Larchmont Fairfax Weekly Update | 12.19.20
Updated: Dec 18, 2020
IMPORTANT DATES
Please note that school resumes on Tuesday, January 5 and NOT Monday, January 4.
December 21- Jan 4 - WINTER BREAK
January 5 - SCHOOL RESUMES ON ZOOM | 8:30 am
January 5 - Tuesday Morning Video Message
January 6 - School Sing on Zoom | 9:15 am | https://zoom.us/j/5212396436 (code: music)
January 6 - Grab n Go Lunch | 12-3 pm | Fairfax campus
January 18 - MLK Day | NO SCHOOL
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 hope the kids all enjoyed the fun Spirit Week this past week, and we thank you for all of the donations to our Stone Soup food drive (see images above)!!
In this, our final e-blast message of 2020, we want to wish everyone a very happy holiday season and much happier times in 2021! May everyone in our Larchmont community enjoy a happy, healthy, and relaxing winter break with family, friends, and loved ones. We're looking forward to a much better year ahead when we can be together again. And before we go, our entire faculty and staff thanks you for your tremendous generosity - we were showered with gifts and cards. We all know how lucky we are to work at such a wonderful school, and that is truly gift enough, but we wholeheartedly appreciate your warm sentiments and thank you for everything you do! We look forward to seeing you all back on Zoom on Tuesday, January 5, 2021!
Warmly, Andi, Mersedeh, and LCS teachers and staff
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UPDATE
Dear Larchmont Charter School Community,
As we head out on winter break, I wanted to send you a message of thanks. This has been a year like no other and I know it’s impacted each of us differently. While everyone’s life has been upended, some have lost loved ones, suffered illness, and lost livelihoods. Through it all, our community has lived out its mission to improve the world we inhabit.
Our staff stepped forward willing to do whatever was needed to reach every child and family – pivoting to teach online, serving up delicious meals, helping to get each kid a chromebook, connecting families with resources like counseling, and support with housing, food and more.
Students created and led peer mentoring programs, gift card, toy and Unicef drives alongside our families who immediately swung into action to help each other. Families donated grocery cards to help their fellow Larchmont community members.
Staff were given a small one time bonus through savings and fundraising and responded in truly inspiring Larchmont fashion. The Employee Advisory Group recommended creating an option for staff to opt-out of receiving the bonus and donate it to another staff member in need and likewise for staff to confidentially indicate if they’re in high need. This community is so strong.
This was also a year of firsts. Our students adapted to learning online and have shown incredible perseverance and resilience. Our staff learned to teach online, to hire staff online, to welcome new families to our school online, to have our first virtual assemblies and morning sings that warmed the heart, our first virtual parent conferences, and first graduation which was an incredible showcase and ode to our students. Our families stepped forward to have our first virtual gala, our first virtual Annual Giving Drive, and now our first virtual World Fair celebrating our vibrant diversity.
So while we end 2020 exhausted and filled with sadness for all the suffering around us, may we also take stock of this inspiring community and of all these impressive firsts, all that’s been accomplished, despite the challenges. Wishing you and your family a wonderful winter break.
Take good care,
Amy Held
REOPENING PLANNING UPDATE:
As you are seeing in the news, records are being broken on a weekly and even daily basis in terms of the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. ICU capacity is also at dangerously low levels. LA County is currently under stay at home orders. Schools continue to be prohibited from opening beyond specialized services for not more than 25% of enrollment of high need students or TK-2 if they received the waiver. Schools will be permitted to reopen more broadly in hybrid fashion once LA County moves into the Red Tier when 7-day averages of cases are under 7 per 100,000 residents and COVID test positivity is under 8%. Cases are currently at 84.4 per 100,000 residents (42.4 adjusted rate for tier) and positivity is currently at 11.4%.
Larchmont is aiming to resume in-person assessments and launch our small hubs for in-person proctored distance learning for our highest-need students in mid to late January (contingent on the current COVID numbers dropping such that the stay at home order is lifted). We then plan to reopen one month from when LA County moves into the Red Tier under the plan that was approved over the summer (TK-2 back on campus either 4 half days or 2 full days and 3rd-12th grade on campus half a day a week for in-person community time). We are hearing that school employees are being prioritized in the early dissemination of the new vaccines.
Please know that the health and safety of our students and staff is our first priority. We have been making extensive preparations to reopen once permitted. Our team has purchased PPE supplies for all students and staff:
Additional handwashing and sanitizer
Facilities upgrades to filtration at all sites
Outdoor furniture and canopies to support outdoor classrooms
Sneeze guards for offices
Transparent carrols for student/staff desks
Signage has been placed
Policies and protocols have been drafted and are being continually updated
All County public health calls and trainings are being attended
Staff have been working in reopening workgroups
We are working to be ready to return to school. Part of that effort was surveying our community regarding your intentions. We have the results of that survey and they are as follows:
Families
30% of families intend to stay in distance learning through the end of the school year
20% intend to return as soon as possible even prior to LA moving to the red tier
50% intend to return once LA County is in the red tier
57% prefer 2 full days for TK-2
43% prefer 4 half days for TK-2
70% can get kids to either AM/PM session for TK-2
75% can get kids to school ½ day/wk for 3-12
90% willing to have kids COVID tested prior to return to school
Staff
70%+ against waiver
84% of TK-2, 58% of 3-6, 38% of teachers at 7-12, willing/able to return once in Red Tier
70% non-teaching staff willing to return for small hubs/waiver prior to moving to Red Tier
77% of non-teaching staff willing and able to return once in the Red Tier
56% TK-2 staff prefer 2 days v. 44% prefer 4 days or have no preference
54% of TK-2 staff open to simultaneous streaming to avoid shuffling classes; 39% in 3-6 grades and 27% in 7-12
In January we’ll be launching a joint reopening taskforce with both parent representatives and staff representatives from across our campuses and will share information about that when we return from break.
I want to thank families and teachers so much for all that you’re doing to partner to support student learning through this time. This time has been challenging. I’m grateful for your patience and support as this has gone on much longer than any of us anticipated. Thank you for all that you do to make Larchmont great.
Warmly,
Amy
PE UPDATE
We have some wonderful news to share! Coach Alan will be returning full time as of January 5th! We know our students have missed him tremendously and it will be wonderful to have him back at the helm in PE classes.
Please have your child log on to Coach Alan's Zoom link beginning on Jan 5th. As a reminder, all Zoom links for teachers are available on our website under the Fairfax tab.
A BIG thank you to Cynthia for doing such a great job filling in for Alan in his absence.
HARVEST FESTIVAL/STONE SOUP VIDEO
Please enjoy this beautiful video compilation of Harvest Festivals from over the years created by our wonderful ESY teacher, Kori Bernards. We thought the kids would love to see some of their old friends and learn more about how Harvest Festival typically operates when we're on campus.
2020-21 LCS WORLD FAIR
THE WORLD FAIR IS NOW LIVE!
https://larchmontworldfair.org/
Read more RIGHT HERE!
SCHOOL SING RESUMES JANUARY 6th on ZOOM!
Join us every Wednesday when we return from break on Jenny's music link at https://zoom.us/j/5212396436 Meeting ID: 521 239 6436 Passcode: music
Please remind students of expectations for keeping mics muted during the School Sing presentation. Thank you.
JAMIA'S HOLIDAY ARTY PARTY
LARCHMONT LOTTERY APPLICATION (2021-22)
As a reminder, all siblings not currently enrolled at Larchmont Charter who wish to attend must complete a lottery form for the 2021/22 school year - this applies to all grades and all campuses. Lottery forms must be completed and submitted by 5:00 pm February 17, 2021. The lottery form is available on line at www.larchmontcharter.org under the Admissions tab.
LARCHMONT TECH SUPPORT FOR YOUR FAMILY
OUR TECH CONTRACT WITH TECHABEE WILL BE ENDING IN JANUARY! BE SURE TO REACH OUT NOW WITH ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE!!!
Larchmont has contracted with a tech firm called TechaBee. We have hired this firm to help support families and teachers by answering your tech-related questions, supporting your technology, and managing your devices. TechaBee is here to help with tech issues regarding Chromebooks, Zoom, technology apps, and much more! We have taken this action to be as responsive as we can as a school to your tech needs during this distance learning period.
The help desk is available 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. During COVID-19 families are also free to email the help desk at any time!
Email all requests to techabee@larchmontcharter.org, CC belinda@techabee.com & terence@larchmontcharter.org
This email address (techabee@larchmontcharter.org) forwards straight to the TechaBee help desk so we can more quickly resolve your tech issue. Please be sure to cc Belinda and Terence so we can keep track of your tech request.
ATTENDANCE REMINDERS
Teachers will be taking attendance every day in their live Zoom classes. On Wednesdays, the completed independent work will indicate that your child is present asynchronously and your child will be marked present accordingly. If your child is going to be absent (both synchronously and asynchronously) for any reason, please email your teacher and ffxattendance@larchmontcharter.org.
To receive credit for attending asynchronously (not live/zoom) students/parents must both:
Log into Seesaw or view the teacher's assignments via their websites to access and complete assignments AND
Complete the Distance Learning Attendance Certification Form.
Please notify your teacher & email ffxattendance@larchmontcharter.org when you know your student cannot attend synchronously or asynchronously.
Questions about attendance? Email our office manager, Tess, at maritess.trillo@larchmontcharter.org.