Principal's Newsletter
November 23, 2020
Principal's Message
Dear Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion families,
Thanksgiving is the time to connect with family and friends(safely this year!), enjoy lots of good food, and also to reflect on the many things for which we are thankful and grateful. I am thankful for all of our students who try their best to learn during these unprecedented times by attending Google Meets or Zoom sessions and completing their Google Classroom or Seesaw activities. Our students give us all a daily reminder about what is really important in this world and why we do what we do. I am thankful for our parents and families who have created a supportive partnership between home and the school. I am thankful for all of our staff and community partners at Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion School; they truly care about students and have everyone's best interests at heart. I would like to wish each of you and your families a happy, healthy, safe and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday.
I’d like to update you on where we are with our school’s plan for January. Based on the most recent survey results, our plan is for our school to continue with the Full Distance Learning model for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year. Our most recent surveys of parents and teachers show the following:
35% of parents prefer that we continue with the Full Distance Learning model
37% of parents prefer that we return to our campus with the Hybrid Model
28% of parents would like to stay with their current teacher in either model
80% of our teachers prefer to continue with the Full Distance Learning model
Clearly, we do have families who want their children to return to our campus (37%) and students that need a stable and more supportive learning environment. Our plan is to identify and support our neediest students by expanding the number of current REACH Pods, opening up Academic Learning Centers or Hybrid Option #3 classes (with the teachers classes that agreed to return to work in person), and starting some Hubs with district hired teachers. We realize we will not be able to accommodate everyone on site with these options, but using an equity lens we hope to provide a stable and supportive learning environment for the students that need it the most. Teachers will be identifying the students that would benefit the most from being here at school. Obviously, the in-person classes will be different for the students and staff as these academic centers will need to follow the 4 Safety Pillars, e.g., students will remain in distinct cohort groups that do not mix, students will need to keep their masks on and socially distance, hand washing and cleaning protocols will be followed, and we will need to stagger the start and end times of the academic center schedules due to physical/social distancing requirements. We will be finalizing our plan in the upcoming School Site Council Meetings.
The virtual musical, Character Matters, Too! was a great success! A huge SHOUT OUT and thank you to the entire student cast, the parents, Director: Lisa Bock, Choreographer: Danny G, Vocal Director: Lidia Orduña, Junior Technical Director: Libby Chalios, Artistic Director: Caitlin Savage, Executive Director: Donna Avanzino, and Producer: Rita Melton. In the musical different fairy tale characters learn valuable lessons about being a good person, how to treat others (the Golden Rule), and being conscious of how their actions affect the environment. The costumes were very creative and the choreography was amazing. The students also did a great job maintaining their composure and improvising during the live portions of the show when there were a few technical glitches(we are all so familiar with these technology glitches by now). Thanks to everyone for persevering through this virtual presentation! Enjoy these three songs from the show here: Character Matters, Never Give Up , the Golden Rule.
A reminder that the district has set up an informational resource for parents and the community on the district web page called the Roadmap to Reopening of Schools.The district has also included a Parent's Guide to Distance Learning and in Spanish: Guía de Aprendizaje a Distancia para Padres to help support families.
It is important that all families please visit the Unidos WebPage and take a few minutes to fill out the Membership Toolkit. Unidos supports a number of important programs at our school as well as coordinating volunteer efforts. They also provide communication to our community on a regular basis and need families updated information in the toolkit to do so. Recently, Unidos has set up this great link on explaining the process of reserving and checking out Library books. Parent volunteers have also set up a sign up page on the link if you can not come to the school to pick up the books and they will schedule a time to deliver the books to you(contact free of course!). The Virtual Scholastic Book Fair will be from November 30th- December 13. Use this link for more information: Virtual Book Fair. If you are interested in showing your school spirit and how proud you are of being bilingual, pre-order "Being Bilingual is my Superpower", school Spirit shirts for $10 using this link: Superpoder
Student breakfast and lunch drive through pickup here is now on Mondays and Thursdays 11:30-1:30, or at Roosevelt, Henry Ford or Taft from 2:30-4:30 Learn more here
Office Hours
Our school office is open to the public on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 8:00am-4:00pm. Please call to make an appointment if you need help. All staff and visitors to campus must:
- wear a mask
- use hand disinfectant when entering the office
- have your temperature taken in the office at the kiosk so we can screen you
- complete the visitor Wellness Screening From using the QR code in the office
- keep 6 feet of social distancing at all times
Please note that the school playgrounds(including play structures and swings) and field are closed. The general public should not be on the school campus.
Please send me an email of a photo of your child learning at home or a screen shot of their project and I will try to include it in upcoming newsletters.
Please visit our school website , Adelante Selby Facebook Page and our PTO/Unidos webpage and social media accounts: unidospto.org, Facebook and Instagram for more information.
Regards,
Director Warren
Important December Dates
- November 24: Parent Teacher Conferences
- November 25/26/27: Thanksgiving Holiday
- November 30-Dec. 13: Scholastic Virtual Book Fair: unidospto.membershiptoolkit.com/bookfair
- December 2: School Site Council Meeting, 3:00pm
- December 7: ELAC Meeting, 4:00pm
- December 8: Super Minimum Day synchronous instruction ends by 11:45pm
- December 9: Library Book Distribution, 9:00-11:30, 12:30-2:30(Use drive through by Library)
- December 9: School Site Council Meeting, 3:00pm
- December 10: Food Distribution, 3:00pm
- December 18: Minimum Day Dismissal, 1:00pm
- December 21: Luminaria Night(see attached flyer below on how to purchase a Luminaria)
- December 21-January 4: Winter Break
- January 5: Classes Resume