Happy Sunday Tigers,

In the midst of challenging times for our nation, we strive to keep the joy of learning alive, and support families in navigating the challenges as well. This week, as we reach 40 days since the closure, we are adding a section to the newsletter with resources to support family resilience. We are including a link with local food resources, and a student support survey that connects you with our team of social workers. In that spirit, we ask the community to consider making a donation to the gift card initiative for the Holidays, which will allow us to subsidize groceries for our Tigers. Many food banks in the city require proof of identification, which can be a significant barrier to access for undocumented families. Please help us ensure that everyone’s tables are full and that families can provide joy to their little ones! Thanks to Stacia Cardille, Scott Dafflito, and our SGT teams for keeping this practice alive for the past two years, and to Jen Jessup + the OCC for supporting it this year.

Speaking of joy, we were very excited to be able to celebrate Ms. Kleinmann's 30 years of service on Saturday at the Oyster-Adams Bilingual Book Fair! We filled the entrance of the outdoor Blacktop with families, students, alumni, and Ms. Kleinmann's friends and family. We celebrated her historic legacy in building one of the oldest and finest bilingual children's book collections in the nation—not to mention, the love for language and literacy in generations of Tigers. Thanks to Hilary Benson, Julieta Mendoza (our amazing cake artist), Sweta Shah, and so many other families who volunteered to make this moment unforgettable.

Help us celebrate more staff members! DCPS celebrated National School Psychologists Week last week! Jenny Cardenas and Andrés Nuñez are bilingual unicorns in the world of school psychologists, who can perform incisive assessments of student performance and effectively distinguish between disabilities and gaps in language acquisition. Their presence with students puts that clinical knowledge into action and they are critical members of the MTSS pilot team this year. Thank you for all that you do! Families, please help me write them a small greeting on this quick Microsoft Form. I will compile these into a small note of thanks filled with joy from our community.

This week, we also give a well-deserved shoutout to our Oyster Elementary chess team — featuring 2nd graders George Mylonas, Daniel Kezsbom, Dev Lillaney, Catalina Valenzuela, and Mateo Miller — who placed second in the 2nd-3rd grade category at the Chess Wizards Fall Tournament on Saturday. Thanks to our OCA team for making the team possible!

Finally, do you want to go out with your friends or partner on Friday? Can't find a babysitter? Look no further! The 8th grade is organizing a fundraiser for their class by hosting a Movie Night + Activities at the Adams campus. They will have childcare, pizza, and lots of fun. Check out the details here and in the Enrichment + Joy section of the newsletter.

A big hug,

Carolina Brito, Principal