Principal Communications
Newsletter - November 6th
During November, we will be very intentional about practicing a core value: Gratitude. The invitation is for all of us to pause and thank all members of our community for what we do: teachers, parents, students, staff, and administrators. The success of our school is the result of everyone’s hard work and commitment. We all have an important role in the success of our tigers... and we should not forget that. Let’s recognize and express the efforts of our amazing school community.
We also want to thank everyone for their support last week. We had an amazing Book Fair, insightful and reflective professional development sessions, a fun spirit week, an intentional kindness walk/food drive, and a passionate soccer match of parents vs. teachers. On top of everything else, we also experienced high levels of instruction and learning in our classrooms.
Please take a few minutes to read the following staff and community recognitions, announcements, and reminders. As usual, continue reaching out with your questions, comments, or suggestions.
Comprehensive School Plan (CSP) - Culture of Achievement (Part 2)
Two weeks ago, we shared the goals we want to achieve in our CSP for Culture of Achievement. Today, we’ll start unpacking how we measure those goals by talking about the Panorama Survey that students and families take twice a year.
DCPS laid out a vision in A Capital Commitment that every student will feel loved, challenged, and prepared to positively influence society and thrive in life. The Panorama Survey, administered yearly since 2017-18, was developed by DCPS in partnership with Panorama Education to measure progress toward that goal and gather feedback from our community.
The survey for students asks questions about how students perceive themselves, their social emotional competencies, and their schools. The surveys for families and staff ask about their engagement and experiences with DCPS. Here is some additional information about Panorama.
Please take a few minutes to see the overall trends for each category as we compared the results from last spring. We have made some progress in some areas, and we still need to work in other ones. In the next weeks, we will work as teams by grade level with the support of the Becoming and SGT teams (student growth team) to dive into the data and design some strategies to support our tigers.
Escuela de Padres - Becoming
We ’re happy to announce we will be hosting our second round of Escuela de Padres. This time, it will be connected to the Culture of Achievement dimension of our CSP. We have invited Heather Kurtz, one of the leaders in the District who supports our school community directly. The meeting will be virtual on Monday, Nov. 28 from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Here is the link to join, and we’ll send reminders as we get closer to the date.Thanksgiving Grocery Gift Cards
As the holidays approach, many of us are counting our blessings and looking to show gratitude to close out the year. This year you may again offer some financial support to help families in our OA community so that their holiday season can be a little brighter!
We will be collecting grocery cards from Safeway and Giant to distribute to OA families in need for the Thanksgiving holiday. Please send them directly to Ms. Naves at the Oyster Campus and to Ms. Hanson at the Adams campus. Click the here to see the flyer for more information.
Announcements and Reminders
- New All drills, including both fire and alternate, must be completed by the 15th of each month.
- DC Public Schools' FY25 (SY24-25) Public Budget Hearing (11/14, Register to Testify by 11/10). DCPS will convene a public budget hearing on Tuesday, November 14, at 6:00 p.m. to gather input from the public about the upcoming Fiscal Year 2025 (School Year 2024-2025) budget. Members of the public are invited to provide testimony at the hearing. Individuals or groups wishing to testify should register online here by Friday, November 10.
- Thank you to all families who provided their feedback on the proposed schedule for the overnight and international trips for grades 4-8. We are currently reviewing all comments and will circle back with the final plans in the next few weeks.
- There is an addition to the general schedule for November. We have a high school information session led by AP Hawkins and Ms. Alvarado. This will be a virtual session on November 16 from 5:00-6:00 p.m. We will also send reminders and the link to join the session to families in middle school once we are close to that date.
This is all for now--we wish everyone a great short week!
