MLA Bulletin
August 6, 2021
A Message from Bri and Violeta
Dear Families,
Thank you to all of the families who joined our meeting last night. It was so great to see all of you! We have included the slides from the safety meeting below, but also want to bring your attention to an important point of clarification.
Last night, we shared that the District is recommending that all unvaccinated students get a COVID test once a week. We encouraged families to take their child to get tested weekly at one of OUSD's 10 testing hubs. We want to clarify that we will also offer "at-home" testing kits to families upon request. Thank you to the families who reached out to ask for that important clarification.
In this bulletin, you will find important updates about the following:
- 2021-2022 Welcome and Safety Slides
- After School Program Update
- Registration for 21-22
- Family "to-do item" checklist
- PTSA Update
Thanks for reading.
With love,
Bri and Violeta
MLA Welcome and Safety Slides
Please email your site leader if you have any urgent questions that aren't answered in the slides.
- Maxwell Site: Brianne.Zika@ousd.org
- Sherman Site: Martha.Escobar@ousd.org
Registering for the 2021-2022 School Year
This year, all registration (known as "data verification") will take place ONLINE via the Aeries Parent Portal. To complete your child's data verification, follow the steps below:
- (New Families Only) Create your Aeries Parent Portal Account by visiting parent.OUSD.org. Create your new account using the same email address or phone number that you used in Schoolmint to apply for your child to attend MLA. If you are struggling, please call our office at (510)879-2152 and push 2 for "Maxwell."
- (All Families) Complete the "Data Verification" process for each of your children in the Aeries Parent Portal. This process will enable you to update your contact information, sign important forms, and provide your income information to determine our school's Title 1 eligibility.
- (Optional) Receive In-Person Registration Support. You can call our office at (510)879-2152, Mondays-Fridays between 9am and 3pm, or you can attend one of our two in-person registration support sessions -- Tuesday, August 3rd at the Maxwell site, or Friday, August 6th at the Sherman site.
A note about the Distance Learning Academy option:
- If you choose to enroll your child in OUSD's Sojourner Truth Distance Learning Academy, your child will be removed from MLA's rosters and will have to reapply should you choose to return to MLA in the future.
- Those of you who selected "distance only" on the District's spring survey should have received a follow-up message from the District to confirm your choice.
- If you have questions or are unclear about the placement we have for your child for the 21-22 school year, please call our office at (510)879-2152.
Preparing for the School Year
ParentSquare:
- ParentSquare will be our primary communication platform for this school year.
- Please download the ParentSquare app to your smartphones and activate your child's account using the same contact information that is linked to your Aeries Parent Portal.
- parentsquare.com
Vaccinations:
- Please submit documentation of all required vaccinations to our office as soon as possible.
- Students will NOT be able to participate in their classes until all vaccinations are submitted to our office.
- Click here to download the list of required vaccinations for entering TK, K, and 7th grade students, along with any returning students with missing vaccinations from last year.
- Email a copy of your child's vaccinations records to MLA.Apoyo@gmail.com, link them in a ParentSquare message to Sheila Loarca, or bring a copy to campus during one of our on-site registration support days (August 3rd or August 6th).
Supplies and Uniforms:
- All MLA students must have a backpack, a mask, and a water bottle. Free backpacks, masks, and water bottles can be requested during on-site registration support days (August 3rd and August 6th) for families who need them.
- Your child's teacher or Crew leader may send home a list of requested supplies in the first few weeks of school. All other supplies will be provided by MLA.
- The MLA school uniform is an MLA t-shirt and appropriate bottoms of the child's choice. T-shirts can be purchased during the on-site registration days, during the TK-2 Orientation for new families, and during dismissal/pick-up on Monday and Tuesday, August 9th and 10th on both sites.
- Please find the draft academic calendar linked here and attached below.
- Please note that the calendar is still subject to minor revisions.
After School Program Update
We hope this email finds you all doing well. We have been working diligently over the summer to rebuild our team and coordinate school-day logistics to provide a safe, supportive, and gradual transition for your students back into in-person after-school program activities. I will be sending out a separate Parent Handbook in Google Forms for you to complete by the first day of program.
Below you will find pertinent information for the start of the Community Bridges After-School Program.
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We are excited to welcome you to our Love.Learn.Success./Community Bridges Program at the Sherman & Maxwell Campuses of MLA. Below are some details of the program.
Sherman and Maxwell Campuses will share most protocols and procedures, however, there will be some differences, so please be attentive to these details.
Program Start:
Before- and After-School Programs will begin this Monday, August, 9th, upon the dismissal of the school day until 6:00 pm. We will be on campus to run the program early to accommodate the Minimum Day schedule of the school day until 6:00pm.
HOURS OF OPERATION: Dismissal of the school day until 6:00pm daily, with the exception of the following Professional Development Days when after-school program will be CLOSED:
Friday, November 19th, 2021
Friday, March 18th, 2022
Wednesday, May 25th, 2022
DROP-OFF & PICK-UP
Sherman Campus Before-School Care: Before-School Care (only at Sherman Campus) will open at 7:30am. The designated point of entry for Before-School Care students will be at the TK Gate (next to the Main Entrance of the Sherman Campus). Ms. Elisa will receive students from 7:30am-8:25am. At 8:25am, Ms. Elisa will lock the gate and escort the students to their respective classrooms so they arrive to class on time by 8:30 am.
After-School Care pick-up will begin at 5:30pm at both campuses.
Pick-Up @ Maxwell Campus 3rd-5th Grades: Parents/caregivers will park and line up on the Wheelchair Ramp. Students will be brought to the Upper Playground to wait with their teachers. An After-School Staff member will be at the door for you to tell them who you are there to pick up. Students will be released one at a time (unless they are siblings/sharing a carpool).
Pick-Up @ Maxwell Campus 6th-8th Grades: Parents/caregivers will park and line up on the sidewalk in front of the Middle School Garden Side Gate. Students will be brought to the Middle School Garden to wait with their teachers. An After-School Staff member will be at the door for you to tell them who you are there to pick up. Students will be released one at a time (unless they are siblings or carpooling together).
*If you have students in different grades on the Maxwell Campus, we will have the older student go to stand with the younger student and you may pick up both students from the younger grade pick-up location.
Pick-Up BEFORE 5:30pm: If you will be picking up your student before 5:30 pm on any given day, please send an email to your Site Coordinator by 12noon that day, so that we can make arrangements to have your student ready and waiting for you. We appreciate your cooperation with this.
Sherman Campus: Mario Sanabria, Site Coordinator, msanabria@lovelearnsuccess.org. At Maxwell, the early student pick-up point will be the Main Entrance Door.
Maxwell Campus: At Sherman, the early student pick-up point will be the Cafeteria/Auditorium Door.Brendan Slevin, Site Coordinator, bslevin@lovelearnsuccess.org.
OUSD's Restorative Start: Keeping in line with OUSD's Restorative Start, we are strongly encouraging our families to pick their students up as close to the end of the school day as possible (2:30 PM- TK-K, 2:35 PM 1st-2nd, 2:45 PM 3rd-5th and 3:15 PM for Middle School) for at least this first week. For many of our students, it will be about a 10-hour day at school and after-school (and maybe even before school!) for your student. We want to support our students with a gentle return to a full day of activities and are mindful that it may be an overwhelming amount of time for some of our students, especially if they have not been in a structured environment for the last 18 months.
Face Masks: All students and staff will be required to wear masks that cover their nose and mouth at all times indoors and outdoors unless they are actively eating or drinking. Students will be allowed to play with one another, including close contact group games and on play structures together. We are supporting our students by aligning with OUSD's mask-wearing & modeling guidelines.
Eating/Drinking: Though social distancing is no longer required, per OUSD at this time, we will still strongly encourage it and space students during snack time. We will eat outside as often as possible and feasible with staffing.
Shared Spaces/Supplies: Students will be sharing community supplies such as art materials, sports equipment, playground structures, desks, tables, and chairs. Staff will provide hand sanitizer and encourage handwashing before and after utilizing the shared materials.
COVID Vaccinations: Staff are not required to show proof that they have received the COVID vaccine at this time.
COVID Symptoms: We will be following the OUSD guidance on student symptoms protocol.
A reminder that one of the most effective ways to keep our community safe this year is by staying home when experiencing COVID-like symptoms, [fever, cough, severe headache, sore throat, loss of taste or smell, difficulty breathing, vomiting or diarrhea], regardless of vaccination status.
GROUP ASSIGNMENTS: Your students have been assigned groups by grade. Each student will learn what group they are in on Monday, or their first day of program. They will all be given a sticker name tag with their name, grade, and group assignment to wear. Please ask them what group they're in at the end of the day!
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES:
Students will participate in Community Building/Social-Emotional Learning Activities, Mindfulness & Meditation, Supplemental Literacy Activities, and a variety of Outdoor & Indoor Enrichment Activities.
Additionally, students will receive a weekly rotation of Enrichment Specialist Classes such as Muti-Media Art and/or Ballet Folklórico, and/or Capoeira. Classes are subject to change, depending on the availability of these Enrichment Specialists. The Enrichment Specialist rotation schedules will not be finalized until the last week of August at the earliest. We appreciate your patience as we work to share them between both campuses this year!
SNACKS & WATER BOTTLES
School snack is provided, but students are also welcome to bring their own nut-free snack, instead. We also ask all students to bring a reusable water bottle from home which they can refill at school.
PLEASE LABEL ALL BELONGINGS with your student's FIRST & LAST NAME!
We look forward to providing your student a fun, safe, and engaging after-school program starting next week!
PTSA Update
The MLA PTSA is excited to welcome you into our community. Our organization supports our school by coordinating community building events, volunteer opportunities and fundraisers like Bailatón and Read-a-thon. Each year MLA PTSA funds schoolwide programs and resources including visual arts, music, online program licenses, noontime staff, classroom supplies, field trips, library books, and helps make the after school program accessible for all students.
We plan to host an informal family information/welcome event on Tuesday August 17th from 7-8PM via Zoom where families will be able to connect and reconnect after the year of distance learning.
Whether you are a new or returning MLA family, please take a couple minutes to complete our PTSA Family Engagement Survey so that we can keep in contact with you about this and other opportunities throughout the year.
Many of the resources and programs that make MLA special depend on the support of our families and community. We encourage all families to support our school by contributing a monthly donation in any amount to our Cada Familia fund. Please check out our new Cada Familia donation page to begin or renew your contribution: cada-familia.raisely.com
On behalf of the PTSA Board, thank you and welcome to our community.
Giving to MLA
Melrose Leadership Academy
Email: mlaschoolquestions@gmail.com
Website: www.melroseleadershipacademy.org
Location: 4730 Fleming Avenue, Oakland, CA, USA
Phone: (510)535-3832
Facebook: facebook.com/melroseleadershipacademy