Community Bulletin 11/03/22

Posted on: November 3, 2022

CommunityBulletin 11/03/22

Good evening, Aki family. Thank you for taking a moment to review updates in our Community Bulletin. For up-to-date information, you can always visit the School Bulletin on the Aki Kurose website.

At-a-Glance Calendar

November 11 | Veterans Day | No School for Students & Staff

November 15 | PTSA Meeting @ 6 PM| See Announcement

November 17 | Last Day of First Quarter| See announcement on how to check grades

November 24-25 | Thanksgiving Holiday| No School for Students & Staff

December 2 | Picture Retakes

Announcements

From Our School Nurse – Hi, Aki Family! Please be aware that the flu, cold, COVID, norovirus (stomach flu), and RSV are all circulating during this season. It is that time of year! Just a friendly reminder to thoroughly practice safe hand hygiene and wash hands with soap and water after any contact with others. Also, please remember to stay warm and zip-up those jackets before going outside in the cold. As always, please seek medical attention if you or your student are not feeling well for more than 24 hours. If anyone has any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office at any time. Thank you so much for your cooperation in helping to keep the Aki community safe and healthy, as well as your understanding when a student who is not feeling well needs to be sent home.

Warmly,

Cheryl Foos, MSEd., RN, BSN, Aki Kurose Middle School Nurse

Office E-Mail: cefoos@seattleschools.org, Office Phone: 206-252-7707

Meet Award-Winning Author Kwame Alexander – From 7-8pm Friday Nov 4 at Hugo House 1634 11th Ave. Seattle WA 98122 (Next to Cal Anderson Field) Join us to celebrate Caldecott and Newbery Award-winning author Kwame Alexander’s (“The Crossover”) powerful new book for youth. “The Door of No Return” is about an 11-year-old in 19th century Ghana named Kofi Offin, who dreams of water and ends up in a fight for his life. Presented with Elliott Bay Book Company and the Hugo House. The Kwame Alexander event is absolutely free and everyone is welcome, but you do need to reserve your tickets in advance.

Checking Grades on The Source: With first quarter’s end getting closer, advisory classes are supporting students with checking their grades, making up missed assignments, and retaking assessments. As family members, you can also check their grades on your own! More information about checking your student grades on The Source.

Bathroom Pass Family Feedback – We have seen a significant decrease in hallway and bathroom congestion and congregating during class time as we started off the school year. As we plan for any adjustments to our current bathroom pass process in second semester, please feel free to provide us with your insights by completing this form (open through November 6th): Bathroom Pass Family Feedback Form. Please see reminder announcement below for more details.

Aki PTSA – Aki PTSA meets every 3rd Tuesday of the month at 6pm virtually on Zoom. Please email for more information: akiptsaboard@googlegroups.com

Aki PTSA Fundraiser Opportunity: This year the Aki community will be participating in the SESSFA Move-a-Thon in March. You’re invited to a listening and Q&A session next Wednesday, November 9th from 8:00-9:30pm. We’ll dive into topics that impact all of our SE Seattle public schools, including school funding, fundraising, equity, advocacy and more. Please see attachment for more information.

Free Tutoring Service for Students – Tutor.com is a service that SPL subscribes to where students can get online help from 2pm-10pm every day. Tutoring is available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The tutors are background checked and subject experts. Students can upload papers for editing help, they can use the whiteboard to scribble math problems back and forth with the tutor and have access to the transcript of the session when they are done.

Flyers for students:

Athletics Updates

Ultimate Frisbee – Congratulations to all the Ultimate Teams! And thank you to all the spectators who come out and cheer them on!

Games 11/5 are at Franklin HS

G1 8:30 am Aki A vs Hamilton G2, 8:30 am Aki B vs Denny, G3 10am Aki A/B vs Mercer, G4 11:30am Aki 6th vs Whitman
Practices are Monday, Wednesday & Fridays – after school for 1 ½ hours. There is bus transportation for those participating in the After School Programs. Please contact Mr Browne in the CLC or Ms. DeeDee in the Attendance Office for registration forms or talk to set it up.

Girls Soccer – Congratulations players on your hard work. Your efforts are appreciated! And thank you parents for your support of our student athletes!

Game: Sat. 11/5 9.30 am vs Denny @ Garfield High School (Arrive by 9a at the latest)
Practices are Tues & Thurs., 3:50 – 5:10pm & there is no bus transportation after practices unless you contact Mr Browne in the CLC or Ms DeeDee in the attendance office for registration forms to set it up.

Sports Information is on the Athletics Page | Instagram @Aki_Athletics | SPS Athletics Schedules

Reminders

Crane Cash – Our students can earn Crane Cash each day at school in all school spaces by demonstrating the Aki Core Four mindsets (academic, social/emotional, community and environmental), which have been introduced and continue to be practiced through our Wednesday advisory class time. We have raffles every other Thursday during grade level lunches to provide celebration and rewards for our students doing a great job each day at school! Families are welcome to donate raffle gifts and volunteer to help with prepping our Crane Cash tickets – reach out via phone or email!

After-School Program – The program started this past Monday, October 17th, and will run through January 19th, 2023. More information about our After-School programs Feel free to email Mr. Browne at mlbrowne@seattleschools.org.

Student Needs Assessment – In order to serve our Aki Kurose student community, the counseling and student support team uses a variety of tools and data to develop programs and interventions specific to our students. One of the tools used is the student needs assessment survey. This short survey asks students how they are feeling about a variety of academic and social emotional topics. Students will be offered the chance to take that survey twice a year, mid-October through December, and mid-April through June. Based on survey responses, school counselors and school support staff may follow up with students individually to offer resources within the Aki community as well as the broader community. Ultimately, we want to remove barriers for our students and ensure that they have access to programs, activities, and support to help them feel safe, welcomed and able to be successful within the school environment. Information collected through the surveys is kept confidential except for anything that would mandate us to report. Survey responses excluding personally identifiable student information are shared with administration to report overall student needs. Students will complete the brief needs assessment during advisory class, and participation is voluntary. Students and families can opt out of completing this survey. If you would like to review the survey, please let us know and we will make one available to you. If you would like to opt your student out of completing the needs assessment, please contact the main office at 206-252-7700. We look forward to a great school year with your students!

Bathroom Passes – As we move through our first quarter of the school year, we are implementing a school wide system to maximize in class time for students and ensure a safe and healthy school environment by encouraging students to use the bathroom before school, during passing time, at lunchtime and after school. All students have ten bathroom passes provided through their advisory class to use during any class time between now the end of first quarter in mid-November (pending revised school calendar). Any students with any type of health need will be accommodated for as well as any emergent need. We will be monitoring in class time, our hallways and bathrooms, and seek feedback from students, staff and our families starting mid to late October to make any revisions to this plan moving into second quarter.

Student Laptops: All students should have received a laptop and charger. Support their learning by making sure it is plugged in every night, and that they bring their laptop and charger to school and that they restart it at least once a week.

Library Books– Please continue to support your reader turning pages! Talk to your reader(s) about what they are reading and ask to see their reading log! Also, please remind them to return their library books when they are done reading them so others can check them out! If you still have books from a previous school, bring them in & we’ll get them to the school so they can be checked in. You can check our Instagram for new titles at @aki_library. Go #AkiReaders!

Need Resources? Please check our Family Resources page for information about food, household items and financial assistance.

Please reach out to us with any questions using the following contact information:

For English, call Aki at 206-252-7700 or email akikurose@seattleschools.org

For Amharic & Oromo, call Guesh Wubneh at 206-252-7718 or email guwubneh@seattleschools.org

For Somali, call Abdi Geireh at 206-252-7718 or email afgeireh@seattleschools.org

For Spanish, call Amy Anderson 206-252-7748 or email alanderson@seattleschools.org

For Filipino, call Eden Tumbaga at 206-252-7748 or email ebtumbaga@seattleschools.org

For Vietnamese, call Quang Hoang at 206-252-7734 or email qvhoang@seattleschools.org