El Semanario
March 18, 2024
This Week at Edison / Esta Semana en Edison
March 19 -- Staff Restorative Justice Training, Library; Fire Drill #8 (am); 4th and 5th Grade Dance Classes
March 20 -- 5th grade morning field trip to JAMS; 8:30 am (walking); 8:30-10:00 PTA Association Meeting (library and hybrid); Student Leadership Teams; YST #3 12:00-2:00 PM; 4:30 -6:30 pm Site Council – SPSA Needs Assessment
March 21 -- 4th and 5th Grade Dance Class; 5:30-8:00 Noche de Cesar Chavez -- dinner, concert (2nd graders) and play (Ms Cachú Rios Class)
March 23 -- SPRING BREAK BEGINS -- 2 weeks
FROM THE PRINCIPAL'S DESK / DESDE EL ESCRITORIO DE LA DIRECTORA
Thank you to all the families who completed the Family Survey! We appreciate and use your feedback. The survey will be held open until the end of the day this Monday, March 18. Results will be shared with Site Council on Wednesday. This survey, other surveys completed by parents, students, and staff, and analysis of student achievement and attendance data are all part of the needs assessment we conduct each year to inform the school plan.
This week we are finishing the third of three, two-day Restorative Justice Level 1 workshops for staff. We were able to get nearly all of our certificated and classified staff trained in this important framework for relationship building and conflict resolution. Those few who missed out (last minute sub cancellations or absences) will join a training at another school so that Edison has a solid foundation for moving forward with this important work.
Tuesday and Thursday mornings, during a longer PE period, our 4th and 5th grade students have been taking dance classes. Working with instructors from the Santa Monica Dance Academy, all SMMUSD 5th graders are learning American Jazz and Musical Theater, and 4th graders are learning Ballet Folklórico and Hawaiian dance. Please mark your calendars for the morning of April 23 and join us for dance performances so the students can share with you what they've been learning in their dance classes. The 5th grade performance will start at 8:40 am and 4th grade at 9:40 am in the Edison cafetorium.
This Thursday evening we are hosting Noche de César Chávez and Dolores Huerta from 5:30-8:00 pm. The Edison ELAC will offer pozole, tostadas, tacos dorados (and pizza!) for sale for dinner from 5:30-6:45 pm. The program will include a concert by our Second Graders under the direction of Maestra Jacqueline Fuentes and El Inmigrante, a play developed by Teatro Campesino and performed by one of our 4th grade classes under the direction of Maestra Martha Ramirez-Oropeza. Everyone is welcome.
Finally, we wish you a wonderful two-week Spring Break and hope that you have the opportunity to spend some additional time with your families. The district's School Aged Child Care program will be offering programming at Edison during spring break. However, the school and offices will be closed and staff will not be able to return calls or emails until their return on April 8.
CALENDAR / CALENDARIO
UPCOMING EVENTS IN APRIL
April 9 -- Shelter in Place Drill #2 - 9:12 am; 8th Dance Classes
April 8– May 24 -- CAASPP Window for Grades 3-5
April 10 -- 8:30 am – ELAC (Library and Hybrid); Young Storytellers #4 12:00-2:00
April 11 -- 9th Dance Classes
April 12 -- 4th Grade Field Trip to Los Encinos State Park
April 15 -- 4/15-26 -- Window for Spring Star --English and Spanish Language Arts & Math
April 15 -- DELAC 9-11:00 am
April 16 -- Principals Meeting; 10th Dance Classes
April 17 -- Student Assembly: Earth Day/Environmental (sponsored by the PTA)
8:30 am – PTA Association Meeting Library (Hybrid); Student Leadership Teams 11:40-12:00 1st/2nd, 12:00-12:20 3rd, 12:20-12:40 4th/5th; Young Storytellers #5 12:00-2:00
April 18 -- 11th Dance Classes; Possible PTA Family Movie Night Grades 3-4-5
April 19 -- Safety Committee Meeting 3:10 pm (via zoom)
April 22 -- This week 5th Grade takes the Science CAASPP test
April 23 -- 12th Dance Classes - Parent Performance
April 24 -- 8:30-10:00 AM – Parent Workshop (Library and Hybrid); Student Assemblies – Women’s history month 9 and 10 am (rescheduled due to conflict with March 5th grade trip to JAMS); Young Storytellers #6 12:00-2:00; 4:30-6:30 pm Site Council Meeting (Via Zoom)
April 26 -- Jogathon
April 29 -- DELAC 9-11:00 am
April 30 -- Principals Meeting
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Last Call -- Complete the Edison Family Survey
If you haven't yet done so, please take a few minutes to complete the Edison Family Survey. This is an important part of our annual Needs Assessment. Preliminary Data will be shared with Site Council on Wednesday afternoon. The survey will remain open through Monday, March 18.
Returning to Edison Next Year
Each year we ask families in TK-4th grade to let us know if their students are planning to return to Edison for the up-coming school year. The form is linked below and we ask that you return it by April 15. This information is critical for the school as we determine how many spaces we have for students who have applied for admission next year for 1st-5th grade. It's also important as we begin to plan for forming classes for 2024-2025. If your child is a rising 5th grader (will be headed to middle school next year) you DO NOT NEED TO COMPLETE THIS FORM.
The form linked below has three parts. The first is simply to let us know, based on your plans at the current moment, if your child will be returning to Edison next year. The second part of the form provides information on permit renewals (all children at Edison attend with some type of permit so this applies to all returning students).. The third part asks if you have any confidential information to share with administration about next year's class placement. This part of the form is completely optional. If you would like us to consider any confidential information, you must complete the form by April 15.
When teachers and administrators build classes, we consider: 1) the needs of individual children; 2) creating classes of equitable size with a good emotional and behavioral dynamics, 3) a language balance, and mix of instructional needs, and; 4) separating children who may need a break from each other for the year or who do not have a history of working well together in the same classroom. If you believe that there is information that would be important for the school to consider to make a good class placement for your child next year, please fill out and return the form. Confidential information might include health, emotional needs, family circumstances, peer relations, etc.that might particularly impact your child in the coming year. The administrators appreciate your candor and will treat your responses as confidential. Please keep in mind that parents do NOT pick their children’s teachers, so do not request a teacher by name. It is also not automatic that a younger child will be placed with an older sibling's teacher. But, if you have an older child who was placed with a teacher and you feel that the same placement for your younger child would NOT be a good fit, then please state that on the form and we will do our best to take that into consideration.
IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS
EDISON SITE COUNCIL MEETING
The Edison Site Council meets this Wednesday afternoon 4:30-6:30 pm via Zoom. Site Council will review the current Family Engagement Policy and Family-School Compact, and continue work on the 2024 needs assessment -- looking at preliminary data from the Edison Family Survey and Edison staff survey. Based on the needs identified, the Council will also begin to talk about goals for next year's Site Plan. The Council will also review the timeline and bylaws regarding the nomination and election of new members for 2024-2025. Members and guests can access the meeting via zoom at:
https://smmk12.zoom.us/j/5851786538?pwd=UVlwQ0hPRkttNDVLc25iYi9CVG9HQT09
Meeting ID: 585 178 6538; Passcode: Orum. Members of the public may address Site Council during the public comment period.
NOCHE DE CESAR CHAVEZ Y DOLORES HUERTA
Join us Thursday evening, March 21 for Edison's annual Noche de César Chávez y Dolores Huerta. On this evening, we gather as a community to honor the lives and work of two important civil rights leaders who have worked so hard to improve the quality of life for migrant and seasonal farmworkers in California. This evening is a collaboration between Edison's ELAC (English Learner Advisory Committe) and our Música en Español and Teatro programs. It also gives us another opportunity to celebrate the developing bilingualism of our students in music and theater.
5:30-6:45 pm -- Dinner for sale (thanks to ELAC parents), gives us a chance to gather together as a community for conversation and to feed our families after a long day at work and school.
7:00-8:00 pm -- Program:
- Songs of peace and justice -- performed by 2nd grade students with Maestra Jacqueline Fuentes.
- El Inmigrante -- performed by the 4th grade students of Ms. Cachú Rios, with Maestra Martha Ramírez-Oropeza
EDISON JOGATHON IS COMING
Look for your child’s name on the link below and pledge support for their efforts. Sign up pledges from family and friends. More information will be coming soon on volunteer opportunities for that day. Don’t miss out; this year’s run promises to be another memorable event!
NEWS FROM OUR DISTRICT
Since Edison is NOT a neighborhood school, all our students attend on some type of permit -- intra-district or inter-district. Make sure you understand the requirements for keeping your child's permit current for the 2024-2025 school year.
- If your child is a continuing student on an Inter-District Permit, your Verification of Continuing Enrollment form is due before June 1.
- If you were a Santa Monica resident when your child began at Edison but you have now moved outside the district, you need to obtain an Interdistrict Attendance Permit from your new home district, send it to SMMUSD and complete the SMMUSD Interdistrict Attendance form.
- If you have a new student entering Edison in the fall, you will receive instructions in your acceptance letter about how to obtain an Intra-District or Inter-District Attendance permit. Please note the deadlines and follow the instructions carefully.
FIFTH GRADE
5TH GRADE CAMP IN EMERALD BAY, CATALINA
5th Grade Catalina Trip Update
If you spread out your payments for Catalina, the remaining balance is now due. Reminder notices were sent out last week and we're asking that you bring checks (Payable to Edison PTA) to the office this week for any outstanding balances.
There will be a Catalina Trip Informational Meeting for parents on Tuesday, March 19th from 6:00-7:00 pm in Zoom (link below). At this meeting, we will review the forms families need to fill out and how to prepare for the trip. Please be on the lookout for a packet of forms that will go home before the meeting.
Zoom Link/Enlace de Zoom
https://smmk12.zoom.us/j/7021647348?pwd=VjdwZEJ2TWtRVE5iamJyTkRJSXFQUT09&omn=81586628466
EXPLORING JOHN ADAMS MIDDLE SCHOOL (JAMS)
Our 5th grade classes will be taking a walking field trip to JAMS on Wednesday, March 20. This is one of the ways that SMMUSD tries to prepare students for a smooth transition from elementary to middle school. Please make sure students are at school on time as they will be departing from school very shortly after the day begins. They should wear shoes comfortable for walking. They will be joined by 5th graders from Grant Elementary and Will Rogers Learning Community during this special program designed for students in 5th grade. At JAMS they will tour the campus, receive information about various programs and opportunities at JAMS, and meet student leaders and administrators and counselors. They will be walking back to campus for lunch at Edison. For more information, including whether or not parent volunteers are needed, please see your weekly email from your child's teacher.
Independent Study PE Applications for JAMS
The Independent Study PE (ISPE) program offers middle school students an opportunity to engage in physical education activities outside of the regular campus-based school day physical education class. You can review the application linked below to see if this program sounds like something that might be appropriate for your child for the 2024-2025 school year. Please note that the applications are due April 12th 2024 by 4:00pm. JAMS reminds families that late applications will not be accepted.
If you have any specific questions, please direct them to Dr. Joseph Eure, Assistant Principal, JAMS 310-452-2326 x 72-217
WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
EDISON'S GALLERY OF WOMEN WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE
This week we continue with brief profiles from the portraits on the cafeteria walls in the gallery of Women Who Made a Difference. These portraits were painted by Maestra Martha Ramirez Oropeza and a class of 4th grade students, over 10 years ago. This week the two women profiled have each spent their lives working to improve working conditions and fair wages for workers. Meet Dolores Huerta and Maria Elena Durazo.
Dolores Huerta is one of the most influential labor activists of the 20th century, a leader of the Chicano civil rights movement, and co-founder of the United Farm Workers Association. Huerta briefly taught school in the 1950s, but seeing so many hungry farm children coming to school, she thought she could do more to help them by organizing farmers and farm workers. In 1955 she co-founded the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization (CSO), which led voter registration drives and fought for economic improvements for Hispanics. Through a CSO associate, Huerta met activist César Chávez, with whom she shared an interest in organizing farm workers. In 1962, Huerta and Chávez founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), the predecessor of the United Farm Workers’ Union (UFW). Huerta served as UFW vice president until 1999, helping organize the 1965 Delano strike of 5,000 grape workers and serving as the lead negotiator in the workers’ contract that followed. Throughout her work with the UFW, Huerta organized workers, negotiated contracts, advocated for safer working conditions including the elimination of harmful pesticides, and fought for unemployment and healthcare benefits for agricultural workers. She helped organize nationwide table grape boycotts in the late 1960s that led to a successful union contract and then to the ground-breaking California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which allowed farm workers to form unions and bargain for better wages and conditions. Huerta has worked as a lobbyist to improve workers’ legislative representation, worked to elect more Latinos and women to political office, and has championed women’s, environmental and LGBTQ+ issues.
Maria Elena Durazo was born to migrant worker parents. traveling with her family to follow the crops throughout California and Oregon, and experiencing the exploitative conditions and hardships that migrant laborers suffer. Her own experiences and the inspiration of César Chávez, led her to get involved in the fight for equal rights. After college, Durazo entered the labor movement as an organizer for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (later called UNITE, the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees) and also worked with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE). While working as a union organizer, she earned a law degree. She led efforts to make the union more responsive to its majority-Latino membership, educating workers about their rights, so they could participate in negotiating their union contracts and making all meetings and publications bilingual. From 2006 through 2014, she was the first woman Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, the second largest labor council in the country and currently serves as the Executive Vice President of the governing council of the National AFL-CIO. She has been an elected California State Senator since 2018.
Maria Elena Durazo
Dolores Huerta
Women's History Month Theme 2024
ABOUT EDISON LANGUAGE ACADEMY / ACERCA DE LA ACADEMIA DE IDIOMAS EDISON
El Semanario is the weekly family newsletter from Edison Language Academy in the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District. Edison is a school of choice and offers a 90-10 Spanish-English dual immersion program for all students. Edison's PreK-5th grade program is the first of three schools hosting SMMUSD's PreK-12 grade Language Academy. Students promoting from Edison can continue the dual immersion program at John Adams Middle School (JAMS) and Santa Monica High School (Samohi).
Edison is a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, twice named as a California Distinguished School, a multi-year recipient of the State of California's Title I Academic Achievement Award, holder of a Seal of Excellence from the California Association for Bilingual Education, designated as a PTA School of Excellence, and a multi-year Honor Roll designee from the Education Results Partnership. This is Edison's 37th year as a dual immersion academy.
Email Principal Orum: lorum@smmusd.org
Website: www.edison.smmusd.org
Location: 2402 Virginia Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA
Phone: (310) 828-0335