The Weekly Roar!

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1. Around the School

Every Choice Counts!

Welcome to a New School Year! 🦁💙💛

Welcome back, La Ballona families! Our theme this year is Every Choice Counts. Every day, we have opportunities to make choices that help our children learn, grow, and feel that they belong. 💛 Choose kindness. Choose effort. Choose courage. Choose community. Choose kids first.

As we begin this new year together, let’s remember that the small choices we make each day can add up to something truly meaningful. Here’s to a wonderful year, Lions! 🦁✨

🦁 Staff Updates for 2026–2027

We are excited to welcome new staff members and celebrate some familiar faces in new roles this year!

Jazmin Rosales, Assistant Principal: We are thrilled to welcome Ms. Rosales as our new Assistant Principal. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and will work closely with students, families, and staff across our school.
George Dumas, Instructional Lead: Mr. Dumas is moving from his fifth grade classroom into our Instructional Lead position, where he will support teaching, learning, intervention, and student success across La Ballona.
Samantha Scheirman, Kindergarten Teacher: We are excited to welcome Ms. Scheirman to our Kindergarten team.
Viviana Zetina Hernandez, TK Spanish Teacher: Ms. Zetina Hernandez joins our TK team as our Spanish Dual Language teacher in Room 46.
Ms. Liou, TK Teacher: We are happy to welcome Ms. Liou back to La Ballona and to our TK team in Room 50.
Pam Beard, TK Instructional Assistant: Ms. Beard joins our English TK classroom after recently working in the district’s Early Childhood Development office.
Estela Arguera, First Grade Alder Resident: Ms. Arguera joins us for a full year student teaching residency and will co-teach in Room 6 with Ms. Selva throughout the school year.
Mokie Palomino, Fourth Grade Teacher: Ms. Palomino is moving to fourth grade this year.
Susan Varga, Special Education Teacher: We are excited to welcome Ms. Varga to our Special Education team.
Elsa Jones, Senior Office Assistant: Ms. Jones joined us at the very end of last school year and serves as our attendance and enrollment clerk.
Antonio Sebastian, Custodian: Mr. Sebastian joins our custodial team from Culver City High School.

💙 Wishing Them Well

We are grateful for the many contributions of staff members who have moved on to new opportunities, including Sandra Haro, Ian Alonso, Carlos Castillo, Aneta Nobis, Abby Klein, Angelica Tipon, Cheryl Charney, Ms. Ishibashi, and Ms. Rian. We also wish Ms. Taube all the best during her year away from La Ballona. We are thankful for all they have given to our Lion community and wish them well! 💛

👋 Meet Our New Staff

Below are bios of some of our newest La Ballona team members. We’ll highlight a few each week so our families can get to know the wonderful people joining our Lion community! 🦁

Ms. Jazmin Rosales

Hello everyone! My name is Jazmin Rosales and I am excited to be joining the La Ballona community this Fall. I recently moved back to Los Angeles after spending the past 17 years in San Francisco. I have a background in special education and most recently served as an Assistant Principal in SFUSD. In my free time, I enjoy exploring nature trails and unwinding with a good podcast or book. I look forward to getting to know all of you this upcoming school year!

Ms. Viviana Zetina

Hello! My name is Viviana Zetina, and I’m excited to be joining the La Ballona school community as a first-year teacher. I bring three years of experience working with TK students and look forward to creating a fun, engaging, and supportive learning environment for my class. Outside of the classroom, I enjoy spending quality time with my family, friends, and my partner. Originally from Orange County, I’m excited to explore a new city and become part of this wonderful school community.

Ms. Pam Beard

My Child Development degree and 30 years of experience across many different roles and settings speaks to my lifelong passion working with children. My family is the most important part of my life and I love traveling the world and experiencing new cultures with my husband and our two college-aged sons. I’m so excited and grateful to be a part of the La Ballona community!

2. Counselors' Corner!

Welcome back to school! Look out for a counselor corner update in a future newsletter!

3. School Meal Information

Click here for Lunch Menu

4. Did You Know?

Brought to you by a La Ballona Kinder parent - please reach out to Daniela (danielalopezposada07@gmail.com) if you have an interesting fact you’d like her to add.