Dear DVC Students, Parents, and Guardians,

One of Da Vinci’s Signature Practices is Exhibition Night, an evening event for our community to come together to witness and celebrate how much our students have learned and grown in the project-based environment. Though we originally planned to hold an Exhibition Night this semester, we have decided to allow our teachers and students additional time to prepare for this important showcase. As a result, we will be rescheduling our Exhibition Night for second semester (January – June). We look forward to showcasing our students’ terrific projects in the new year, and we will let you know as soon as we decide on our new dates.

Sincerely,

Erin D’Souza

Principal

Hi DVC Families!

A terrific part of last week was our Hispanic Heritage Month CD on Wednesday! If you are on Instagram, follow us @dvchighschool to check out pics and videos. We are thankful for our student leaders who organized this special event! This week we will be having a Hispanic Heritage Month Spirit Week! Please see this link for the daily themes: Hispanic Heritage Month Spirit Week Themes 

Student-Led Conferences (SLCs) will be held from Monday, 10/11 to Thursday, 10/14. SLCs are happening via Zoom this semester. Students/families are expected to sign up with their student’s advisory teacher. If you have yet to sign up, please do so right away. It is expected that every student has an SLC with their parent/guardian during this week. Click here to sign up: Student-Led Conference Sign Up Links (sign up with advisory teacher)

To allow teachers to conference with students and parents, students will be released from school at 1:25pm Monday through Thursday. Students are expected to return home at this time and conduct their SLC from home, if possible. Students who have an SLC immediately following school dismissal should go to the room of their advisory teacher for the conference. Families will be receiving a follow-up email with zoom link for the conference. There is no school on Friday, 10/15 due to Professional Development for Staff.

On Wednesday, there is a special schedule for PSAT and SAT Testing. We are happy to be able to offer these tests during school. Though we know that many colleges and universities are choosing to be “test optional” when it comes to the PSAT and SAT, these tests are still required for access to many college and university scholarships. It is still important that we offer these standardized tests as we want to open as many doors as possible for students. For more information about the tests students will be taking, please consult the student guides below:

• 9th Grade: Digital PSAT 9 Student Guide
• 10th & 11th Grades: PSAT/NMSQT Student Guide
• 12 Grade: SAT School Day Student Guide

Bike Safety Class: The Wiseburn Education Foundation has partnered with the Hawthorne and El Segundo Police Departments to offer a Bike Safety Class in the West Plaza (outdoors under the tents) on Wednesday, 10/13 at 5:30pm! This event is open to all students and their parents and guardians. Please register here if you are interested in attending: bit.ly/bikesafe2021

Please see this week’s schedule at this post and also at tinyurl.com/dvcwebsite.

Wishing you an enjoyable weekend,

Erin D’Souza

Principal

Hi DVC Families,

Starting next week (from October 11-14, 2021), students throughout the school will be conducting Student-Led Conferences (SLCs) virtually through Zoom. The purpose of these conferences is for the students to practice developing and executing autonomy in their academic lives by encouraging them to evaluate their current mastery of course content in their respective classes, present their work, share their current grades, reflect on their current mastery, and create individualized goals concerning their plans for the remainder of the semester and beyond. Allowing them space and time to serve in a leadership capacity at this point in their academic careers will set them up for greater success in the future, particularly in higher education. This year SLCs will be facilitated by your student’s advisory teacher. Advisory teachers will have all relevant information about your student’s progress to make sure the time is spent meaningfully.

All conferences will be held virtually over Zoom.

Please select your student’s advisory teacher and sign up for the time slot that works best for you: Student-Led Conference Sign Up Links (sign up with advisory teacher)

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the conference!

Erin D’Souza

Principal

Happy Sunday!

We had a great week this week at DVC! One of the special things that happened this week was a visit from a Lead Character Artist at Santa Monica Studios, Eric Valdes. He spoke to students in one of our Graphic Communications classes on Friday morning. We were thrilled to have him talk to our students about his career!

Looking ahead, we are excited to host our first school-wide assembly (known as “CD”) in which we’ll highlight Hispanic Heritage Month! This special assembly will take place at the end of the day on Wednesday, October 6th (2:35 – 3:35pm). Please see our schedule for next week for details.

Important notes about Week 9 (next week):

Student-Led Conferences (SLCs): We are looking forward to connecting with our families virtually during Student-Led Conferences. SLCs will take place from Monday, October 11 – Thursday, October 14. On these dates, students will be dismissed from school at 1:25pm. All student-led conferences will be conducted via Zoom. Students will be scheduling conferences with their advisory teacher so that each family gets a personalized experience. It is always our goal to meet with 100% of our families. We appreciate you prioritizing this important conference with your student and your student’s advisory teacher. Information about signing up for a student-led conference will be posted on Monday, October 4.

PSAT & SAT Testing for All Students: On Wednesday, October 13, DVC will be administering the PSAT and the SAT on campus for all students (grades 9, 10, 11, and 12). We are happy to be able to provide this opportunity for our students to be college-ready at no cost to our families. 

Please see this week’s schedule at this post and also at tinyurl.com/dvcwebsite.

Wishing you good health as we begin the fall season,

Erin D’Souza

Principal

Happy Saturday, DVC Families!

We had a great week at DVC! One of the highlights was the return of our Advisory class, where we were able to listen to students share the story of their name. We love learning more about our students and giving them the opportunity to learn more about each other!

A few updates:

Student-Led Conferences (SLCs): We are looking forward to connecting with our families during Student-Led Conferences. SLCs will take place from Monday, October 11 – Thursday, October 14. Students will be scheduling conferences with their advisory teacher so that each family gets a personalized experience. Stay tuned for more information about sign ups next week. We are still determining if the conferences will be in-person, via zoom, or both. It is always our goal to meet with 100% of our families. We appreciate you prioritizing this important conference with your student and your student’s advisory teacher.

PSAT & SAT Testing for All Students: On Wednesday, October 13, DVC will be administering the PSAT and the SAT on campus for all students (grades 9, 10, 11, and 12). We are happy to be able to provide this opportunity for our students to be college-ready at no cost to our families. Students will learn more information about this upcoming test in their classes. 

Makeup Picture Days: You can purchase your student’s school photo by checking in the folder of your student’s advisory teacher: DVC School Photos (need name of advisory teacher) Proceeds from the purchase of your student’s photo support DVC. For students who missed the photo day, makeup photos are scheduled for Thursday, 9/30 and Friday, 10/1.

College Visits: We continue to have college representatives visit DVC during lunchtime. Students are informed of the colleges and invited to attend through Google Classroom. Check out our Instagram page @dvchighschool for some student interviews after talking to the USC representative! If you would like to get more information about college, please contact our counselor who specializes in college readiness, Ms. Monique Aldrete at maldrete@davincischools.org.

Chromebooks for Home Use: If you are still in need of a chromebook for your student to use at home, please contact Ms. Jackie Martinez at jmartinez@davincischools.org. We have issued many chromebooks to students who have requested and filled out paperwork, and we would like to make sure that each student who needs access to a computer at home is able to have it. 

Emergency Lockdown Drill: Our DVC students did a fantastic job with the emergency lockdown drill we had on Thursday, 9/23. Though it saddens us to have to think about this kind of danger at a school, we are grateful to partner with the El Segundo Police Department to make DVC the safest environment it can be. We continue to urge students who have concerns regarding safety to report these concerns immediately to any DVC staff member (including me at 310-350-7192) or to use the Incident Reporting Form, which is linked on the blog (dvc.davincischools.org) and the website (tinyurl.com/dvcwebsite) and allows for complete anonymity if desired. 

Please see this week’s schedule at this post and also at tinyurl.com/dvcwebsite.

Wishing you an enjoyable weekend,

Erin D’Souza

Principal