Have a great summer, Hollygrove!
IMPORTANT DATES
June 12 - Last Day Of School
August 19, Wednesday - First Day of the 2020-21 School Year
MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPALS
Dear Hollygrove Families, Well, Team Hollygrove, we made it! It's been a really crazy ride for us all, but here we are--the first Saturday of our summer vacation! First, we would like to acknowledge and thank our incredible staff for all they have done this year. Each and every staff member at Hollygrove poured time, energy and more heart than imaginable into this wild ride of a school year! We are truly grateful to work among such a talented and dedicated group of professional educators. Please take a minute to reflect on the school year and enjoy this beautiful slide show created by Hollygrove parent Leanna Creel. What a whirlwind it's been! We tried to show this video at the end of Morning Sing, but after a comedy of errors, we sent everyone off in anticipation! Your child most likely saw this in Friday's Morning Meeting, but we recommend gathering the family together and watching again. Looking through these pictures, it's hard to believe how much we've experienced together this year. Pause. And, take it all in--we've been through a lot together as a COMMUNITY! Please take a long minute to hug your child and express how proud of them you are for making it through this school year.
Hollygrove End-Of-Year Slideshow
On Thursday, we held our Hollygrove Drive-Through parade for our students and families. The joy of seeing our students in person coupled with the bitter sweet reality of missing what school looked like just months ago was the backdrop for a truly meaningful end of year celebration. Our 4th grade students were the last group to come through the gate. Each rising 5th grader was handed the traditional, personalized Hollygrove sash (see pictures). Thank you to Rebecca Ault and her team for ensuring that this longstanding tradition of 3rd graders creating and personalizing 4th grade sashes still happened this year! Though it was a big departure from our usual end of year 4th grade Bridging and Sashing ceremonies, in some ways, we think it might have been even more memorable. We hope you all can take some time to enjoy the moving 4th grade culmination video (below) put together by Hollygrove parent, Kemper Bates. We also want to take a minute to thank our departing 4th grade families for gifting all 16 of our Hollygrove teachers sets of school-based anti-bias curriculum and picture books.
Hollygrove 4th Grade Culmination
As our school year draws to an end (and because this is our last Weekly Blast for this year), we along with the teachers and staff want to wish you all a wonderful and well deserved summer! Thank you for all of your hard work and your support during this challenging time. We would also like to share our thanks and appreciation for all that you do for Larchmont. We can't do what we do year in and year out without the support and incredible volunteerism we receive from our families. We are all grateful to work in a such a wonderful community and we wish for much smoother times for everyone in the coming 2020-21 school year! We are sure you're all ready for a break from school, but we will be keeping in touch over the summer with updates about our reopening plans as soon as they are solidified. Please read Amy's message down below for further information in that regard. Until them... THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR THE 2020-21 SCHOOL YEAR IS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19th. HAVE A HEALTHY & WONDERFUL SUMMER! - Alissa, Eva, & The LCS Faculty/Staff
FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Hi All,
I’m writing you one last message for the 2019-20 school year. This has been a year like no other and we know next year will also look different. I want to thank everyone in our community for pulling together to get through a trying time as only the Larchmont community could – well-practiced in collaboration, communication, creativity, generosity and a commitment to diversity and social justice. These traits have served us well in this time and will continue to do so in the times ahead.
I want to really thank all of you for not missing a beat and despite coping with the scare of this pandemic, you turned on a dime to be there for our students and families. Thank you for being flexible and creative and for modeling for everyone what it means to persevere. It’s been inspiring. I also want to thank our community (students, staff and parents) for stepping forward with ideas for us to deepen our anti-bias work as a school--we will look to implement many of these in the coming year.
It’s been so heartwarming to see all the end of year step up, moving up, sashing, promotion and graduation virtual ceremonies across all the campuses.
As we wrap up this year and head into summer, I know there is much anxiety about what next year will look like. We’re collaborating with lots of other charters and monitoring what districts and private schools alike are planning. I appreciate our staff and families taking the recent surveys to weigh in with your thinking. From the surveys, it’s clear our staff has many creative ideas about how to proceed along with concerns both on the health and safety front and regarding how the hybrid model would work. A small percentage of families need or prefer continuing full distance learning while the vast majority of families prefer to return to campus as soon and as much as possible. Your questions, concerns and suggestions will inform planning. We will ensure that any plan prioritizes the health and safety of staff and students above all else and that plans are designed with community input and to be sustainable for everyone. We’ll be reaching out with opportunities to join planning sessions to weigh in as specifics are getting further developed over the summer.
We do sense there’s broad consensus at LAUSD and area charters forming around plans very similar to what we’ve shared as our tentative plan. This includes having a full distance learning track for the small number of families not comfortable returning yet, then one cohort attending campus Monday and Tuesday and another Thursday and Friday. Students would be learning remotely the rest of the time and Wednesday would be the day for cleaning, teacher prep, planning and meetings and extra support for high need students.
There are lots of details to work out but we’re not alone and we’ll be hard at work over the summer prepping for the fall. Our prediction at this point is that we’ll open with the hybrid model on 8/19 and a full distance learning option available for those needing/preferring that. We’ll reach out over the summer with both opportunities to weigh in along the way and updates. I will also keep you all up to date on budget developments as things still seem in flux at the state (and possibly federal) level.
Lastly, for our TK-8 families, I wanted to apologize for the Moby Max rollout. The intention was simply to ensure everyone had access to just right level work over the summer to help prevent learning loss. It was not to create additional work and it is not being used as a way to evaluate or grade anyone. I apologize for any challenges with it or confusion about the purpose. Thank you for your patience.
Thank you so much for all you do and have a wonderful summer.
Warmly,
Amy Held
2020-21 NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH APPLICATION
We are getting ready for the 2020-21 school year and are asking everyone to PLEASE complete the new 2020-21 Lunch Application and email a SIGNED COPY back to student@larchmontcharter.org or you can mail it to: Larchmont Charter School 2020-21 Lunch Application 444 N Larchmont Blvd Ste 207 Los Angeles, CA 90004 REMEMBER, you need to complete a new lunch application every year. Even if you feel that you may not qualify, you never know! The full price of each meal is $5.10. BUT if you qualify, you could pay $0.40 a meal for reduced price or FREE. Completing and qualifying for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program can also help with after school care pricing, and with fee waivers for college applications and for SAT and AP exams. If you have any questions, please let us know.
2020-21 Lunch Application