Fairfax Weekly Update
Updated: Jul 17, 2020
IMPORTANT DATES
mark your calendar January 13 - FFX Outreach Meeting | 8:30 am, FFX Auditorium January 13 - ASP Winter Classes Begin! (see below for details) January 15 - Staff Development Day - NO SCHOOL January 17 - FFX LOOP Meeting | 9 am, FFX Campus (After School Sing) January 20 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - NO SCHOOL January 21 - Board of Directors Meeting | 6:30, FFX Campus: 1265 N Fairfax Ave, 90046 January 23 - FFX Parent Coffee (Growth Mindset) | 8:30 am, FFX Auditorium January 24 - Korean BBQ Lunar New Year Family Celebration (Party Book Event!) February 11 - Parent Ed Night | 6-7:30pm, FFX Campus: 1265 N Fairfax Ave, 90046 February 13 - 1st Annual Family Valentine Sweetheart Dance (Party Book Event) February 14 - LSC Hot Yoga (Party Book Event) February 23 - Heart Smart Challenge Jogathon! February 26 - Pack Run @ LFP! March 19 - Ladies Only Clothing Swap (Party Book Event)
You can also subscribe to iCal HERE and have dates imported to your iCal. ALL DATES are available on LARCHMONT SCHOOL ONLINE CALENDAR
FROM YOUR SCHOOL LEADER
Dear Larchmont Fairfax Families:
We've had a great first week back at school after winter break! Our students seemed very happy to be back at school (though a little tired), and we've delved head first into our work for the new year.
We've had our new Larchmont website under development for quite some time now and I'm so excited to share with you that it will be launching soon! The website is not only beautifully configured, but it will be your one stop shop for all things Larchmont. You will have access to the school calendar, teacher information, school program information, lunch and ASP payments, lunch menus, event sign-ups, swag purchases, independent study documents, site council notes, volunteer opportunities, and much, much more! No more searching through emails for links and emails...it will all be housed on the Larchmont website and easy to find with a search bar at the very top. We can't wait to share this with you all as soon as it's ready.
One of our main goals here at Larchmont Fairfax has always been to build robust connections between home and school and to provide our families with many opportunities for involvement and learning at school, just like the students. To that end, during the months of January & February we will be hosting two important parent education events we hope everyone will join us for. Join us on Thursday, January 23rd for a parent coffee on the topic of Growth Mindset and also on February 11th for a parent education night at FFX led by our fabulous Improv teacher, Maja Watkins. We also hope you can make it to the Outreach meeting this Monday AND the LOOP meeting on Friday to learn more about our parent committees and for a chance to connect with other Larchmont Fairfax families!
We've got the Heart Smart Jogathon coming up on Sunday, February 23rd at Selma Ave Elementary this year! We'll be sending dedicated messages with information about that beginning this week. Finally, students have a day off from school next Wednesday (1/15) because all of our staff will be participating in Excellent School Visits all across the city. I will share more about those visits in next week's blast.
We look forward to seeing you at all of the gatherings mentioned above and hope that you find them rewarding.
Many thanks, Andi and Mersedeh
FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Happy New Year everyone!
I hope you had a wonderful break and that the transition back to school this week has been smooth. I love this time of year and the opportunity it brings to start anew. In this time of making resolutions and setting intentions here are a couple of resources to do so as a family:
https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/making-new-years-resolutions-with-your-child and https://www.parenting.com/activities/family-time/10-family-resolutions-new-year/.
One avenue to work toward goals that I’m focused on is looking at habits – what we do every day, oftentimes on autopilot, over time makes a big difference. Check out Atomic Habits and Good Habits, Bad Habits and the Science of Making Positive Changes that Stick to learn more.
In other news: - The March 3rd election is coming and while the Presidential race is top of mind, the local LAUSD school board election will have a huge impact on Larchmont and all charters. As you’re likely aware, LAUSD has charged Larchmont and approximately 40 other charters with alleged overallocation penalties – claiming we took more space than we were entitled to at Selma in prior years. Collectively we are fighting this. The bill for us is under $100k and we’re fighting it, but for some small schools it’s as much as $1 million and this is after years of LAUSD providing inadequate space for students with special needs. It’s more important than ever that everyone gets active in this board election. Make your voices heard and ensure you vote. There are active races in board districts in the valley, in Los Feliz/Silver Lake/southeast cities, and the harbor area. Please be sure to read up and make an informed choice for reform candidates supporting educational opportunities for all students regardless of zip code and let your friends throughout LA know who you support.
- Jogathons are coming up – please support your students by ensuring they’ve/you’ve created their webpage and are posting widely on social media and sharing the form with relatives to sponsor them as they prepare to run their hearts out for their school. You will be receiving more info on your campus's event in the next few weeks - if you haven't already. Thank you! - Our lottery is at the end of February so please get the word out to family and friends to apply by the second week of February to be in the lottery and on that note please let us know if for any reason your student may not be returning. It helps us prepare and ensure we’re fully enrolled. - Attendance matters – it’s key to learning and it’s our primary source of funding. Thank you for ensuring your student is at school every day unless they have a fever/communicable illness and that you do independent study when they’re out. It’s cold season so extra reminders about handwashing, not sharing food/drinks, covering when coughing/sneezing, getting enough sleep, etc. are all helpful.
Thanks so much for all you do.
Warmly, Amy
GARDENING UPDATE
We're so pleased to announce that our wonderful cooking teacher (and Larchmont parent & professional chef), Kori Bernards, will also be serving as our Garden teacher for the remainder of this year with a possibility of extending that commitment.
Gardening classes will resume the week after next. Because one teacher will now be teaching these two components of our ESY curriculum, we are excited that there will be greater integration and connectivity across content areas. The schedule for classes in each grade level for each month will now include 2 gardening and 2 cooking classes.
Please join me in welcoming Kori to our gardening program.
Note: We would love to have volunteers to help support Kori with preparation and cleanup for cooking and gardening. If you're interested in helping, please reach out to Kori at kori.bernards@larchmontcharter.org.