Dear La Entrada Community,
Did you hear the news? La Entrada is one of only three middle schools in San Mateo County to be nominated as a 2011 California Distinguished School. We have been a Distinguished School and a Blue Ribbon School in the past, but this nomination reflects the ongoing work of all of our staff, students and community. I offer my congratulations to our entire community. (Of course, now there is a lot of paper work to do in order to actually get the award....but as they say, the honour is in the nomination!)
We have just finished our fall week of conferences. All told, our teachers spent about 450 hours conferencing over the course of the week! I want to thank our teachers for the time and effort that goes into preparing for, and facilitating, these conferences.
Conferences are a very important opportunity for parents, teachers (and sometimes students) to sit together and discuss how a student is progressing. It is a good reminder to all of us about how important face to face communication is. Sometimes I feel as if we have all become too adjusted to email, texting, and voicemail. These technologies have certainly increased our ability to communicate, but nothing truly takes the place of face to face communication.
Given that, I thought I would devote just a little space in this article to communication. We all know that it is very easy to communicate when things are going well. Verbal praise, a high five, a nice note, and even a thank you are all easy to deliver. Communication is harder when things are not going as we would hope.
La Entrada is a very special place. I am thankful every day for the students, staff, and community that I work with. This does not always mean, however, that things are perfect. I make mistakes, staff make mistakes, students make mistakes, and parents and community members make mistakes. Life doesn't come with handbook that shows us exactly the right things to do at all times. Most things are puzzles that need to be figured out...and mistakes are the things that happen as we are figuring things out.
It is very important that we always communicate directly with people when things aren't going as expected. It is equally important that we keep the communication going until things are resolved. While we all try to be as proactive and responsive as we can be, sometimes it can take more than one communication to solve a situation.
Sometimes people aren't sure who to talk to, so here are the "front-liners" for different types of issues.
If the issue is
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The person to talk to is
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My child's understanding of academic material
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The Teacher
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My child's behavior in the classroom
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The Teacher
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My child's behavior outside of the classroom
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The Counselor (Emily McDonough)
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Another child's behavior in the classroom
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The Teacher
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Another child's behavior outside of the classroom
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The Counselor (Emily McDonough)
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Serious behavior issues
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The Assistant Principal (Sonya Dineen)
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My child is being picked on/bullied
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The Counselor (Emily McDonough) or the Assistant Principal (Sonya Dineen)
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My child is sick or going to be late
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The office Secretary (Marja Rudge or Marie Stocz)
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My child has been sick for a few days and needs some work to do at home
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Email Marja Rudge or Marie Stocz by 9am on the day you would like to pick up some work.
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My child is having problem with his/her friends
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The Counselor (Emily McDonough)
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My child feels overwhelmed with homework
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The Teacher(s)
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Direct communication with people will solve 99.9% of all situations. What about the last 0.1%? That's where the Principal and Assistant Principal come in. You should always let us know when you have been communicating about an issue that has not been resolved. We will then be able to act as another resource in solving the situation.
In our school vision it states:
La Entrada is an inclusive community of dedicated staff, students, and parents engaged in maximizing the academic, social, ethical and physical growth of every student. Our collaborative community embraces the ideals of critical thinking, life-long learning, and global responsibility in a safe and respectful environment.
Communication is key to reaching this vision.
We are always striving to increase communication. Since last year, more and more teachers send out class emails/newsletters to help families know what is going on in class. More and more teachers are using websites and blogs as a tool. We have even asked departments to submit articles to this newsletter each week. (This week you will read one from our World Language Department.).
In addition to increased school-to-home communication, we are also working at increasing the opportunities for parents to become involved with the work at school. This year we have a Traffic Safety Committee which is forming to work on addressing the issues of getting to and from school. One goal of this committee may be to submit a Safe Routes to School grant in order to improve our conditions. If you are interested in participating with this important group, please email Sonya Dineen (sdineen@llesd.org).
We are also developing a Climate Committee. This committee will meet several times this year to assess the campus climates and look at programs that are being successfully used in nearby schools. Please email Sonya Dineen (sdineen@llesd.org) if you are interested in being part of this committee. We will be trying to organize a meeting before Winter Break.
We will continue on this trek for the best communication possible, and with your help, communication (and our community) will just continue to strengthen.
Annual Trip to Washington, D.C.
I thought it would be good to write a little about our upcoming 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C.I am writing this in the Leopard Spot (as opposed to just the 8th grade families) because this is really information that people should know before getting to 8th grade.
Here is some basic information about the trip:
- We go during our February break. (This year we leave on February 19 and return on February 25.)
- The trip is optional.
- This year the trip costs $2,130.
- We use an outside tour group, Apple Tours, for planning and scheduling the trip.
- We visit Williamsburg, Jamestown, Monticello, Mount Vernon, and Washington, D.C.
- For a more detailed itinerary, or additional information, you can go to https://sites.google.com/site/laentradadc/
The 8th graders are currently working on a number of fund raising projects for this year's trip. The funds raised go into a scholarship fund so that we can try to make the trip a possibility for any student that wishes to go. This year, we are trying to raise around $10,000 in scholarship money.
Whether or not you currently have an 8th grader, I encourage you to help us be sure that financial circumstances don't stand in the way of a student's participation by:
- Supporting one of our fund raisers currently underway:
Eating at Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill in Menlo Park (El Camino Real @ Middle Ave - near the Safeway) on Thursday, December 2 and Wednesday, January 5. 20% of each transaction will go to our DC fund. (You must have a flyer to do this. The flyers will be in next week's Leopards Spot.
- Making a direct donation to the scholarship fund. If you would like to make a direct donation, checks can be made out to Las Lomitas League and placed in the D.C trip box in the office. Because the Las Lomitas League is a 501(c) non-profit organization, your donations are considered a charitable donation for tax purposes.
Things move quickly at this time of year, and I don't know if I will be writing to you again prior to Thanksgiving, so I will take this chance to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving break.
Warm Regards,
Larry Thomas