Fright Fest brings ghoulish good fun to the KMS campus during lunch October 27th-31st. We need volunteers to run a Fright Fest station! Lunch times are 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday / 10:30 a.m. – Noon Monday, Wednesday, Friday. It’s a short time on campus and super fun! Any number of days you can help are greatly appreciated! Contact PortolaPTSA@gmail.com to get your questions answered or to sign up.
National Junior Honors Society induction ceremony tonight 10/16 6-7 pm in Room 43. Congratulations to all the inductees in this prestigious program!
WCCUSD School Board Candidate Forum
Parents’ Voices Loud and Clear
Ten candidates gave opening statements and answered 6 questions from parents at Monday Night’s Candidates Forum, sponsored jointly by the PTAs of El Cerrito/Kensington schools. Three of the candidates will be elected on November 4th. Two of the candidates are incumbents.
The questions were about teacher quality; supporting and increasing the number of high-achieving students; follow-through on new programs; balancing charter schools and traditional public schools; and “What is the best book you have read recently about education?” The final question was from a Kensington fifth grader about how to fix school lunch.
View the Candidate bios.
You can review the campaign financing records of the candidates at the Contra Costa County Elections Division website: www.cocovote.us/campaigns/public-viewing-of-campaign-statements/
More than a hundred people attended, so ask around if you missed it and want to know more. Please remember to vote on November 4th!
Cross Country meets are starting:
9/29 Golden Gate Fields- Albany
10/2 MLK-Berkeley
10/6 Orinda Intermediate School
10/16 Prospect Sierra
10/20 MLK-Berkeley
10/23 Venue has not been announced
10/27 Prospect Sierra
* all meets start at 4:15 p.m. and end around 5:30 p.m.
Championship Meets:
10/30 MLK-Berkeley
11/6 Kennedy Grove Park-El Sobrante
*meets start at 4
For a pdf flyer and writing guidelines, click here
WCCUSD SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE FORUM
SAVE THIS DATE!!
Monday, October 6, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Harding Elementary School Theater
The school board makes important decisions that affect teachers and children attending public schools in the district.
Arts education, all-day kindergarten, bond measures for construction, charter schools, differentiated instruction, Gifted and Talented Program (GATE), Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) spending, math programs, parcel taxes for programs, parents as stakeholders, teacher quality and compensation. Who should be elected to shape these programs and spend this money?
The PTAs of Kensington, Harding, Madera, Mira Vista, Fairmont, Washington and Korematsu are proud to join together to sponsor a WCCUSD School Board Candidates Forum.
This November, three seats out of the five are up for election. There are ten candidates running. We will have at least one new board member since long-time board member Charles Ramsey is not seeking re-election.
This forum is especially designed for the El Cerrito feeder school population and will be moderated by our own Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor. Come and have your questions answered. Learn about these candidates!
For information, or to submit a question to the forum, please email us at: 4westcounty@gmail.com
This is an important school group! The School Site Council (SSC) is composed of the school principal and a group of people selected by their peers, representing all segments of the school community for the common goal of supporting student success. The SSC does this by developing and monitoring the implementation of the school’s plan known as the Single Plan for Student Achievement. The SSC members include the principal; teacher representatives; other staff representatives; parents/other community representatives, and student representatives at the secondary level with each group selected by their peers.
Election Schedule
· Election ballots will be published on 9/17/2014 and elections will last until 9/24/2014. Get your ballot here.
· Election results will be published on 9/29/2014
You are cordially invited to “Back to School Night”, an orientation for parents. Students should not come to this event. You will follow an abbreviated daily schedule, meet your child’s teachers, become familiar with the scope and sequence of standards-based curricula, and see fabulous classrooms and displays.
It is essential that you bring your student’s schedule with you so that you know where to go. Your visit in each class will be ten minutes and there will be a few minutes in between each period (passing period). There is a template that you can fill in with the information about your student’s schedule in a letter from Mr. Burnham.
Starting at 6:30pm, visits in each class will be ten minutes and there will be a few minutes in between each period
(passing period). Physical education classes will convene in room 39.
If you are interested in learning about Powerschool, Ms. Bogie our librarian will be in the
computer lab (room 12) from 5:45 – 6:15pm to offer assistance.
We are looking forward to a spectacular evening. See you there!
Map of Campus Here:
http://li996-204.members.linode.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/korematsu-middle-school-map-of-temp-campus.pdf
What is the SSC?
The School Site Council (SSC) is composed of the school principal and a group of people, selected by their peers, representing all segments of the school community for the common goal of supporting student success. The SSC does this by developing and monitoring the implementation of the school’s plan known as the Single Plan for Student Achievement. The SSC members includes the principal; teacher representatives; other staff representatives; parents/other community representatives, and student representatives at the secondary level with each group selected by their peers.
There are currently several openings in our SSC:
For parents/community members there are 2 openings
For teachers there are 3 openings
For students there are 2 openings
For classified and other staff there is 1 opening
Please complete an SSC Declaration To Run Form and return to the school no later than 9/16/2014 if you are interested in running. The form is in English and Spanish.
Election Schedule
SSC Declaration To Run forms are due no later than 9/16/2014
Election ballots will be published on 9/17/2014 and elections will last until 9/24/2014
Election results will be published on 9/29/2014
During the 2014‐15 school year, our district is partnering with BrightBytes, an educational software company, so that we can learn more about our school’s technology use for student learning. The goal is to gather baseline and continuous data on technology access and skills, and on our district’s technology environment, in order to understand the connection between technology use and student achievement.
To gain these insights, we must provide BrightBytes with a complete picture of technology use at school and at home within our district. We will be asking students, teachers, and parents to participate in a project to help us gather this data. Your participation and support is important to us and will make the difference between having a complete versus a limited understanding of our district’s technology use. Our first step is to gather data from you, the members of our parent community. Below is a link to the parent survey. There is a QR code which can be scanned with a mobile device running a QR code reader in the attached flyer. This will allow you to access the survey on your smartphone or another mobile device (such as a tablet). Please note that the survey is short and should only take about 5 to 8 minutes of your time. For more information please see the attached flyer.
Korematsu Parent Survey URL: www.BByt.es/XH2UP
Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete this valuable survey.
Durante el año escolar 2014‐2015, nuestro distrito estará trabajando conjuntamente con BrightBytes, una compañía de programas de computación, con el objeto de desarrollar un mejor conocimiento sobre la utilización de la tecnología en nuestras escuelas para el aprendizaje de los alumnos. Nuestra meta es recolectar información que nos permita crear un punto de referencia y recolectar datos continuamente sobre el acceso a la tecnología y los conocimientos que se poseen sobre esta, dentro del entorno tecnológico escolar. Esto tiene como propósito entender la conexión existente entre el uso de la tecnología y el rendimiento de los alumnos.
Para lograr esto, debemos proporcionar a la compañía BrightBytes una idea clara y completa sobre el uso de la tecnología en las escuelas y en los hogares que se encuentran dentro del distrito. Estaremos pidiendo a los alumnos, los maestros y padres que participen en un proyecto para que nos ayuden a recolectar esta información. Su participación y respaldo son importantes para nosotros y harán la diferencia entre tener un entendimiento completo o un conocimiento limitado sobre el uso de la tecnología en nuestro distrito. El primer paso es recolectar información relacionada con ustedes, los miembros de nuestra comunidad de padres. A continuación hay una conexión para tener acceso a una encuesta para los padres y también hay un código QR, el cual pueda ser escaneado con un aparato móvil que pueda leer códigos QR. Esto le permitirá tener acceso a la encuesta a través de su teléfono inteligente o de otro aparato móvil (como una computadora tablet). Por favor nótese que la encuesta es corta y sólo le tomará entre 5 y 8 minutos de su tiempo para completarla.
Encuesta para los padres en español URL: http://goo.gl/pQRIFQ
Muchas gracias!