Calling all CCMS PTSA Association members! Mark your calendars for the next Association meeting on Wednesday, November 4 at 7:00pm via Zoom. Find out what we are up to, programs and events your donations are funding, vote on Association business items, hear from Administrators, and meet some fellow parents. At this meeting, you won't want to miss hearing from our fabulous school counselors and learning about how they are supporting your student. We hope you can attend!

Culver City Middle School PTSA is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: CCMS PTSA Association Meeting (November)
Time: Nov 4, 2020 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87689243572?pwd=cU5CcFV5T1QvZm9oazU2dGtjbCs1UT09

Meeting ID: 876 8924 3572
Passcode: 791906

<<<<< Click here to RSVP! >>>>>

Despite the good intentions we had, we've heard the feedback that Fun Friday is proving to be very challenging for students and teachers. Attendance is of great concern and students are already feeling overwhelmed with the rest of their classes. For these reasons, we will not be assigning any grading marks to Fun Friday. Furthermore, we have decided to suspend the remainder of Fun Friday classes after next week. The last required Fun Friday session will be October 23rd. The decision came as a result of hearing teachers' feedback, that of the community, and realizing the amount of work and stress students already have on them. We tried it with every positive intention and will do so again when we return to regular school on campus.

If your child has a question about their grade on an assignment or academic performance in a specific class, we ask that you encourage them to visit their teacher's office hours for an immediate and direct response. Click here for a list of teacher's office hours. PLEASE NOTE THAT OFFICE HOURS ARE FOR STUDENTS, NOT PARENTS. If you wish to send an inquiry, emailing them the request is best.

When emailing, please remember that our teachers are working extremely hard to ensure that students are receiving regular feedback and rigorous instruction during distance learning. We want them to also attend to their personal lives and responsibilities. Please allow up to 48 hours during school days for a response. Teachers are not expected to respond to emails on weekends or late after the school day.

Our hearts go out to the family of our lost Panther. These are difficult days for everyone but, if you are able, please help support the family of our dear student. https://gf.me/u/y43imd

Link to Original Article by Emma Olson on Accessliving.org

As buzzwords like social justice, equity, and inclusion permeate our collective consciousness, it’s essential for advocates of progress to remember another ‘ism,’ one that is frequently left out of conversations.

Ableism.

The world wasn’t built with people with disabilities in mind, and because of that, the world we live in is inherently “ableist.”

So…what is ableism?

Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. At its heart, ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability. Like racism and sexism, ableism classifies entire groups of people as ‘less than,’ and includes harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalizations of people with disabilities.

What does ableism look like?

Ableism can take many forms including:

• Lack of compliance with disability rights laws like the ADA

• Segregating students with disabilities into separate schools

• The use of restraint or seclusion as a means of controlling students with disabilities

• Segregating adults and children with disabilities in institutions

• Failing to incorporate accessibility into building design plans

• Buildings without braille on signs, elevator buttons, etc.

• Building inaccessible websites

• The assumption that people with disabilities want or need to be ‘fixed’

• Using disability as a punchline, or mocking people with disabilities

• Refusing to provide reasonable accommodations

• The eugenics movement of the early 1900s

• The mass murder of disabled people in Nazi Germany

But what about ‘everyday’ or minor ableism? What does that look like?

• Choosing an inaccessible venue for a meeting or event, therefore excluding some participants

• Using someone else’s mobility device as a hand or foot rest

• Framing disability as either tragic or inspirational in news stories, movies, and other popular forms of media

• Casting a non-disabled actor to play a disabled character in a play, movie, TV show, or commercial

• Making a movie that doesn’t have audio description or closed captioning

• Using the accessible bathroom stall when you are able to use the non-accessible stall without pain or risk of injury

• Wearing scented products in a scent-free environment

• Talking to a person with a disability like they are a child, talking about them instead of directly to them, or speaking for them

• Asking invasive questions about the medical history or personal life of someone with a disability

• Assuming people have to have a visible disability to actually be disabled

• Questioning if someone is ‘actually’ disabled, or ‘how much’ they are disabled

• Asking, “How did you become disabled?”

What are ablest micro-aggressions?

Micro-aggressions are everyday verbal or behavioral expressions that communicate a negative slight or insult in relation to someone’s gender identity, race, sex, disability, etc. In the case of ableism:

• “That’s so lame.”

• “You are so retarded.”

• “That guy is crazy.”

• “You’re acting so bi-polar today.”

• “Are you off your meds?”

• “It’s like the blind leading the blind.”

• “My ideas fell on deaf ears.”

• “She’s such a psycho.”

• “I’m super OCD about how I clean my apartment.”

• “Can I pray for you?”

• “I don’t even think of you as disabled.”

Phrases like this imply that a disability makes a person less than, and that disability is bad, negative, a problem to be fixed, rather than a normal, inevitable part of the human experience.

Many people don’t mean to be insulting, and a lot have good intentions, but even well-meant comments and actions can take a serious toll on their recipients.

What can we do to recognize and avert ableism?

• Believe people when they disclose a disability

• Similarly, don’t accuse people of ‘faking’ their disability (FYI, there are a ton of ambulatory wheelchair users)

• Listen to people when they request an accommodation

• Use person first or identity first language (depending which the person prefers)

• Don’t assume you know what someone needs

• Never touch a person with a disability or their mobility equipment without consent

• Keep invasive questions to yourself

• Don’t speak on behalf of someone with a disability unless they explicitly ask you to

• Talk about disability with children and young people

• Incorporate accessibility into your event planning

• Learn more about being a good disability ally here.

But one of the most important things to do to push back against ableism? Make sure people with disabilities are at the table where decisions are being made.

Ableist Microaggressions are commonplace verbal or behavioral indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults in relation to developmental, emotional, physical, or psychiatric disability. They are structurally based and invoke oppressive systems of a "normal ability" hierarchy.

Ableist Microinvalidations, Microinsults, Microassaults are specific types of microaggressions.

Note: The prefix “micro” is used because these are invocations of normalized ability hierarchy at the individual level (person to person), where as the "macro" level refers to aggressions committed by structures as a whole (e.g. an organizational policy). "Micro" in no way minimalizes or otherwise evaluates the impact or seriousness of the aggressions.

Remember this acronym to support people with disabilities against microinvalidations, microinsults, microassauls, and microaggressions.

A- always center the impacted

L- listen & learn from those who live in the oppression

L- leverage your privilege

Y-yield the floor

Fill out this FORM to sign up for a group or hangout!

Dear Parents,

My name is Audrey Rothenberg and I am one of this year's yearbook editors. Due to Covid-19 we are unable to take photos. We would love it if you could send us pictures of your kids doing school activities like sports, homework, art, projects and more. Please send the pictures to yearbookadvisor@ccusd.org.

Thank you for your time and cooperation,

2020-2021 Yearbook staff

See info at the top of the newsletter for the zoom link and time! We can't wait to see you at the meeting!

Our computer technician, Josue Sainz has provided his contact information and a couple of forms to request tech assistance! Feel free to reach out to Mr. Sainz as needed!

Name: Josue Sainz

Email: josuesainz@ccusd.org

Office Phone: (310) 842-4200 ext. 5114

Google Cell: (424) 326-3106

For email password help, click here!

For Aeries password help, click here!

You can now pick up lunches for the weekend with your Friday lunch! Stop by and pick up for all the students in your family - they do not need to be present to pick up! See the flyer below for more details.

Our Counselors are always available to provide support, and have offered the following useful resources:

How to Help Someone that May Be Thinking of Suicide: BeThe1To.com

Resources from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

Getting Involved to Support Suicide Prevention: NAMI Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

In Case of Emergency:

• If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call 911 immediately.
• If you are in crisis or are experiencing difficult or suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
• If you’re uncomfortable talking on the phone, you can also text NAMI to 741-741 to be connected to a free, trained crisis counselor on the Crisis Text Line.

Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) believes that no child in our district should go hungry or have food insecurities, especially on weekends when students don’t have access to school-sponsored breakfast and lunch. The Culver City Council PTA, in conjunction with CCUSD, provides students in need with a backpack filled with non-perishable food and snacks each week to ensure that every child can eat on the weekends.

Please click on the link below to sign up for this program.

2020-2021 Backpack Sign Up Form

2020-2021 Inscripción de Programa de Mochila

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