Download a print copy of the November 5th Devonshire site presentation here.



November 4, 2009

Dear OCS Families,

There is so much to tell you about this week!

New Dismissal Procedure: In order to alleviate the parking congestion we are trying a new dismissal procedure. We will be staggering the dismissal times so that younger children will be picked up first and older children will come out a little later. The K-1 classes (Vanessa L. John, Stacey and Karen) will be coming out at 2:45 and the gate will be open early for you to pick them up. The 2-3 grade (Hilary, Chelsea, Kim and Robin) will be coming out at 2:50 and the 4-5-6 (Joanne, Vanessa M., Jude and Cat) will be coming out at 2:55. We think this will ease congestion and even if your child is being dismissed slightly later you may be able to get out of the parking lot faster. We are trying to keep it safe out there for everyone.

Teaching Assistants and Fieldtrips: This year all teaching assistants are being shared between two classrooms. That means if a class is going on a fieldtrip, their teaching assistant has to stay here at school to help with supervising other students. Teachers are allowed to go on fieldtrips without teaching assistants as long as they feel they have an adequate number of parent chaperones. Assistants can go on the trip if a parent volunteer is found who can help with supervising the children remaining at the school in their stead. Therefore you may be asked to help support a fieldtrip by being a parent chaperone, or you may be asked to supervise students here at school so a teaching assistant can attend. Either way we appreciate all of the parents who help to make our trips possible. Thank you!

Volunteers for Lunch, we NEED YOU: First of all I want to thank everyone who has helped out over the past 10 weeks of school. This is a critical job and we are relying on parents to help us by volunteering a portion of their twenty hours for the school year that we request of you to serve lunch or supervise lunch areas. If we find we cannot rely on parent volunteers for this, we may have to use funds earmarked for other things, such as fewer days for the music program, less science or math materials in the classes, or less teaching assistant hours in the classroom during instruction in order to hire someone for this task. We want to put our limited resources into the classroom and the student learning this year. We need you to volunteer and to be reliable. When volunteers are unable to come we rely on the office staff to fill in. When the office staff is serving lunch it means that we have only one person keeping the office open. This means there is less time to help students with conflict resolution, first aid or to answer your phone call. Please volunteer to help with lunch duty and please come on the day you volunteer. If you can’t come, please try to get a friend or relative to cover for you. We really need the help. Thank you to all our regular lunch helpers!

Costume Day on November 13, Why?: Holding a costume day a week or two after Halloween has become a bit of a tradition here at OCS and you might be wondering why. When we first opened the school we felt strongly, and we still do, that children of all religious backgrounds should feel comfortable at school. Since there are some common religions in which Halloween is not celebrated and that people in these religions feel it is wrong to celebrate Halloween we do not allow Halloween celebrations at school. We also have a student senate. This group of students are charged with choosing “spirit days” at OCS. These are days when the whole school dresses up or celebrates something such as “crazy hair day,” “Hawaiian Shirt day,” or “Sport Day.” The student senate chooses the theme for these days and schedules them. In response to not being able to wear their Halloween costumes on Halloween, the student senate voted our first year to hold a costume or pajama day (because even if you don’t have a costume or if your costume is too scary for school you have pajamas) a week or so after Halloween. This tradition seems to get upheld every year. So we will be wearing costumes or pajamas here on November 13, but we will not be celebrating Halloween.

The Granada Hills Holiday Parade December 6: So this is another tradition here at OCS! Every year we have a group that marches in the Granada Hills Holiday Parade. The Youngs family (Tucker 4th grade and Grant 2nd grade) helps to design the float and invites families over to work on it. The PTSA sponsors this fun event and as many people who want to join in the parade fun can come along. We have actually won trophies for our floats. This is a great marketing opportunity for the school and a fun day to celebrate your school spirit. Look for more information in the weekly packet soon.

Roots and Wings! I hope to see many of you tomorrow at our parent meeting to discuss OCS putting down new roots and spreading it’s wings at the Devonshire campus. 7:00 to 8:00 in the Sanctuary. We are invited students 3rd grade and older to participate. Younger students are asked to stay home or some limited childcare will be available courtesy of the PTSA.

Sincerely,

Chris Ferris Chris.f@ourcommunityschool.org