Arts Magnet Weekly News
Week 9 or Families and Community October 4-8, 2021
National Walk to School Day!
Dear Altadena Eliot Arts Magnet Families,
On Wednesday join us on both campuses for National Walk to School Day!
"The first Wednesday in October makes a perfect time to celebrate National Walk to School Day. Not only does the day encourage getting some exercise, but the weather is perfect for walking to school, too.
Walking is one of the best forms of exercise. It isn’t hard on our joints and feet like running and jogging but still gives us all the advantages.
The goal of this day is to raise awareness and support for the health, community and environmental benefits of regularly walking or biking to school."
Please read more about this day here: https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-walk-to-school-day/
Staffing
Our elementary head custodian, Mr. Erik Santana has been promoted to Head Custodian II at our middle school campus. We are so excited to congratulate Mr. Santana and welcome him to his more complex role at Eliot Arts. In his place, we are thrilled to welcome as our new Head Custodian I, Mr. Danny Manzanero to our elementary campus. Mr. Manzanero is a true kind hearted and service oriented employee who has been serving at the district's education center for many years. Please help me congratulate and welcome these two fantastic employees at both campuses!
Welcome to Ms. Yvonne Garcia, our new bilingual clerical assistant at our middle school campus! Ms. Garcia works in our main office assisting parents and students in Spanish, as well as answering phones. Ms. Garcia will also be supporting Ms. Fabiola Acevedo in administering the ELPAC exam to our English learners. Welcome Ms. Garcia! I will be sure to include photos and bios of these new employees next week!
School Tour Season is Upon Us!
For our elementary school we have a virtual school tour at 9am on Thursday 10/7/21 via Google Meet http://meet.google.com/gaz-xkwg-ocr and for our middle school we have a Behind the Scenes Tour in person at 6pm. See the postcard below for more information to share with potential arts magnet families.
Shows and Outdoor Events
We are planning some wonderful outdoor events for families to attend following all our safety protocols. Please be on the lookout for invitations as soon as we are ready!
ELEMENTARY
We had a great week with our fall photos complete! Parents there will be make up photo opportunities. We also have parent/teacher conference day coming up on Friday, 10/15. More information will be forthcoming.
PTA Reflections art is due to Ms. Camargo this Friday! For more information, please email camargo.victoria@pusd.us
MIDDLE SCHOOL
The distribution of 8th Grade Lockers will be finished up this week. Anyone who still needs a locker should see Ms. Felicia Lee in the main office.
Wednesday Husky Round Ups Every Wednesday during advisory, students are watching a video message from the principal to address specific issues around campus. Last week's message was about Hate Speech and LGBTQ issues. In the coming weeks, the leadership team will continue to focus on creating a kinder, more inclusive environment at Eliot. For perspective, parents please read the article Stress and Short Tempers: Schools Struggle with Behavior as Students Return. This article really helped me to have perspective around what is going on at our schools recently.
7th and 8th Grade Community Service Contracts
As part of the PUSD Graduate Profile and graduation requirements, our 7th and 8th graders are expected to complete community service hours. Contracts were sent home with students a few weeks ago. The 8th grade required hours have been adjusted to 10 hours instead of 20. Think of it as 10 hours a year=1 hour per month=15 minutes per week=5 minutes a day. There will be opportunities to meet these requirements at school. Stay tuned for more information.
If you have any questions about the community service requirements, please reach out to our counselor Mr. Simmons at simmons.jody@pusd.us
Shmoop!
Pasadena USD is proud to launch an interactive platform that puts the student’s voice in the forefront of connecting with their social emotional experiences and how that impacts the connectedness in school and in the classroom. Check it out below!
Please enjoy the rest of your weekend.
It's a great year to be an Altadena Cougar and Husky!
Yours in Service,
Dr. Scheckel, Principal
PTA Reflections Art Contest is coming!
Reflections is a National PTA program that provides opportunities for recognition of students artistic talents and creativity. We already know at AAM this boosts student confidence and success in the arts and in life.
Each year, over 300,000 students in Pre-K through Grade 12 create original works of art in response to a student-selected theme. This 50+ year-old program helps them explore their own thoughts, feelings and ideas, develop artistic literacy, increase confidence and find a love for learning that will help them become more successful in school and in life.
The 2021–2022 Reflections theme is I Will Change the World By…
Students submit their completed works of art in one or all of the available arts categories: Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Music Composition, Photography, Visual Arts.
Students participate in the appropriate division for their grade: Primary (Pre-K - Grade 2), Intermediate (Grades 3-5). Students who identify as having a disability and may receive services under IDEA or ADA: Section 504 may enter in the Special Artist Division or grade division most closely aligned to their functional abilities.*Winners at AAM then have a chance to compete district wide, Statewide and even Nationally.
Ms. Victoria Camargo is the lead art teacher on this project. Please reach out to her for more information at camargo.victoria @pusd.us
MIDDLE SCHOOL SECTION
Middle School Yearbook Photos!
Order your Husky Yearbook Today!
Our Husky Values!
Shmoop Heartbeat!
Heartbeat will provide your student with a more in-depth language and knowledge-base for introspection, Heartbeat™ equips students with essential tools for success in school and beyond. Studies have shown that students who develop skills for self-reflection and awareness have more success coping with stress and managing difficult emotions. Recent research in neuroscience, for instance, shows that simply having a more effective vocabulary for identifying and translating emotions into words reduces stress and enables students to understand their feelings in intrinsically more empowering terms. Heartbeat™ goes even further: By providing students with new and healthier ways to frame perceived challenges as potential superpowers, Heartbeat™insights are designed to actively prevent against the potentially harmful tendency to personalize and internalize challenges as fixed “character flaws” or inherent weaknesses. Students who develop greater self-awareness are also better able to communicate their needs and self-advocate for support. And by facilitating self-reflection as a regular practice, Heartbeat™ helps students develop cognitive skills that support deeper, more reflective learning.
OVERVIEW
We are proud to offer The Shmoop Heartbeat™, a simple, non-intrusive student engagement solution that addresses the mental health, social emotional learning (SEL), and cognitive insights of students at scale. This research-based classroom technology is designed to tie a student’s emotional health, cognitive position, and background to their ability to achieve academically. The technology was built in conjunction with teachers, counselors, education technology experts, child psychologists, child psychometric experts, technology developers, and Digital Promise (a nonprofit national center for research in advanced information and digital technologies originated by the U.S. Congress as part of the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Opportunity Act).
HOW DOES IT WORK?
While implementation can look different at every campus, the functionality of the Shmoop Heartbeat™ is simplistic and non-intrusive to the school day.
● Students spend 5-10 minutes, 2-3 times a week engaging on the Heartbeat board.
● Insights across 2,000 factors are securely collected
● Teachers and students use actionable recommendations to improve individualized learning.
● (Optional) Students and teachers leverage the “Handraise” feature to close the feedback loop and drive conversation around a students’ individual recommendations.
FEATURES
The Board:
Heartbeat™ is designed to be a familiar and comfortable environment that students will be willing to engage with in order to provide important responses at scale. The experience is completely customizable by students. They can adjust the background, colors, animation, shapes, and contrast.
Students engage in questions and interactions designed by child psychologists and psychometric experts around their academic, emotional, cognitive, and personal background. The amount of time students & teachers spend in the platform is completely flexible. Shmoop recommends students spend 5-10 minutes, 2-3 times/week & teacher/counselor time dependent on advisory periods and available time dedicated to support SEL & whole-child programs. The responses are analyzed real time in the tool. On average, a student who completes 50+ interactions in a week results in hundreds of counseling & teacher cognitive processing hours saved on a monthly basis.
The Pulse:
Heartbeat™ evaluates over 50 factors to provide insights into capability, mental health, social skills, emotional skills, literacy skills, cognitive skills, and student backgrounds that produce over 120 unique student dimensions inside their “Pulse”.
Student responses are assembled into a graphical environment tailored to either students or teachers, which makes results easy to digest and take action on. Students are driven to explore the “Pulse” as it’s applicable to their individual growth while teachers can view the “Pulses” that are having the most impact on their groups of students.
Within each “Pulse” are specific Actions and Insights. Teachers can customize their “Pulse” dashboard to view specific groups of students, filter by specific competencies and trends, or hone in on individual students.
These Insights are provided directly to the students in the form of “I feel” statements, recommendations on what behaviors to stop/start, and relational commentary expertly designed to create “lightbulb moments”.
FOR BOTH ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL FAMILIES
Salvation Army for the Holidays!
MASK MANDATE TO KEEP ALL SAFE!
We have a strict mask mandate on both our campuses to keep all students, staff and families safe from infection with COVID-19. We understand the masks can be uncomfortable for students to wear all day long, but they are necessary. We will follow the process below for students who do not/can not wear a mask over their nose, mouth and chin:
- First time, Verbal warning to wear their mask
- Second time, Phone call home
- Third time, Recommendation for PUSD Independent Study for 3 days
Student will be placed on our regular independent study program for 3 days. This program keeps the student enrolled at their present school with work delivered on Canvas. After 3 days the student returns to their home school and the process starts all over. Each time we get to step three, we add an additional day of independent study until we reach the maximum which is 15 days. After that, student will be referred to our district's CIS program for the rest of the school year.
If you have any questions about this policy, please reach out to principal Scheckel.
Eliot and Altadena's Annual Fund!
For this year, both annual funds will remain separate, but both school communities will have the opportunity to support each other, knowing that each fund will support all our children in arts and French!
Elementary Annual Fund
Our Annual Fund Chair is Tasiah LeConte
Tasiah has an executive board who assists in reaching the goals of the fund.
Fundraising Goal: $100,000.00 per year for post magnet grant art sustainability
Major Fundraising Events
Free Dress Fridays
Holiday Tree/Wreath Sale
Altadena's Got Talent
Capital Campaign
Middle School Annual Fund
Our Annual Fund Chair is Felicia Lee
Felicia has an executive board who assists in reaching the goals of the fund.
Fundraising Goal: $100,000.00 per year for arts and French program sustainability
Major Fundraising Events
Silent Auction @ Altadena Country Club on February, 25, 2022!
Capital Campaign
My vision as your principal is that all elementary families will buy tickets and attend the Eliot Gala at the Altadena Country Club and all proceeds will go to Eliot's annual fund to support our arts and French programs and in turn, all Eliot families will participate in Altadena's holiday tree and wreath fundraiser with all proceeds going to support Altadena's arts sustainability plan.
When we work together, all our children benefit!
A big thank you to our parent and community leaders for coming together to make our fundraising efforts successful!
COVID TESTING
As you know, PUSD was running low on testing kits. We expect this situation to be resolved shortly. Please read below how testing will work on both campuses, when we have enough kits.
What kind of COVID-19 test is given?
The COVID-19 test is a nasal swab PCR test that the students can self-administer under the supervision of a PUSD nurse. Testing materials are provided by Valencia Lab and results will be received within 24-48 hours.
Who will be tested?
Students with informed consent will be tested. Any interested staff can be tested.
How can parents give informed consent?
Parents can provide informed consent through two ways:
- Register through the online platform: https://home.color.com/covid/sign-up/start?partner=cdph094
- Complete the hard copy registration forms in English or Spanish which will be provided for you by the COVID-19 Response Team.
What do parents and staff need to do prior to testing?
We encourage parents and staff to register with the COLOR system prior to arriving for testing, however, the Color system currently is available only in English. Therefore, we will provide hard copies of an informed consent form in English and Spanish at the registration table. If the student or staff member has tested with PUSD before, they will not have to register again.
To register for COVID-19 testing, please use this link:
https://home.color.com/covid/sign-up/start?partner=cdph094
The COVID-19 Response Team will also bring posters of the QR code that connects directly to the testing link.
When does the COVID-19 Response Team come to my school?
Multiple COVID-19 Response Team members are organized to go to each school one time per week. As resources increase, teams will begin to go to each site for more than one scheduled visit.
The schedule to begin on August 30 is as follows:
- Mondays, 7:45-11:00: Marshall, PHS, Muir, Blair
- Tuesdays, 7:45-3:30: Altadena, Field, Washington ES, Norma Coombs, Focus Point
- Wednesdays, 7:45-3:30: Longfellow, Don Benito, Washington MS. Willard/PALS/CIS Jackson, McKinley ES
- Thursdays, 7:45 - 3:30: Webster, Sierra Madre ES, Madison, San Rafael, McKinley MS
- Friday: 7:45-3:30: Eliot, Sierra Madre MS, Hamilton, Cleveland, Rose City
How will testing be conducted during school hours
More information on this procedure will come to you.
What happens if a student is in quarantine or isolation?
If a student is in isolation, then they are confirmed positive and do not need to test for 3 months after they received their lab-confirmed positive result
If a student is in quarantine, then they need to test off-site. They can:
- Test with their medical provider
- Make an appointment with the PUSD Primary Care Clinic at 351 S. Hudson Ave. by calling 626-396-3600 xt 88180.
- Participate in the drive-through clinic on Mondays at 351 S. Hudson Ave. in the south parking lot, enter on Oak Knoll.
When will the student or staff member receive their results?
Results will come in 24-48 hours.
Will Incentives be given to students for participating?
Yes, we will be providing students with various incentives for their participation in the testing program.
https://home.color.com/covid/sign-up/start?partner=cdph094
If you or your child are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, do not come to school for testing. Stay home. You can come to the PUSD Primary Care Clinic at 351 S. Hudson Ave. Please call 626-396-3600 xt 88180 for an appointment.
Individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 3 months, recovered, and are not showing any symptoms, are not recommended to test.
COVID-19 Safety Plan
As you may be aware the Delta variant, coupled with the fact that children under age 12 cannot yet be vaccinated, has put us all on high alert to ensure our safety practices are as robust as possible alongside the desire to get students back to school in person.
This fall we will continue with most of the safety protocols we had in place last spring.
- Masks are mandatory for all staff and students
- Purposeful hand washing and sanitizing
- Air purifiers in all classrooms
- Ventilation maximized by keeping doors open, as often as possible
- Maintaining 3 feet of social distancing whenever possible
- Having students eat outside, weather permitting
- Daily self health screening of students and staff
- Care room for isolating any student or staff member with symptoms of any kind
- 10 day quarantine for any person who tests positive
- Siblings of any positive cases must also remain home and in quarantine
- Weekly testing for staff and students (optional at this point)
- Campus COVID Safety Teams are still in place and will continue to meet virtually
- Families will be notified if they have been exposed to a positive case at school
Vaccinations
We are now able to mandate vaccinations for our employees. PUSD is working on the plan to ensure all employees are vaccinated.
Class Sizes
This is the one change from last spring. We will not limit class sizes, beyond the mandated ratios in K-5 classrooms.
Will my child be safe?
This is the #1 question principals are getting right now. The answer is, no one can say with 100% certainty that no one will get sick when we come back in person. However, all district employees that I know, who have children attending PUSD schools, are sending their students back to in person school. PUSD is committed to keeping all students and families safe. If the variant proves to be a threat to public health, I am confident PUSD will be ready to shut down in person school and pivot back to an online delivery model.
With that being said, every family must make their own decision about what's best for their child.
Independent Study
Independent Study run through our CIS school, is a viable option for those who need to keep their children at home. Government funds will not allow for specialty programs such as, IB, AP and DLIP to be offered in this format. However, PUSD is committed to hearing parents' concerns. If you are considering independent study but have questions about specialty programs, please fill out the interest form and book a consultation with the CIS team. They may be able to offer you a solution that is not ideal, but palpable until you are able to send your child/ren back to school in person.
If you would like to set up a conference or have more information, please see the attached PDF at the end of this newsletter.
As always, if you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. We are all in this together and we all want what's best for our students.
Respectfully,
Dr. Scheckel, Principal
Loma Alta Park Program for Kids!
Altadena Eliot Arts Magnet Family Handbook!
The Eliot specific information is not yet complete, but I wanted to make sure you had something before next week.
We will continue to update the calendar of events and other pertinent information this week. This is a live document so added information will be updated automatically.
How to Conduct a Symptom Check Before Leaving Home
Before leaving home all students, employees and parents must conduct a self check. Ask yourself these questions:
Do I have a fever?
Do I have a cough?
Am I experiencing shortness of breath or difficulty breathing?
Am I experiencing any other symptoms?
Have I been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 14 days?
In the last two weeks, have I been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19?
If you respond "yes" to any of the questions, you must stay home and it is recommended that you contact your primary care physician for further medical advice. If you have a fever with cough or shortness of breath, you are urged to contact your primary care physician as these symptoms may be attributed to COVID-19. To protect others, stay home, wear a facemask when you seek medical care and follow the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Home Isolation Instructions. For more detailed symptom self-checker visit the Los Angeles County Public Health Department’s COVID-19 Symptom page.
Upcoming Events
October
● 10/1 Fall Picture Day PreK and 3-5
● 10/1 Eliot Parent Connect @ 5:30pm via Google Meet
● 10/6 National Walk to School Day
● 10/7 AAM Virtual School Tour at 9am
● 10/7 Eliot Behind the Scenes in person Tour at 6pm
● 10/7-10/8 CogAT testing begins for all 3rd graders and 4 and 5 graders new to PUSD
● 10/12 Elementary SSC @ 3pm and joint PTA meeting @5:45pm
● 10/13 Cougar Values Awards Assembly @ 8am on the playground
● 10/14 Cafe con Scheckel @ 8:30 am
● 10/15 Elementary Parent Teacher Conference Day, Pupil Free, Virtual conferences for parents will be scheduled
● 10/19-10/20 Eliot Yearbook Photo days
● 10/21 Great California Shakeout Earthquake Drill @ 10:21 am both campuses
● 10/21 Reflections Art Contest Celebration
● 10/22 Free Dress Friday at the elementary campus
● 10/25 - 10/29 Red Ribbon Week!
● 10/29 Book-O-Ween celebration at the elementary campus, Costume fun day a the elementary campus and Movie Night and Holiday tree and wreath sale kickoff!
● 10/14 Joint ELAC Meeting @ 6pm for both campuses
About Us
Email: scheckel.benita@pusd.us
Website: https://www.pusd.us/Page/9
Location: 743 East Calaveras Street, Altadena, CA 91001, United States
Phone: 626-396-5650
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/altadenacougars/
Twitter: @altadenaES
