Archives for 2024

Dear DVC Students and Families,

During this time away from school, we wanted to share a few school safety reminders so that you have all the resources you need to keep everyone safe!

Ensuring school safety is our number one priority, and ensuring school safety takes a village. We encourage everyone in our school communities to continue to speak up if they see or hear anything that could constitute a potential threat to school safety, and we provide all community members with many ways to contact us regarding any concerns. Students, parents, and guardians are encouraged to report any concerns to school staff as soon as possible using any of the following means:

• Complete the Incident Reporting Form, located on the sidebar of the dvc.davincischools.org webpage
• Call the front office of the school at (310) 725-5800 to report the concern
• Call or text the Principal (Erin D’Souza) at (310) 350-7192 
• Call or text the Assistant Principal (Andrew Daramola) at (323) 435-1796
• Email any DVC staff member with the concern (all email addresses listed here)
• Complete a written incident report (blank copies at the front office)

The following resources address school safety and provide more details regarding policies and procedures:

• DVC Student Handbook 2024 – 2025
• Bullying Policy (Da Vinci Schools)
• Policy to Address Racist, Discriminatory and Dehumanizing Incidents
• Civility Policy
• Visitor Policy
• Comprehensive School Safety Plan: Da Vinci Communications

Thank you for partnering with us to ensure that safety is the number one priority! If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

Erin D’Souza, Principal

Andrew Daramola, Assistant Principal

Presentations of Learning (known as POLs) are a signature practice of DVC. At the end of each semester, students complete Presentations of Learning (POL) in some of their classes in which they demonstrate their growth over time and mastery of academic content in a formal presentation before their teacher and classmates. At the conclusion of the student’s presentation, their teachers ask questions and offer feedback and support for the next steps. Click here for slides containing basic information and example videos of a POL.

One of the expectations for a Presentation of Learning (POL) is that students come in professional dress. At DVC, professional dress is defined as including the following:

• HEAD: Hair should not cover the face; no hats
• SHOULDERS: Button-down dress shirt (shirt must be tucked in) or or non-revealing blouse (must cover shoulders); Suit jacket (optional)
• KNEES: Khaki pants or dress pants (no jeans); Dress or skirt that touches tops of knees when standing up straight
• TOES: Closed-toe dress shoes (no sneakers or excessively high heels)

POLs begin on Thursday, 12/12 and continue through Thursday, 12/19. School dismissal for POL days is 2:00pm. 

The two most important things you can do to help your student prepare for their POL is (1) assure them that it is ok to make mistakes and (2) have them practice their POL many times to as many people in your household as possible. POLs help students improve their communication and public speaking skills and empower students to take ownership of their learning. 

We are excited for our students to take advantage of this opportunity to showcase what they’ve learned this semester!

One of our parents, Cindy Gilligan, is doing an amazing job posting all school information on Facebook. If you’d like to get your information there, please join “DVC Families” – my favorite part is when she makes graphics using this wolf!

We’d love to hear your feedback on Exhibition Night! Please complete THIS SHORT SURVEY and enjoy a few pics of the evening.

Thank you again for attending!

From all of us at DVC, we wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving! 

Next week, 11/25-11/29, there is no school, and the DVC front office will be closed during this time.

We want extend a BIG THANK YOU to all of the DVC families who made contributions to our staff gratitude baskets; thanks to all of you for donating time, treats, and messages of gratitude to our staff to help send them off on a much deserved break with a little something to let them know how appreciated they are. Special thanks to Adriana Stasiak Nery da Fonseca, Stacie Ottley, Kevin Gilligan, Evelyn Rendon, Reyna Victorica, Debbie Evans, Lisa Borawski, Maria Vargas, and Stephanie Murphy for assembling all the goodies! They did a beautiful job – check out the pictures!