Dear VCS Community,
Welcome back from the summer and to the 2023-2024 school year!
Our amazing and dedicated staff is working hard to prepare for the upcoming school year and we look forward to welcoming our students back to the first day of school on Thursday, August 17th. This day will follow a regular Thursday schedule, which is a minimum day. Please visit our website to view the “bell schedule” for each school.
Please read below for important information, updates, and reflections on our collective work.
Back to school events
We are excited to see all of our VCS families at our upcoming back to school events!
VCES will be holding our “meet the teacher” event on Monday, August 14th from 3:30pm-5:00pm.
VCMS will be holding our family and student orientation on Tuesday, August 15th at the Van Nuys Boulevard site (6952 Van Nuys Boulevard):
- 6th grade orientation is from 9:00am-10:00am
- 7th grade orientation is from 11:00am-12:00pm
- 8th grade orientation is from 2:00pm-3:00pm
Important notes for VCMS orientation
-students will receive their schedules on this date
-please be on time and allow for the complete hour; students and parents will have a full hour of experiences with students participating in classroom rotations and families visiting informational tables in the school gym
-parking onsite will be limited so please plan accordingly; use ride shares, carpool with other families, park within the community (be aware of parking signs). Parking will also be available at the YMCA on Lennox.
You can also visit our website for the above information in the school website calendar.
Staffing updates
We are pleased to announce talented new staff members who are invested in our mission, vision, and practices as an organization.
VCES (you can find VCES staff biographies here)
- Cassandra Brink, reading intervention teacher
- Samantha Hechtman, 5th grade teacher
- Christine Liggett, 4th grade teacher
- Lindsey Sadler, 2nd grade teacher
- Jaimie Salonga, 1st grade teacher
- Pattie Zambrano, founding TK teacher
- Kelsey Sinclair, full time RSP teacher
VCMS (you can find VCMS staff biographies here)
- Erfan Marks, director of special education
- Alina Mazda, dean/ELA teacher
- Melanie Ramirez, Spanish teacher (moving from an assistant teacher role)
- Amanda Reyes, ELA teacher (moving from an assistant teacher role)
- Thomas Tirelli, 6th grade science teacher
- Emma Venegas, 7th/8th grade science teacher
Valley Charter Schools’ Board Members
Valley Charter’s board members are volunteers who are committed to providing appropriate oversight and support to our organization. The VCS board meets on a monthly basis at 14646 Sherman Way (VCMS 6th grade site). You can find the board calendar and board member biographies here. VCS current board members (in alphabetical order) include:
- Joni Angel, Board Member (Joni is a new board member!)
- Jennifer Bennett, VCES Parent Board Representative
- Daniel Chang, Board Chair
- Alex Farivar, Board Treasurer
- Marianna Pinerua, VCMS Parent Board Representative (Marianna is a new board member!)
- Angela Saldivar, Board Secretary
VCS website updates
We continue to engage in the on-going work of making our website as informative and useful as possible for current and prospective families. Over the summer, we updated:
- Our VCS Family Engagement Framework; this provides the why, what, and how of family engagement at VCS. Please review!
- Our phonics page at VCES; this provides the why, what, and how of phonics instruction at VCES. A big thank you to Anne Aronchick, our 2nd grade teacher, for taking the lead on providing this important information.
As a reminder, you can find grade level pages on the website with the weekly classroom newsletters. The 23-24 school year password is: PBLforever2023! We will continue to let the community know as we update further pages. Please find page links here.
We will continue to let the community know as we update further pages.
Valley Charter Schools’ Family and Student Handbooks
Each school’s handbook is updated each year to include any new required annual notices, as well as include any revisions or updates to school policies. Please review carefully to understand expectations and guidelines for each school.
VCMS Handbook (please note the cell phone policy has changed; read below)
A note about the updated VCMS Cell Phone Policy in the handbook: A big thank you to all of the parents who attended our focus group on July 14th to provide input on the SY 23/24 cell phone policy for VCMS. We explored the Yondr Pouches discussed during the meeting but after consulting with several organizations who have used them, determined that they would not be effective within our school environment. In alignment with feedback received during the focus group, we ended up revising the policy to require family intervention the first time a student violates the cell phone guidelines. In this way we will be able to convey the seriousness of the expectation and enlist family support early on; updated language can be found in the VCMS handbook under “electronic policy.” We will continue to monitor this issue and solicit input from families.
Important information about attendance and charter school funding
While we know that sometimes absences are unavoidable due to illness or a family obligation, daily attendance is crucial to your child’s success in school. In addition to this, attendance is the main driver of funding to our schools. Valley Charter Schools is an independent, public charter school. This means that like all public schools in the state of California, we are funded based on “average daily attendance” (ADA). For every day that your child attends school, VCS receives a prescribed amount of money (it varies based on grade level) and that money is used to fund everything at the school from facilities to staff members to supplies. When your child is absent, the school does not receive funding for that day. Because of student absences last year, each school at VCS lost out on close to $100,000 in the 22-23 school year. This is a significant amount of money, and we do not want attendance to impact what we are able to offer our students.
With this in mind and because daily attendance is crucial to your child’s success in school, we want each family to be aware of the following:
- Please avoid scheduling family vacations or excursions during school days.
- If you need to schedule a doctor or dentist appointment, please try to schedule it in the morning or afternoon so that your child does not miss the entire day.
- We want your child to be in school if they are healthy. Please continue to keep your child home if they are ill or recovering from illness ((e.g., you must wait 24 hours after your child has had a fever or vomited and must follow any additional guidelines for illnesses such as COVID-19).
- If a student is absent from school, they cannot attend a school-sponsored event on that given day.
VCS COVID-19 Guidelines for the 23-24 school year
At this time, VCS will not be engaging in surveillance testing, which is a change from last year. This practice may shift if the public health context changes but at the current time we do not plan to engage in surveillance testing during the 23-24 school year.
In order to keep our students and staff members healthy and our schools operational, we ask that our community members are mindful of COVID-19 symptoms and are vigilant about testing if there are symptoms. The school is able to provide antigen tests if needed; please reach out to the school office if you need an antigen test for your child.
If your child tests positive for COVID-19 at any point during the school year, please complete the appropriate survey (survey link below).
If anyone in your household tests positive for COVID-19 at any point during the school year, please complete the appropriate survey (survey links below).
In the event of a positive case on campus: VCS will continue to use the group contact tracing protocol and send out group notifications in the event that a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19 and has exposed other community members.
Masking: VCS follows the Los Angeles County TK-12 exposure management protocols for masking. Based on these guidelines, masking is currently strongly recommended but not required for students exposed to COVID-19 in a school setting. Masking is required for students who have been exposed in their household or who are returning from isolation.
Please visit this webpage for our comprehensive COVID-19 guidelines.
VCS goals for the 23-24 school year
This will be my 4th year serving in the Executive Director role at VCS. It has been a wonderful and wild ride so far; this past school year was the most “normal” in terms of operating context since I took over in July of 2020. Last year we were pleased to be able to bring back in full force the practices that are so elemental to the Valley Charter experience – such as field trips, sports teams, and school performances- while also reflecting on and refining our school program, curricula, and tasks to meet the current needs of our students.
We continue to evolve and refine our work as an organization; VCS organizational goals this year include:
- We will continue to promote equity of growth and outcomes for our diverse student body by ensuring that each of our students makes a year’s worth of academic growth in ELA and math.
- We will continue to advance our anti-bias work, so that students experience classroom and community activities that reflect our anti-bias framework.
- We will continue to ensure fiscal and operational integrity and sustainability by unifying operational procedures and accountability TK-8.
- We will continue to promote internal leadership and organizational sustainability by strengthening our distributed leadership structures and teacher pipeline programs.
- We will continue to strengthen our reputation as the TK-8 school of choice in the Valley by increasing family engagement and satisfaction.
To learn more about these goals and engage in Q&A about them, please join the Parent Faculty Council meetings at each school at the beginning of the year.
Charter Schools need your support!
It is important that our families and community members know that this is a pivotal time for the charter movement in Los Angeles. We operate in a state and local context that is challenging for independent charter schools. As an example, at the state level there is currently a proposed assembly bill (AB 1604) that would negatively impact funding for charter school facilities. At the local level, there is a proposed resolution by an LAUSD board member to eliminate charter schools’ ability to use district facilities, which is a direct violation of proposition 39; if passed, this could leave hundreds of charter schools in Los Angeles county without a home. While Valley Charter Schools would not be affected by this resolution, it is important that we stand up in solidarity with our fellow charter schools. The crucial ways you can support Valley Charter Schools and all charter schools are:
- Mobilize when there is a call to action. As I have in the past, I will send out phone and email campaigns that our families can engage in when there is an important vote or urgent issue on the table. There also may be times when we need to mobilize in person. We thank you in advance for your fast response if I send out a “call to action.”
- Vote for charter friendly candidates! The most important piece of the puzzle for charter schools in Los Angeles County is an LAUSD board composed of members who understand the important role that charter schools play in the lives of the children of Los Angeles. Please keep yourself updated on elections in your district, research candidates, and vote!
We are looking forward to a fantastic school year ahead!
All my best,
Carolyn
Valley Charter School 