Pacifica Wednesday Weekly

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April 19, 2006

Important Calendar Dates

If you have items to add to the calendar, please e-mail the date and time along with a description to calendar@pacificaschool.org

LA Cat Benefit

LA Cat is a new nonprofit organization that connects professional actors with urban youth. Join us for a wine and cheese benefit to learn about LA Cat's mission and support our fundraising effort for students at Pacifica Community Charter School. The benefit will take place on Saturday, April 22^nd from 3:00 to 6:00 pm at the home of Katharine Powell, 1335 N. Spaulding Ave., Los Angeles, CA.

Many people from the drama community will be attending. It is important that our staff, students and families attend so that the other attendees see how important this project is to us.

LA Cat is a ten-week intensive performing arts program that will meet for 3 hours weekly and provide students an opportunity to build an ensemble through dramatic expression and leadership development. Students will be team taught by experienced, multi-cultural actors and educators. The program aims to foster competence, confidence, character and connection in students. Students will learn to work collaboratively and creativey hrough group problem solving and leadership training activities, as well as improvisations, acting games and scene study. Professional guest artisits working in theatre, film and television will lead master classes. LA Cat will culminate in an original, invited performance showcase for family, friends and the community.

Call 917-881-0410 or visit www.lacat.org for more information. 

CST and CAT/6 Testing

Well, it is that time of year, again. Standardized testing is coming (for students in grades 2-8). Our testing window is the two weeks of May 8 and May 15. More information will be coming out in the next week.

Multicultural Family Fun and Discussion

Next Wednesday, April 26 at 5:30pm we will gather for food, fun and discussion! We will be discussing the impact of different personal/family cultures on our abilities to interrelate and communicate. Please bring a potluck dish that represents a family culture and a family game/activity/tradition. We will wrap up with a conversation about the beauty and complexity of our diverse community and how we get along.

Finance Committee Meeting, 4/24

There will be a Finance Committee Meeting at Pacifica at 3:00 pm, Monday, April 24.  All community members are welcome to attend. The agenda will be as follows:

1.      Cash Flow Through July 2005 - review and adjust expenditures as required

2.      Budget for 2006-2007 - review template and develop initial
revenue/expense assumptions

Updated cash flow projections and budget template will be available in the office by 2:00 p.m. on Monday 4/24.  Please feel free to contact Stacey Montalto with any questions.

Vision Implementation Committee Re-Forming

Vision Implementation Committee is starting up again.  This is an opportunity for all community members; students, staff and families, to participate in the implementation and refining of Pacifica's vision.

Our first meeting will be Friday, April 28^th at 3:00pm. All are welcome. 

Student Council

The Student Council meets every Thursday during lunch, 12:00-12:40, outside Sascha's classroom at the picnic tables.  All students are welcome to participate - all students who attend can bring up issues and/or vote. Other members of the community who have something to bring to the council or just want to visit are also welcome.

Recent discussions have centered around explorations, wrestling, festival planning, fund raising and sponsoring a hot food day. We will try to distribute meeting notes electronically but for now they are in a note book in the office.

This Thursday we plan to solicit donations for the festival out in the community.

Questions or comments? Contact any one of our most consistent attendees: Lilly, Marlon, Alex P., Esther (all from John Robin's class), Riley Covington, Veronica (Stephanie's class) or Emma (Sascha's class).

Charter Renewal Update

Beth and Janin met with our contact at the LAUSD Charter Schools Division to discuss the charter renewal process. We are well ahead of their renewal timeline but we still have a lot of work to do. We need a few volunteers to write/edit, gather data, organize meetings, solicit letters of support from past and current families, plan where we want to be in 5 years, and more.

Contact Janin@pacificaschool.org or beth@pacificaschool.org, or call 310-560-5088 

Class Baskets for Spring Festival

The Pacifica Festival Committee would like each class to come up with a theme for a basket to put in the silent auction or raffle at the Spring Festival (Sat. May 20). We would then like each student from that class to bring something related to that theme to put in the basket. Please have the basket ready by Tuesday, May 16th. Marlon from Group 6 will come by with a box to put all the items in until the 16th. If your class would like to wrap their own basket please just let Marlon know.

For more information please contact Marlon (310) 560-4755 or Kellie (Clara’s mom) (310) 313-4985

Enrollment Dates

Here are the dates for the next two enrollment periods. For more information about this schedule, please call the school office.

2nd enrollment period: 3/31/06 - 5/4/06
May 4th, 3pm - applications due in for 2nd enrollment period
May 5th, 11am - lottery for 2nd enrollment period

3rd enrollment period: 5/4/06 - 6/15/06
June 15th, 3pm - applications due in for 3rd enrollment period
June 16th, 11am - lottery for 3rd enrollment period

Pacifica Policy Dialog

In response to members of our community who have expressed an interest in discussing the following topics, Janette and the Organization Council are opening a dialog regarding existing and possible new school policies. All members of our community, including students, families and staff are invited to participate in this discussion. Discussions will happen within classrooms, Student Council meetings, Parent Council meetings, and staff meetings. A Whole Community policy discussion meeting will be held on Thursday, April 27th at 3:30 pm that everyone is invited to attend. If you are unable to attend, please send written input to Janette. The goal will be to reach a consensus decisions.

Janette will be writing recommendations for new or revised policies on the basis of input received as a result of this dialog. The drafts will be distributed to the community on Friday, April 28th and formally proposed to the Council on Monday, May 1st. All community members are welcome and encouraged to attend the Council meeting and take part in the discussions.

·         What should our school policy be about watching movies at school? Keep in mind: curriculum tie-ins, ratings, supporting the values of our families, etc.

·         Our goal is to have a democratic school (within the parameters of State and Federal law, as well as holding to our charter). How is this working? What could be improved? How would you like to be more involved?

·         Our current “toys from home” policy is: Pacifica Community Charter asks that toys not be brought from home. Pacifica provides many developmentally appropriate educational materials, which are available to all children. If a child wishes to make a special plan to bring an item from home, please arrange this with the teacher one day prior. If you have any questions regarding the specific limits of your child’s classroom regarding the sharing of items, please clarify with your child’s teacher.

Any toy that resembles a weapon in any fashion is NOT allowed. A transitional item such as a soft stuffed animal or beanie baby is okay. Some children prefer a “pocket toy;” please discuss this with your child’s teacher. Please know that Pacifica cannot be responsible for any loss or damage to any items from home.

We have been flexible about enforcing this limit. Unfortunately, we have been increasingly dealing with students using toys from home during class, losing them, having them damaged, etc. As a result, we are going back to a tight enforcement. Should there be any changes or exceptions?

We consider iPods, MP3 players, electronic games, fantasy card decks and similar items to be toys.

·         Frequent absence and late arrival (tardiness) has become a problem. It impacts the learning of those with attendance issues and their classmates, as well as our funding. What are your suggestions for a policy that would reduce our absence rate and mostly eliminate tardy arrival (after 9:00, allowing a 5 minute “grace” period for traffic/parking difficulties)?

·         The current cell phone/electronic communication devices policy is: All student cell phones and electronic communications devices will remain turned off during class time (i.e., they may only be on before/after school and during recess and lunch). Students will have their communications devices held by a staff member if they do not follow this policy. A parent/student/staff meeting will be required to have the device returned. A second infraction will result in not being permitted to bring such a device to school. A third infraction will result in confiscation until the end of the school year.

There has been flexibility with enforcement of this policy and unfortunately, a few students are ignoring the limit. As a result, we are going back to tight enforcement of this limit.  Should there be any changes?

·         We want to create a formal field trip policy. Our current field trip guidelines are:

o        Field trips are an integral part of our curriculum and will always be tied to current projects/learning goals (with very rare exceptions)

o        No child will miss a field trip due to inability to pay for it.

o        Permission slips

§        Notice and permission slips out a week in advance  – ideally in prior week’s Wednesday Weekly

§        Contact parent/guardian the day before trip if permission slip is not turned in

§        Need permission slip for ANY trip not previously noticed to parents (with date, time, location, transportation,etc.) unless it is a truly spontaneous walking trip (eg. to see something you noticed on the way to school…house construction…)

o        Drivers/Chaperones

§         06-07 – will require proof of certain level of insurance from ALL field trip drivers

§         Confirm drivers/chaperones day before trip

§         Give parents verbal and written guidelines about how to support the field trip

§         Everyone gets maps and general info

§         Everyone follows the same route

§         Chaperones don’t stop and get refreshments for themselves or students

§         One child per seat belt/No student with airbag (new research puts the safe age at 15) – even if it is the driver’s child

o        Supervision

§         Minimum of 1:8 ratio

§         Students must always be under the direct supervision of a staff member or chaperone

§         No student ever goes into a building/store/etc. unsupervised

§         If students will be in the water (ocean, pool, pond, etc.), the ratios becomes 1:4 and tremendous clarity around safety and supervision is needed (including lifeguards, depth limits, etc. – meet with Director before going)

Important Meetings

Within the next week, teachers will be contacting the families of students at-risk of being recommended for retention next year. If you are contacted, please schedule a whole family meeting with your teacher ASAP.

Survey Overview

The following chart shows the % of respondents to our semi-annual Whole School Survey who marked ‘Satisfactory’, ‘Very Good’, or ‘Outstanding’. Those who marked Don’t Know’ are not included. A Whole Community Meeting was held on March 29 to discuss the results of the survey.

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