We are thrilled to announce the elected representatives of this year's PBL Student Leadership Advisory. We look forward to seeing your leadership in action as you represent your peers and help shape our school community.

• President: Sadie O'Connell
• Vice President: Fatima- Numa Shabih
• Secretary: Hudson Blankner
• Director of Communications: Annette Nadeau
• Senior ClassRep.: Felicity Stone
• Junior Class Rep: Ryan Meyer
• Sophomore Class Rep: Gretchen Ranford
• Freshman ClassRep.: Opal Feves

Students have a minimum day (8:30 - 1:52pm) in preparation for this evening event on Thursday 9/26 from 6:30 - 9pm.

We are excited to welcome you to Samohi's Back to School Night! Following the school-wide presentation in Barnum Hall from 6:30 to 7:00 PM,

the PBL Pathway will come together as a community for a special presentation from 7:15 to 8:22 PM in Room D100.

During this time, you’ll have the opportunity to meet our PBL staff, learn about our shared common grading practices, hear about interdisciplinary projects, and gather other important information to support your child’s success.

After our presentation, we encourage you to visit your child's Samohi teachers to connect and learn more about their classes.

Counseling groups are now open!

We are offering a variety of support options based on the needs of our students. This is a great opportunity for students to find support and build connections in confidential group therapy sessions.

Groups include: 9th grade young women’s group, coping skills for anxiety and depression, finding flow: watercolor art therapy group, affirm-support group for Queer students, SELFY- social emotional learning for youth, write your own story, art therapy journaling group, One on campus, and grief and loss support group.

10th through 12 grade Vikings: the National Honor Society (NHS) and California Scholarship Federation (CSF) Membership Applications are now open! The deadline to submit either or both applications is Mon., Sept. 30, 2024. To review the respective membership requirements and application steps, thoroughly read the email sent to your SMMK12 inbox on Sept. 17th, with the subject line: NHS & CSF Membership Applications Now Open!

We have an important field trip opportunity for interested students at Samohi. On Wednesday, September 25th, we are going to Culver City for the NOVA exhibit. Learn more about it and sign up by contacting Ms. Tovar stovar@smmk12.org for a field trip slip. Limited space available https://www.novaexhibition.com/

College Day is an opportunity for students to explore a variety of options available after high school and get valuable guidance on navigating these transitions. Stop by Venice Arts Saturday, September 28th to talk with college representatives, receive personalized essay and resume reviews, attend workshops on personal statements and financial aid, and join career and college roundtable discussions!

FREE and open to all high school students and their families!

SNACK + Water Donations needed:

We are noticing that the long stretch between the start of school and lunch has left our young scholars hungry and thirsty. They have been finding healthy snacks in the PBL House Office, but our supplies are dwindling. Please feel free to donate healthy snacks to the office so that we can nourish our students when they need. 🙏

The Santa Monica-Malibu USD participates in the National School Lunch Program and/or School Breakfast Program by offering nutritious meals every school day. Students may buy lunch for $4.00/$4.75 and breakfast for $2.00/$2.25. Eligible students may receive meals free of charge or at the reduced-price rate of $0.40 for lunch and $0.30 for breakfast. You or your children do not have to be U.S. citizens to qualify for free or reduced-price meals. If there are more household members than the number of lines on the application, attach a second application. Applications are available on line at www.smmusd.org/foodservices.

You also get reduced fees for AP exams and school functions!

APPLY NOW

Please join us for our Fall SMMPTA DEI event, Sticks and Stones: Holding Ourselves Accountable, co-sponsored by SMMPTA, SMMCTA, SMMUSD, and the Bahala Foundation. This important event will be held on Tuesday, September 24th at 5:30 p.m. in the JAMS Performing Arts Studio. We’ll begin with a look at Dashka Slater’s book, ACCOUNTABLE: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed. We will then participate in small group discussions on how we and our children/students are interacting both on- and offline, and the actions we can take to build awareness and strengthen our community. Dinner and books will be provided to all participants who register by September 20th.

**Seating is limited so please see the attached flyer for additional information and register today.**

Spanish translation will be available.

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/2xLtLhBCu4qQr3Sn8

Please share the flyer and help us promote this event!!! We are hoping to see a good showing from everyone from parents/caregivers and students to district employees and leaders. Feel free to reach out to me or our SMMPTA DEI Committee Chair, April Anderson (dei@smmpta.org) with any questions.

Thank you and take care,

Erika Bell

Santa Monica-Malibu Council of PTA'S

Executive Vice President

https://smmpta.org/

To report a student’s absence, please send an email to:

AttendancePBL@smmusd.org

or call Crystal Griffis at 310.395.3204 ext. 71-177

Please include your student’s first and last names, student ID numbers, and the reason they are absent (illness, family matter, medical or dental appointment, etc.).

• Students who become ill at school need to go to the nurse’s office to be released from school

• If a students leaves at lunch, we MUST have an email from you IN THE MORNING, asking for an early dismissal pass…if we receive an email AFTER they have already left, the absence will not be excused

• Students can pick up their early leave pass from the PBL house office after the 1st period of the day

• These passes CANNOT be delivered to their class

• When students leave early for a doctor’s appointment, they must bring a note back from the doctor so we can clear their absence…if we don’t receive a note, it is marked as a cut.

• All absences must be cleared in 3 days…please email the PBL house office if your child is out sick…after 3 days, it is an unexcused absence

• After a student has had 5 full day absences in the school year for illness, any further absence for illness must be verified by a physician

• Attendance for athletic participation is cleared through the athletics office

• This can take a few days to be corrected. Thank you for your patience.

• Questions about attendance procedures, please go to our website: https://www.smmusd.org/domain/3026

If you would like your baby photos featured in the baby photo spread of the yearbook, send them in via Instagram (@samoyearbook) or email (samohiyearbook@gmail.com). Please include your first and last name. Submissions close October 16th

The PSAT has gone digital. Students will need to bring their Samohi-issued chromebook on test day. All 9th through 11th graders will be required to bring their chromebooks a week before testing in order to check the testing app.

All students are required to attend school, even if they opt out of testing. Attendance will be taken.

For more information, links to practice tests, and calculator requirements, please see our website: https://www.smmusd.org/domain/4455

SMMUSD's Weekend Bags Program offers nutritious, easy-to-prepare weekend food for Samohi students when school cafeteria breakfasts and lunches are not available. Each Weekend Bag holds two breakfasts, two lunches, and two snacks. The menus have been evaluated by a dietitian and provide a balance of healthy, nutritious non-perishable foods which change each week. Students can drop by and pick up their Weekend Bags on Fridays afterschool from the Vikings’ Hub in E113.

Students should let Carla Nuñez, Community Schools Specialist in E113, (or their House Office assistant or their House Advisor) know if they would like to receive Weekend Bags. Families wishing to have their students receive Weekend Bags on Fridays should contact Carla Nuñez at carlanunez@smmusd.org or 310 395-3204 ext. 71-143.

SMMUSD continues to provide free TAP cards to all of our students. For our PBL students this is important that each student have an active TAP card as this is our main mode of travel for many of our Leaving 2 Learn experiences (ie: field trips).

If your child did not receive a TAP card or activation code, please have them come to the PBL House Office (B111).

To reactivate your existing TAP card, please submit the following form to receive a new eligibility code: https://bit.ly/GoPass2024-2025.

Take advantage of purchasing an ASB card. For $75, you can get free admission to football and basketball games (not during playoffs), up to 3 free I.D. replacement, a reduced price for your tickets for formals, homecomings, and prom, reduced price for school plays and band concerts, reduced price for your yearbook, and local business benefits like Donut King, Little Bean Coffee, Pita House, Samo’s Oaxaca,and Sylvan Learning. Saving you over $250!!!

Margaret’s Place is open for the school year in E117 and offers services to students every weekday! At Margaret’s Place, our mission is to help end the cycle of violence in our relationships, schools, and communities. We offer free counseling for students, open lunch drop-in, therapeutic recreation activities, and more! See our newsletter for students and our newsletter for parents/caregivers to learn more about services and how to get involved, email ldesanto@smmusd.org with any questions.

If you have not received an ID card,

you LOST your ID card,

you now have an ASB card and need the stamp, or

you now have an off campus lunch pass...

use the QR code (or click on the image) to have an ID reprinted/ printed.