If you like books, this is the community event for you. And if you don’t, please buy some books anyway and donate them to the school! Coming on January 27, we will have a fundraiser at Politics and Prose, with a portion of the proceeds coming back to the Hearst PTA. Thank you in advance to Jami Schell for organizing this again!
News and Announcements from Other Organizations
Reminder: Student and Family Resources & Upcoming Special Education Workshop (Nov. 13) from The DC Office of the Student Advocate
We are now fully back into the swing of the school year, and our office is hard at work to support students and families! I wanted to reach out and share with you some of our newly updated resources and the flyer for our upcoming special education workshop.
Prior to the beginning of the school year we worked to refresh our webpage in order to make it easier to navigate and more family friendly. We hope that as you are working to support your constituents that you will refer them to our online and printed resources as a tool for assistance – studentadvocate.dc.gov.
In addition to the updates made on our webpage, we have also worked to update our Parent & Family Go-To-Guide (an online/printed resource guide for families) and our Safe Passage Toolkit (online only – but it is mobile phone friendly). Please let us know if you have any additional questions about these resources or if you would like any copies to the Go-To-Guide to share in your communities. We would be more than happy to answer any questions or share resources.
Upcoming Event:
On Tuesday, November 13th we will host our Special Education Workshop Series in Ward 5. This event will be exactly like the SPED workshops we hosted last school year. It will be from 6:30-8:30pm at KIPP DC College Preparatory (1401 Brentwood Pkwy NE). We are partnering with Mark Jones, OSSE’s State Advisory Panel on SPED, and the Ward Five Council on Education. For more information or to RSVP, please visit our webpage training and events section at https://sboe.dc.gov/page/training-events.
Just as a reminder:
- Our Request for Assistance line, a “311” system for public education, operates LIVE 9am – 5pm, Monday – Friday. Reach us at202-741-4692 for resources, referrals, and one-on-one coaching on all DC public education issues.
- We have a wealth of online resources on our webpage, studentadvocate.dc.gov, under the Information & Advocacy Resources & Tools section.
- Our Online Education & Community Resource Guide is a continuously evolving resource that has more than 400 resource listings organized into 20 category areas. The first publicly available citywide initiative of its kind, the guide provides students, parents, families, and communities across all 8 wards with a roadmap to getting started in navigating the public education landscape in DC.