Ravens SOAR Newsletter 1.30.23
Mr. Stowell and Mr. Murphy's Family Communicator
Ravens SOARING!
Just like that we are at the end of January! Time is flying by and our Ravens are about a week away from the start of 2nd semester. Please take a moment to check in on your students' grades before they are locked in. I also wanted to update you on our admin secretary position. Ms. Angela Collins has been promoted and joined her senior daughter at Lincoln High School right before holiday break. We are hopefully hiring for this position this week, but we have been without a secretary for a month and we are starting to feel it. Thank you for your patience and grace as we keep the ship together until our team is full again.
I have to give a huge shout out to all who made 6th grade camp a success! From the teacher/parent chaperones, to the staff who supported the building in our absence, and our awesome 6th graders, who made me so proud! Just when I thought I was done with camps for a bit, 7th graders are up next! More information below.
I need your help... Below, you will see our efforts to educate, coach, and support students around online/social media safety on February 8th. We are doing what we can from the school level, but I need your help. I fully understand every household has their own rules, expectations, and freedoms, and I would never tell another parent how to parent. If your child has a phone, please take time to talk to them about their phone and how they use them. Talk about their photos, online platform use, usage data, chat groups, and most importantly, who they follow. You will be surprised. Your student may not be a bully, but what if they have bully type photos on their phones, or follow and like bully type content on social media platforms? We give our children freedoms, but most are not developmentally capable of safely navigating these freedoms. I don't have the perfect answers into what is intrusive vs supportive, but we must start having these discussions together. On February 16th, we will have an adult screening of the same documentary as the students and then engage in parent discussion that I will facilitate. We won't answer or solve everything, but we need to start somewhere... A week before our adult screening, I will send out a form to capture your thoughts, questions, and concerns that we can incorporate into our time together.
Thanks for your continued support and GO RAVENS!
-Zac and Devin
Social Media / Online Safety Student Experience
Wednesday, February 8th students will spending half the day in our SOAR Squads to engage in some online, social media awareness activities. There will be a 45-50 minute presentation in the commons by Stefanie Hanley (bio below), screening of a documentary/movie, and engage in some rich discourse around their new learning or thoughts.
The purpose:
As a school community, we need to address the social media /online issues our students deal with on a daily basis. I honestly feel this is our greatest safety / wellness threat. All students will get the same information in small groups with time to process and engage in rich discourse around the topics covered. We will also host a parent screening at night the following week (2/16 @ 6:30pm in the commons), so we can collectively learn and work to meet the needs of our students. We will educate the kids, work with families, and hope to move forward more mindful of our online presence.
Presenter and Presentation:
Stefanie Hanley has worked with both local and federal law enforcement for the past 15 years, working with victims of internet crime.
She holds a bachelors degree from the University of Washington in law, society & justice as well as a Master’s degree from Seattle University.
She has been providing community outreach surrounding internet safety for over 15 years in the greater Seattle area.
The student presentation covers -
- Cyber bullying
- Social media/gaming
- Sextortion
- Safety tips
The focus really isn’t on not being on any apps or platforms but how to be as safe as possible & responsible. As well as what to do if someone finds themselves or a friend in a dangerous/bad situation. It’s about encouraging healthy choices as well as avenues to reporting.
Documentary Screening
(Please see trailer below)
If you do not want your student to view this movie, please fill out this form and let us know. \
https://forms.office.com/r/YwPD0ZzTat
Please reach out to Mr. Stowell with any questions or concerns.
Docu-Movie Trailor
Feb 16th @ 6:30pm (Adult In-Person Screening and Discussion @ RESMS Commons)
COMING SOON: 7th Grade Cispus Leadership Camp! 3/22-24
CISPUS DETAILS
In the next 2 weeks we are visiting all 7th grade classrooms to answer any questions kids may have about this upcoming Raven Experience. We will also be sending home permission slips next week. We want to make sure all 7th graders who want to go, get a chance to. It is important to know that cost will not be a barrier. If you have questions, concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. I will have a parent meeting at the end of February, a month before we go, so you know what to expect.
Here is what you need to know now:
- All 7th graders will be able to go regardless if they can pay for the trip
- The cost of the trip is $250 (Or pay what you can or more to support others)
- We leave Wednesday, March 22nd and return Friday, March 24th
- Meds! Please connect with our nurse ASAP about your child’s medication needs while at camp.
- Dietary needs? We’ll be asking for this information with our permission slips.
Interested in chaperoning? Please fill our this form. We need 6 chaperones and a volunteer to drive the uhaul with the students' bags.
PLEASE Talk to Your Kids About Bathroom Passes
You may get a blanket email from your teacher if your kid seems to be abusing the bathroom passes. Our first step is coach them into making better decisions. Our 2nd step is to inform you, and the 3rd step is for you and us to craft an intervention together to meet the function of the behavior. We hope that addressing this as a team will help curb the unwanted behavior.
This will also happen with cell phone use in class. It turns out that 95% of our students are following the expectations in regard to our cell phone policy. When they aren't, we will email you, and then if it continues, we'll work together to create a response to this behavior. The more you know and the more we are aligned, the smoother our building will function.
Thanks for your support with this!
High School Choice Is Around the Corner!
February 1 – February 28 Open Enrollment School Choice applications will be accepted.
March 1 – May 31 School Choice late applications will be accepted.
April 18 Open Enrollment results will be available online.
June 1 – August 31 Non-resident applications will be accepted.
August 31 Waitlists for the 2023-24 school year will dissolve.
Here's What's Happening Around the Building!
Last Week We Had A Successful Earthquake Drill!
Parent Presentations! Thank you!
Mad Scientists!
Mathematicians!
Virtual Reality? Wish I had this when I was in middle school!
Raven Art (Mac)
Donuts on the roof? Wait... Did I approve this?
New Beginnings Parent Virtual Workshop
We are 12 days away from February, Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. Currently, 1 in 3 teens experience an abusive relationship but we have a chance to disrupt that today. New Beginnings provides dating education to youth from 10 schools in Seattle and Shoreline to improve dating skills and relationship health. However, prevention begins at home.
Join our Prevention Educators Victoria Orcutt and Meesh Vergara in a virtual workshop for parents on Monday Feb 13th 6:30-8pm on Promoting Safety in Teen Dating. They will also be joined by teen peer educators from Shorecrest HS to answer any questions you may have. All parents of any age children/teens are welcome.
Register now for a spot: tinyurl.com/ParentWorkshopTeenDating
Topics discussed:
- What curriculum does New Beginnings provide to middle schoolers?
- What is normal and healthy for teen dating?
- How can I support my kid even if they aren’t ready or interested in dating?
- 30 min Q&A with teen peer educators from Shorecrest High School’s Peer Consent Education team
FAQ
- What if my kid is too young to date or they aren’t interested?
- It’s never too early to start talking about healthy relationships. You’ll learn age-appropriate ways to have discussions about healthy skills.
- What if I can’t attend the entire session?
- Come for what you can! If you sign up, we can email you our slides after the workshop.
- Does my kid have to be in a New Beginnings program for me to join this workshop?
- Any and all parents everywhere are welcome. Since we can’t be in every school, it’s important for us to have these open workshops for all parents.
- Will I learn what you teach at Crushin It?
- Some of it! We have 12 sessions that run at 50 minutes each so we can’t go through each one, but we will give you an overview.
- Who do I reach out to with questions and accessibility needs?
- Reach out to Prevention Educator Meesh Vergara
- Mvergara@newbegin.org
Meesh Vergara
Prevention Educator | Social Change Program
She/Her/Hers
206-926-3059
Check out our new Teen Portal!