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

As previously mentioned, Da Vinci Communications, Da Vinci Design, Da Vinci Science, and Da Vinci Connect High School will be conducting a Critical Incident Drill on Thursday, September 23, 2021. This drill is an important part of our continued efforts each year to maintain a safe and secure school environment. The drill will take place at 10:10 a.m. and will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. Teachers have been working with students during classes to prepare for this drill.

As part of our safety and emergency procedures, Da Vinci Schools has adopted elements of the “Run-Hide-Fight” program designed to provide various options to our students and staff. Our drill will focus on the “HIDE” component which is also referred to as “shelter in place”. Other components will be practiced during our Fire Drills planned for next month. During tomorrow’s drill, students will have a chance to practice the proper response if a critical incident were to occur such as an intruder on campus or any other incident requiring a lockdown of the school. Please help us by reminding students to:

• Listen and Follow the instructions of their teacher or staff member in the room at the time of the drill
• Stay quiet during the duration of the drill
• Silence/turn off their cell phones and stay off their phone during the duration of the drill
• Wait for the “All Clear” announcement to indicate the drill has concluded

Our School Resource Officer, Officer Josh Gilberts will be joined by other officers from the El Segundo Police Department, members of the El Segundo Fire Department, and our site administrators in observing the drill and providing feedback on our emergency processes and procedures. Staff and students will also debrief after the drill to provide additional input and recommendations in order to continue to improve our response efforts.

Please keep in mind that in order for our schools to remain informed and responsive, parents/guardians and students are always encouraged to report any concerns or potential threats. If you have any questions regarding this drill or any of our other safety procedures, please reply to this email or contact the administration of your child’s school. Thank you for your continued cooperation and support in maintaining the safety and welfare of our students and staff.

You can now view and purchase your child’s school photo! Simply go to this link and look in the folder of your child’s advisory teacher: https://staceelianna.smugmug.com/DaVinciSchools/DVC-Picture-Day-2021

Proceeds from the purchase of your child’s photo support DVC! For students who missed the photo day, makeup photos will be scheduled soon.

Happy Sunday, DVC Families,

A big highlight of last week was the DVC Club Fair we held on Thursday afternoon. There were over 25 student-led clubs for students to check out and join! A big thank you to our student leaders who worked hard to prepare engaging, creative displays about their clubs. We hope that every student found at least one club to spark their interest.

A few updates:

School Site Council: We had our first School Site Council Meeting on Wednesday evening via Zoom. The role of the School Site Council is to obtain recommendations for, develop, approve, and review implementation of the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) and the Comprehensive School Safety Plan. The meetings are open to the entire DVC community, and all meetings begin with a few minutes reserved for public comment. Meetings will be held via Zoom this year, and our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 20th at 4:30pm. The School Site Council members for the 2021-2022 school year are as follows: 

• Arleen Romero, parent
• Desiree Saddler, parent
• Liza Somilleda, parent
• Jaylon Jones, student, Co-Chair
• Ryan Gardner, student, Co-Secretary
• Ayana Alvarado, student, Co-Secretary
• Andy Galbraith, staff, Co-Chair
• Einstein Lopez, staff
• Jennifer Barba, staff
• Andrew Daramola, staff
• Erin D’Souza, staff

Honors: This week and next week are when teachers are explaining to students what is expected to earn honors. Stay tuned for a blog post about school-wide honors expectations.

Attendance: Next week, parents/guardians can expect to begin receiving automated calls home regarding attendance and absences. If a student is marked absent in any class, automated calls will be going home at two different times of the day in order to update parents/guardians. If you feel that you receive a call in error, please follow up with DVC’s Attendance Manager Pattie Foxman by calling the DVC front office or sending her an email at pfoxman@davincischools.org.

Incident Reporting Form: All members of the DVC community are encouraged to report anything that would contribute to an unsafe or unhealthy learning environment to a DVC staff member as soon as possible. We also wanted to draw your attention to this Incident Reporting Form so that students can anonymously report anything they’d like to the DVC principals. We receive an email when the form is completed, and the form is linked both at dvc.davincischools.org and tinyurl.com/dvcwebsite. All DVC students, parents, and guardians are welcome to contact me via cell phone as well. My number is (310) 350-7192. Please save it in your phone.

COVID-19 Dashboard: Da Vinci Schools now has a COVID-19 Dashboard so that you are aware of our campus statistics. If you have any questions regarding the management of COVID-19 at DVC, please contact our School Nurse, Emily Green, PhD. (egreen@davincischools.org)

FLEX Block: We have begun one of our new initiatives this year: FLEX Block. This period occurs before lunch on Mondays and Tuesdays, and generally replaces our traditional before-school or after-school office hours, allowing students to access teachers of their choice during the school day. Students can log into Edficiency at dvc.edf.school and select where they’d like to go prior to 11:59pm on Sunday evening. We encourage students to select the teachers of the courses in which they need the most support, and we are hopeful that this time allows students to get the help they need to be successful in their classes. Students will receive an email letting them know where they have been scheduled for Monday prior to the start of school.

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

Hoping that this coming week is a happy and healthy one for you and yours,

Erin D’Souza

Principal