Hello Arleta families, caregivers and students,
I am grateful to be reaching out to you to reiterate the news that our District and the Portland Association of Teachers have reached a tentative agreement. Our Arleta Staff is so pleased to welcome your student(s) back to school tomorrow (late start: 10 a.m.). We’ve missed seeing everyone and hope that students are also excited to return to class(es) with their teachers and friends.
Below you will find information to help you prepare your student to come back to school.
Reopening date/time: Classes will resume tomorrow, Monday, November 27 on a two-hour delay, with all programs and services otherwise running as usual, including after school programs. Breakfast and lunch will both be served (Breakfast begins at 9:40.)
K-5: Borrowed Devices: Please be sure to send back any borrowed chromebooks and chargers with students tomorrow. Teachers will be checking the items back in, so please connect with your student's teacher if there are any issues in returning the technology.
Changes to school calendar: The District and the Union have agreed to make up our 11 lost instructional time on the following days:
Dec 18-22 (previously week 1 of the winter break)
January 26 (previously a professional development day for staff)
February 19 (President’s Day holiday)
April 8 (previously a professional development day for staff)
June 12-14 (the dates set aside for inclement weather)
Quarter grading and conferences: Quarter 1 report cards will be sent home on Friday, December 8th. Information about rescheduled conference dates will be provided soon.
Rescheduled events will be updated as always in our weekly school newsletter, The Dolphin Digest. Please check your email for last week's if you haven't yet seen it. Please note that because the re-entry is more rushed than I anticipated without time to plan with staff, we will not be having an all-school assembly after all as I described in last week's Dolphin Digest. Instead, teachers will present the assembly content in classrooms.
Thank you so much for your patience, understanding, and support during this challenging time. Our staff will be working hard to re-establish our classroom communities to create focused and productive learning environments that ensure the best outcomes for our students.
And, thank you for being an essential part of our school community. If you have any questions or need further information, please feel free to reach out to any of our staff: 503.916.6330.
Warmly,
Lisa

Dear Arleta Families and Guardians,

As we head into Fall Break within this very different November, I want to express gratitude for our community and excitement for us to all be back together again soon. Once students return our staff will prioritize re-envisioning what it means to be an Arleta school community member so we can launch right back into learning. To this end we’ll have our first all-school assembly of the year on our first day back (hopes are now focused on Monday, November 27th). We’ll use our new school motto “I am because we are” to talk about what community means and our goal of focusing on relationships, and learning with and from each other. (For those of you who couldn’t hear me at Back to School Night 🤣our overall goal with having a motto is to help us stretch ourselves from where we are now, to ensuring a sense of belonging, love and joy for every single one of our students.)

It would be wonderful to hear from some students and/or from any of you: What does it mean to be an Arleta School Community Member? How do we show love and care for each other at Arleta? What does our Arleta motto mean to you? If your child or you would be willing to share any thoughts, please send a quote or quick video to me - lhawking@pps.net - it would be sweet to include some student or family voices in our assembly slides!

Teachers will also re-launch their positive classroom cultures through showing pictures of what it looks like when students are learning and following expectations, reminding students what the classroom agreements sound and look like in action, and what happens when there are unexpected behaviors using our school-wide “Response to Unexpected Behaviors” poster (it describes a progression teachers use to guide students to make successful decisions: Reminder, Make a change, Think Time, Communicate Home). We’ll have our school-wide “Common Area Expectation Rotations,” where each class rotates around to a staff-guided reminder of expectations in our bathrooms, cafeteria, hallway, playground, and classrooms. Classes earn “dolphins” from any staff for being witnessed following these expectations, and once every class has earned at least 20 dolphins (which equals the big dolphin you see on the poster outside the office) we do something special as a whole school community, such as watching a movie or having a special treat together.

Have a wonderful Fall Break and so hoping to see you all very soon!

Lisa

Dear Arleta Parents and Caregivers,

This afternoon we were honored and privileged to have the most beautiful and meaningful Native American dance, drum and singing performance in our auditorium. Thank you to Lisa Jackson, our own Arleta mom, who offered to share her own culture and identity with our students and staff through the performance and also by teaching us orally. Your children were so engaged and so beautifully respectful as they watched, transfixed at the sound, sight and spirit of our presenters, who represented several clans thus several different categories of dance, song and Native American culture. The spotlight dancer was five years old! Earlier this month, Lisa shared with our PTA, also in a very meaningful way and with special presentations and story. Thank you also to Sheryl Moren, our PTA Inclusion Committee Chair, and Melissa Sircy, Inclusion Committee, for this connection!

Our staff’s thoughtful and excellent work helping students understand the opportunity and meaning they would experience this afternoon, and practicing assembly routines, was important to the success of this first assembly of the year! Teachers have been bringing Tribal History forward to students this month. The state of OR created a Tribal History/Shared History curriculum in partnership with the 9 federally recognized tribes of Oregon two years ago, and PPS staff are teaching the 9 essential understandings that make up the curriculum across all K-12 schools. One of many things our staff identified as important for our students to understand is that for decades, our state’s public school curriculum has mischaracterized, minimized or completely left out the rich culture and vital contributions of Native Americans. Today, our school community was enriched and honored as they got to feel, listen, hear and learn. Because the dance experience, especially for Native American youth, is very private, we don’t have photos to share, but be sure to ask your children to share what they learned and thought!

Conferences are this coming week! We’re looking forward to meeting or re-connecting with you. 90% of students are now signed up! Please don’t hesitate to ask for help getting signed up. You can call the office for assistance Monday morning or text me any time (503.348.3982) -- it’s fine to text over the weekend and I’ll be in touch with you as soon as I can. Conferences are 8-8:30 pm this coming Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 21 and 22. You'll find the sign up link at the top of this newsletter, and also further on.

A note on attendance-- our staff and district know there are times when absences are unavoidable due to illnesses or unforeseen circumstances. We also want to make sure parents and caregivers know that the district goal is for students to be at school at least 90% of the year, which means missing less than 17 school days total. To help you track how things are going with your student, we’ll provide attendance updates if attendance is below 90% (including excused and unexcused absences). Hopefully this information will be helpful guidance for the remainder of the school year. We welcome and value all student and family voices and want your feedback in regards to your student's attendance as we strive to create a joyful, inclusive, supportive, and/or better learning environment.

Have a wonderful weekend, and see you next week for conferences.

Warmly,

Lisa

Dear Arleta Families and Guardians,

We miss your children! I hope they’re finding lots of reasons to smile and ways to make you smile. We continue to dearly appreciate our community’s care and support for our wonderful Arleta teachers and staff, and know our community is united in hoping for an agreement to be reached and for school to resume.

A reminder to all families to please sign up for Parent/Teacher (and students are welcome) Conferences which are still being planned for Monday, November 20 and Tuesday, November 21, between 8 a.m. - 7:50 p.m. It’s so important to take part in these conferences… when children see their family and school come together to share and discuss their strengths, to listen to them share what’s going well and what’s feeling challenging, it shows your value for the place they spend so much of their time (soon we hope!) and it really increases their success with and commitment to all levels of learning-- academic as well as social emotional.

Here are the basics (For full details you can look back to the Oct. 20 Dolphin Digest):

• Use www.MyConferenceTime.com/dolphin to register for your 20 minute conference.

• Watch this video to learn how to sign up.

• Families with more than one household: we ask you to schedule one conference per child.

• If you have several children attending Arleta, click on “Register for Multiple Conferences” and follow the prompts to schedule your children for several conferences.

This week is National School Psychologist Appreciation Week! Our Arleta School Psychologist, Jacquie Webb (Jac) is at Arleta on Mondays and Tuesdays and is a valued addition to our school community this year, serving and supporting our Arleta students and community in many important ways: support for students’ learning and mental and behavioral health, collaborating with families, teachers, principal and all staff as relevant to improve student support strategies and outcomes, serving on our school safety and crisis teams, and collaborating with community providers to coordinate needed services. Please join me in recognition of and appreciation for our School Psychologist, Jac!

As always, please know that René, Nicole and I are here at school daily from 8am - 3:30 pm. Please reach out if you have any questions or needs. 503.916.6330.

Take care and hope to see you soon,

Lisa

Dear Arleta Families and Guardians,

I hope you are all doing as well as possible during this unsettling time. We miss your children! Hopefully we will all be back together at school soon.

November is National Native American Heritage Month, making November an opportunity to celebrate our Native students, and highlighting the importance of always celebrating our Native students! One of our staff’s goals is to learn what specific ways Arleta Native families think the heritage month could be celebrated, and also, how Native culture and celebrations could be brought forward and elevated throughout the year. The goal of learning from the expertise and richness within our own community actually originated last month during Latiné/Hispanic Heritage Month. For Native American Heritage Month and also for Latiné/Hispanic Heritage Months, Black History Month, and the other upcoming Heritage Months, we’d love to hear the voices and perspectives of our families in hopes to create ways to celebrate that feel honoring to your family and culture, whether a space, an event or anything that feels meaningful.

I hope that even within the various challenges and however long or short the strike ends up, you can find even just a little bit of time to walk or play outside with your children, or to play and talk in new, fun ways. I know in today’s world creating that kind of space (space without screens!) can be difficult. Even a very few minutes of unstructured play with you is very beneficial!

A few other notes or updates specific to the strike: I want to offer a heartfelt and special thank you to our paraeducators and educational assistants who are part of a different union and who are busy pivoting to new work they’ve been assigned to during the strike. Thank you to our community for all your support of our beloved Arleta teachers and staff, and simultaneously, your resilience with the many challenges and complexities many of you are undoubtedly facing.

Report cards for the first quarter will be delayed. Once school is back in session and we have more information about report cards, we will share that with you.

Ms. Candice is providing grab and go breakfast and lunch services 3 days per week, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays during the strike, between 11:30 AM and 1:00 PM in our breezeway. Meals are free for all current PPS students and any children in your home ages 1 to 18 years old, and students do not need to be present to pick up the meals.

Sooner or later an agreement will be reached and we will happily be welcoming your students back to school. Until then, please know that our two administrative assistants, Ms. René Viloria and Ms. Nicole Francois and I are here at school every day from 8am - 3pm. Please reach out if you have any questions or needs. 503.916.6330.

Warmly,

Lisa

Dear Arleta Families and Guardians,

I want to acknowledge the uncertainty families, and I’m guessing all in our community, are feeling at this time with a teacher strike pending and as we head into next week. Here are the links to both the PAT Parent FAQ page, and the PPS Family Resources During A Strike websites.

Our Arleta community is strong and connected, and we are here for each other. The websites above have a lot of information for you, and be in touch if I can help your family or child in any way.

Hope to see you at our Fall Family Dance tonight!

Warmly,

Lisa

Dear Arleta Families and Guardians,

Parent/Teacher (and students are welcome) Conferences will be held on Monday, November 20 and Tuesday, November 21, between 8 a.m. - 7:50 p.m. Here are some more details:

• There will be no school for students on those days.

• Conferences will be held in-person, with your child's teacher, in your child's classroom.

• Arrangements can be made, if you request a virtual/remote conference.

• Starting at 5pm on Oct. 20, use www.MyConferenceTime.com/dolphin to register for a 20 minute conference.

• Watch this video to learn how to sign up.

• Please contact your child's teacher with specific questions.

• If you have already been contacted by an interpreter to schedule a conference, you do not need to use MyConferenceTime.com to sign up for a conference.

• Families with more than one household: we ask you to schedule one conference per child.

• If you have several children attending Arleta, click on “Register for Multiple Conferences” and follow the prompts to schedule your children for several conferences.

• After you schedule a conference online, the date and time are reserved for you. If you entered your email address correctly, you will receive email confirmation of your conference.

• If you are unable to sign up for a time and date online, please send a note with three preferred times and dates to your child’s teacher.

We really hope all of our families will attend conferences. When children see their family and school come together to share and discuss their strengths, and listen to them share what’s going well and what’s feeling challenging, it really increases children’s success and it makes them feel special.

Thank you, and have a wonderful weekend!

Lisa

Dear Arleta Families and Guardians,

Across our Arleta classrooms we are focused on academic learning and how to ensure everyone in our community feels part of and essential to a caring, supportive classroom and school community. Read more here about some ways staff across our school are leading this work, and ways we are working on this as adults, too.

Our paraeducator Mr. Andrew is on paternity leave. He and his wife have just brought Cecily Rose into our world and Arleta Community this past Wednesday, October 11!

A warm Arleta Welcome to Mr. Andrew’s guest paraeducator, Todd Gienger. Here is an introductory message from Todd for our community:

My name is Todd Gienger. I’m currently a student in Pacific University’s Master of Ed. program. I’m very excited to join the community at Arleta for a few weeks as a para while Andrew settles into life as a Dad. I spend most of my time outside of school and work hanging out with my two children. We’re an active bunch, spending our time camping, hiking, and taking weekend getaways to the coast. I love cooking, gardening and working through the pile of books I keep on my bedside table. I’m excited to get to know the staff and students at Arleta over the next few weeks. What a great opportunity to build my own practical skills, and contribute to a great experienced team.

Have a wonderful weekend, and please reach out with any questions or if you have anything to share. lhawking@pps.net (please use “message from Arleta parent” in your subject line) or text: 503.348.3982

Sincerely,

Lisa

Dear Arleta Families and Guardians,

We’re excited to timestamp your beautiful children next Thursday for picture day! Please look for the packet that came home in backpacks this week or go to mydorian.com.

And, it was so much fun seeing children play on our new SS Arleta this week! Our Kindergarten Team officially opened up our wonderful new catalyst for imaginative play with a ribbon cutting ceremony before the first recess on Monday, then other grade levels followed. Ask your child what they’ve heard about it or played, and we’d love to hear your, or their, thoughts and ideas! Such a special thank you to our Kindergarten Innovation Team and our dedicated, visionary, skilled and creative Contractor-PTA President- parent volunteer Carrie Bowers (and her fantastic co-partners Jeremy and Emery) for building it. Play bark for the inside of the boat and the play structure should be arriving any day.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Lisa

Dear Arleta Families and Guardians,

It was wonderful to have so much of our community together for our Back to School Night last night! Our staff is very grateful for this chance to connect with and learn from you. If you weren’t able to attend, a reminder that each teacher, including our Academic Support Team, created slides that contain all the important content: you can access all slides from this link on the main page of our website, and teachers also emailed just their own slides to families directly.

I unfortunately have two problems to make you aware of. First, there have been several incidents of hate speech that have happened this year. This is unacceptable. Hate has no place at Arleta. We are working with our district restorative justice specialist, Amy Chotzen, to determine how we repair the harm, to create a proactive plan for learning and prevention moving forward, and to refine our protocol for interrupting hate speech.

Here is a good resource from a PBS kid’s site for parents about talking to kids about race and racism that could be helpful to look at whether you’ve been having such conversations with your child for years, or whether you want to have these conversations but aren't sure where to start. Please don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have questions or suggestions.

The other problem is that we’ve had a few car-bus accidents occur during dismissal. If you pick your children up from school (and/or drive them to school), you already know how crowded SE 66th Avenue gets and how tight it is for buses to turn the corners coming west onto SE 66th (turning left from SE Raymond), or from either direction turning onto SE Mitchell from SE 66th. I really hope we can prevent anyone else from the stress and distress of having to deal with an accident. It is also incredibly stressful trying to drive a bus around corners where cars are parked near the bus’ turning zone. Buses arrive in the a.m. around 7:35 (give or take 5 minutes) and in the p.m. starting about 2:05. If you drive, we ask you to please avoid parking on the ends of the street where the bus’ need to make their turns.

Thank you so much for your contributions to our community in these specific, important ways. And, for myriad others and for your partnership and trust. Please be in touch if you’d like to talk for any reason. 503.348.3982 cell, lhawking@pps.net email (adding “message from Arleta parent” to your subject line helps me find your email in my very full inbox!

Sincerely,

Lisa

Arleta School Back to School Night - Thursday evening, September 14, 5:30-7 pm

Our staff is excited for our first full community event of the year coming up next week! We hope that all families will be able to attend our Back to School Night with your child(ren).

Back to School Night is such an important time to come together as a school community… to connect, share and learn about important aspects of the school year. We want to connect, listen to and learn from you, as much as we have information to share. We’ve designed the evening with that goal in the forefront.

• The evening opens at 5:30 with a casual meet and greet out in front of school for all staff and families.

  • From 5:30 - 6:30, our support teachers (ELD Teacher, Reading Interventionists, School Counselors, Special Education staff, School Secretary, myself), Specials teachers (PE, Art, Library, Music Specialists), and community partners (SUN, YMCA, PTA) will be stationed at tables lined up just past the sidewalks out front, or mingling about, to connect with you all. Classroom teachers will also mingle with families from 5:30- 5:50.

• At 5:50 our staff will gather on the front steps and introduce ourselves, then teachers will go to classrooms and families will be able to visit classrooms between 6 and 7.

  • We will offer two informal sessions in classrooms: one at 6:10 and one at 6:40 so families with two or more children can visit both classrooms. (For families with three or more Arleta children, if you can bring more than one adult, you could divide up and attend more sessions.)

  • For those of you with one child you can choose either session.

• Classroom sessions are informal (with variation according to individual teacher design), because we’ll formally share the content we want you to receive about the school year through google slide presentations ahead of time.

  • Teachers will send these slides to you early next week through the Remind app or email, and we’ll also link them to our website. We ask families to preview slides ahead of time so you come on Thursday night already having seen this content.

  • That way, during classroom visits, you can ask clarifying questions of the teacher(s). Children will be excited to share some of their learning so far, various areas of the classroom, or even engage in a special activity with you.

Below are details in table form, then look for your classroom teachers’ email. Slide presentations will also be linked on our Arleta Website (Front page/pale green bar, and “Academics” tab 2nd from left in the yellow bar) early next week.

You are so valued and integral to our efforts and success serving your children, and we are striving to work and serve in ways that ensure you and your child feel connected, valued and excited about the year ahead!

Our staff and I deeply value this opportunity to connect with and learn from you all next week. If you won’t be able to attend, please look at the slides your teacher will send (or find them on our website starting early next week) then reach out to your child’s teacher or any other staff if you have anything to share or ask, so we can connect with you individually. We look forward to partnering with you all in creating experiences that will lead your child to believe in themselves and authentically engage in joyful, engaging learning and growth this school year.

Sincerely,

Lisa

Dear Arleta Families and Caregivers,

It’s been wonderful welcoming our Arleta students to the 2023-2024 school year! These past two days have been especially delightful as our new kindergartners have come to their “soft start” (half the class has come for a full day of school each day). Here are some highlights from our start this year:

• Learning what makes our Arleta students happy! Thanks for sending back these papers, and keep them coming! (A hard copy came home in yellow envelopes the 1st day of school.)

• The festive and fun “welcome back” messages and decor out front and in our entryways! Thank you to all of our parents and community for inspiring and creating so much spirit.

• Our freshly painted lines and foursquare courts! Still in process this weekend. Thank you for all your effort and time brightening up our playspaces, Green Team parents Tracy Hulleman and Kyle Phillips, and for connecting with local artist Juan (FreshIsCool).

• Our SS Arleta is close to completion! Students can ignite their imaginations as they row themselves to far away lands or just hang out on our new wooden rowboat rails and talk. Our Kindergarten Team dreamed up this installation and our PTA president Carrie Bowers is building and installing it for us. Final installations of pea gravel and play bark coming soon.

• Our staff experimented and played with model wooden rowboats during our pre-service work and read an excerpt of the book “Pedagogy of Play” to explore the idea of “playful learning” then planned a lesson for introducing the SS Arleta to classes. Bigger picture, we’re striving to bring the principles of playful learning alive during instruction across grade level standards. “Playful learning in schools occurs when the learning goals of adults and the interests and curiosities of students align. In these situations, learners are leading their own learning, exploring the unknown, and finding the joy of learning” (Mardell, p. 18).

• Our teachers are engaging students in fun get-to-know-you activities and simultaneously launching their classes gently into learning routines and content standards. Across the school students are doing get-to-know you activities that integrate social emotional learning and literacy. For example Ms. Bidney’s 4th/5th graders used collaboration and grouping strategies to count how many colored cubes there are in their classroom and Ms. Doyle’s students are experimenting with ways music can help them focus. 2nd graders are chorally reading the first text in their literacy module… ask your 2nd grader what the poem their class is reading is all about! 1st graders are thinking about what fills or scoops from each other’s buckets (kindness/unkindness), 3rd graders learned to put dividers in their new binders then added their first reading response to that section and kindergartners are playing with loose parts (little random objects) to connect play and movement into learning many, many new routines!

• All students practiced “Common Area Expectations” -- what to think about and remember in the cafeteria, bathrooms, hallways and at recess. Big ideas are safety, respect and responsibility.. Last spring our staff asked students what makes them feel safe and unsafe at Arleta and we learned that when students all follow basic expectations in these spaces it makes such a big difference toward all students feeling safe and comfortable at school.

Here is an Arleta Family Handbook with information about school expectations and procedures to look over and use for conversations with your child or for reference as needed. We’ll send hard copies home with students too, and we’d love your feedback - what is helpful, missing, what suggestions or questions do you have? Back to School Night is Thursday Sept. 14 and will be a good time to ask questions or share your ideas with all / any on our staff. More on B2SN next week.

Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! Then, see you all next week on Tuesday, September 5 for our first full day with all our Arleta students (it will be the first full day of school for all kindergartners!).

Warmly,

Lisa

August 18, 2023

Dear Arleta Families and Caregivers,

I hope this letter finds you enjoying August!  I’m honored and happy to be entering my second year as your principal at Arleta. I hope you are coming to know and feel,  or will soon, the deep commitment to and love I feel for our students and community.  Within our most important work of creating a culture where every student experiences belonging, love and joy, I’m eager for opportunities to listen to you. I’m happy to find whatever way to connect that is best for you, to talk with you about whatever is on your mind, answer questions you may have if I can, or research answers when needed (which is plenty of the time!). 

Following is some information I hope you find helpful as the school year approaches.  Soon, we will link a Family Handbook on our website that will have additional details (we will also send out the link and we’ll send hard copies home on the first day of school).  

The complete welcome letter with all the back-to-school details can be found here.

Happy Last Day of School!  Thank you for your partnership this year and your part in making Arleta such a wonderful school. If your family is moving, thank you for your positive contributions to Arleta while you were here; you are special parts of Arleta’s story and history. Arleta is full of positive momentum… the motivation in our community to continue to grow and do great things together is palpable and fantastic!

This afternoon, after our clap out for our rising 6th graders (our Arleta Class of 2030 has been promoted!) we’re hosting an ice cream social for our incoming kindergartners and our (now) rising 1st graders.  All current kindergarten students and families, and incoming kindergarten students and families, are welcome. Thank you to our PTA and volunteers for hosting this sweet event, and to our kindergarten team who will be there adding to the fun.

Some summer events to make note of!  If you can make the date work, please mark your calendars for our Arleta Community Care Day on Saturday, August 12th from 10-12 a.m.  It’s a fun time for any in our community to come together, pull some weeds, spread some bark mulch or do other things to beautify our school grounds.  Feel free to bring your favorite tools, but we’ll have gloves and tools available for all, so you can also just arrive.  

We’ll also be hosting some special events for families who are new to Arleta.  

• August 17:  Open House for all new students, 5-6 p.m.  Please spread the word to any new families you know, or any families who live in the Arleta boundary but are attending another school, who might be interested in considering or learning more about Arleta.  
• Incoming Kindergarten and Rising 1st Grade Ice Cream Social, Thursday Aug. 24, 4 pm 

Arleta is the 7th school community I’ve been a part of as a teacher or leader, in addition to the schools my own children attended. While all schools have amazing teachers and programs as well as improvements to make, I think Arleta is so top notch!  We have such an exceptional staff, an amazing community, wonderful programs, a lovely size and setting, and we are focused on multi-dimensional growth that leads to strong and successful student outcomes and our own growth as educators and community members. If you haven’t had a chance to check out our PTA website lately, here it is-- it’s a great place to show off all Arleta has to offer.  https://arletapta.org/. 

While I’m really looking forward to summer fun and sleep and think I can say the same for all our staff, we’re all going to be very excited to see our students again next fall!  The first day of school for grades 1-5 is August 29, which is also the first day of our kindergarten ramp up (1:1 Family Conversations with a teacher Aug. 29 and 30, ½ class full day August 31, the other ½ class Friday Sept. 1 (specific dates for families will be shared in August).  Monday Sept. 4th is Labor Day (no school) then Tuesday September 5th all our Dolphins are here together and our 2023-2024 year will be launched.  I’ll send you an update in mid-August. 

Have a wonderful summer!

Lisa

In recognition of Black History Month which is coming up!  Each grade level team is in process with ways for students to learn about and celebrate Black culture, joy and advancement as well as to understand and reflect on our country’s complex history. This week our Equity Team led staff in planning a schoolwide assembly for all classes to take place later this month. Each grade level chose a term: joy, community, justice and injustice, unity, beauty. Classes will all present a song, artwork, or piece of writing connected to these terms and concepts of civil rights so that our whole student body will be able to see, hear, appreciate and celebrate the learning and reflection taking place across our school. 

It’s time for our district-wide Successful Schools Survey. Your response to the survey is very important: the data from this survey is used for writing and working on our school goals. (This year’s goal based on last year’s Successful Schools Survey data is “a sense of physical and psychological safety for every Arleta student”.) The survey opened this week and we hope all families will take part to help us improve in ways you need us to and also to help us know what is going well. Thank you!  There are links and additional survey information in a message from Ms. Aud, our survey coordinator, in our Dolphin Digest.