Asawa SOTA Friday Principal Letter | October 21, 2022

Translated Letters: English | Español | 中国人  

Dear Asawa SOTA Community,

As I reflect on all of this week’s cool and awesome work our students, teachers/staff, and parents are doing I wanted to share with you one of my personal goals and growth areas that I shared at the African American PAC mixer on Tuesday. One of the tenets of creating an Anti-Racist community is the acceptance of imperfections, specifically your own. Today’s letter is long, we have a ton of activities and performances occurring and with this, you have a lot of very busy people and we will make mistakes. I don’t have anything specifically to call out, but just to invite us all to be mindful of our impact and lean into hard conversations during these busy and fun times.  Ok, enough with the sermon… I will leave you with the celebrations and invitations for next week’s program.

Kenny

Principal’s Chat:

I hope you can join me for our first Principal Chat & Coffee on Thursday Oct. 27 @ 8:45. This is a great opportunity to share your thoughts and ask questions. All parents/guardians are invited to attend.

 Kindly RSVP so we don't over purchase bagels, coffee, etc!

Celebration of A&D  Students:

Ruth Asawa SOTA Architecture + Design students Sofia Regenbogen (class of ‘22) and Eva Nusbaum-Faust (class of ‘23) won a community based design competition in 2020 (during distance learning!) for the permanent installation of TL Residences façades - two new essential housing projects in the Tenderloin.

For the competition, students were asked to express the interconnectivity of the Tenderloin community in a design for the building. Sofia designed contrasting circle patterns based on the sheet music to Miles Davis’ “So What” which was recorded and performed at the Black Hawk, a former Tenderloin jazz club nearby. Eva’s design of intertwining arms and clasped hands, was inspired by her impression of the Tenderloin, where people stretch to help each other.

Yesterday was the grand opening of 361 Turk Street, which has Sofia’s design on the façade. Mayor London Breed and Senator Scott Weiner spoke, and had the honor of the ribbon cutting! Eva’s design will be permanently installed on a building on Leavenworth Street in the coming weeks, with more photos and celebrations to come.

Congratulations to Sofia and Eva, who at very young ages, have already left their design marks on our beautiful city! And a HUGE shout out to our phenomenal A&D Director Tara Siegel for her inspirational work with our students!!!

Celebrations for our Girls Varsity Volleyball Team:

Please congratulate our Girls Varsity Volleyball team on their 4th consecutive playoff berth! They are 10-0 with two games left before their first round playoff game next Friday!

 
TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Upcoming Performances & Shows

• Upcoming Sports Schedule

• Fall for the Arts Annual Appeal

• Sharing our Learning        

• Student Organizations & Clubs

• Important Announcements

• Counseling Corner

• Wellness Services

• SOTA PTSA

• Repeat Announcement
  

Fall for the Arts Annual Appeal Launch

        Our Fundraising team has launched this year’s Fall for the Arts Annual Appeal and they encourage anyone who is able, to please donate what they can to support our Artists in Residence programming. You can make your gift here  AsawaSOTA Giving.  While there are several ways to maximize your donation, such as utilizing your work’s matching fund program or setting up small monthly donations, I want to take a moment to highlight all the other ways you can support our outstanding Ruth Asawa Community.

• Go to shows!  Funds raised through box office sales go directly to the Arts Departments’ budgets, so buying tickets and attending shows is a great way to contribute too. The Theater and Technical Theater Department  are presenting Hamlet on Oct.26-29th. You can get your tickets through the box office asawasotaboxoffice.org
• Join the PTSA and Parent Advisory Councils and add your voice to discussions and decision making

• Volunteer your time to participate in or run community activities, events and beautification projects. Attend School Site Council meetings on the third Thursday of the month

Questions about the Fall for the Arts Annual Appeal? Please reach out to Christine Farren,  Fundraising Chair at christinefarren@gmail.com.

SHARING OUR LEARNING

STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS & CLUBS

→ CLUB LEADERS! INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING @ OCTOBERFEST? 

MAKE SURE YOU FILL OUT THE FORM [CHECK OUT CLUB LEADER GOOGLE CLASSROOM!]

TALENT SHOW RECAP!
A big thank you to all who performed & attended our first ever Talent Show last Friday! We had so much fun watching unique student performances and raised money for PROM 2023! Here are some fun recap photos for those who want to re(live) the acts or get a glimpse of what you missed! *Seniors, start thinking about some acts that you could perform at our upcoming Senior Showcase early Spring Semester!

ASAWA SOTA CLUBS
We have 40+ unique & inclusive SOTA CLUBS & ORGANIZATIONS! Club participation is encouraged for all, and students may join multiple clubs AND join clubs at any time in the school year!

INTERESTED IN PERFORMING ON OUR QUAD STAGE?
Any department, student group, or SOTA club + organization may request the Quad stage to host a performance or activity by submitting an Academy + SOTA Quad Stage Sign Up Request Form. Days that are already reserved for October are listed directly on the Google Form.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Black Literary Achievement Club (BLAC) 8th -12th grade

• For students who Identify as Black/ African American
• $1000 for a year's participation.
• Program starts September 26th and meets every Friday from 5:00-6:30pm at 180 Golden Gate ave. sf
• Students support as tutors once a week!
• Here is the link for student sign ups: LINK HERE

Youth Leadership Advisory Board -Tenderloin (YLAB) 8th-12th grade

• Open to all students in 8th-12th grade
• $1000 for a year's participation.

• Program starts September 21st, every Wednesday from 5-6pm at 180 golden gate ave sf
• Students support as tutors throughout the week!
• Here is the link for students to sign ups: LINK HERE

Coastal Art & Poetry Contest for K-12 students
California students in kindergarten through 12th grade are invited to submit artwork or poetry with a California coastal or marine theme. Application deadline is January 31, 2023. For rules, contest flyer, entry form, and helpful links for teachers and students, visit https://www.coastal.ca.gov/art-poetry/. The instructions, flyer, and entry form are also available in Spanish at https://www.coastal.ca.gov/art-poetry/espanol.html.

Up to ten winners will be selected to win $100 to an art store (art winners) or $100 to a bookstore (poetry winners). Each winner will also receive four tickets to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Each winner's sponsoring teacher will receive a $50 gift certificate for educational supplies, courtesy of Acorn Naturalists.

Climate Video Challenge for middle and high school students
Enter any time this school year, through May 31, 2023. Students are invited to submit a 3-minute video responding to the question, “What is your vision for a thriving future?” Contest instructions and rules, brainstorming prompts, and lots of information on climate change and climate solutions can be found at https://www.coastal.ca.gov/climatechallenge. Students can enter as individuals or in teams of up to five. Prizes are offered for first ($300), second ($200), and third ($100) place videos.

ROSE Lab - Academic Support and Tutoring - ROSE Lab At-A-Glance 

• ROSE Lab is a space where students can receive the support they need to achieve their personal and academic goals. Through ROSE Lab, students can get connected to academic tutoring services that help them to overcome challenges and build effective skills and habits in all areas. 
• Who is ROSE Lab for? All students! There are many ways to participate in ROSE Lab.  “Drop-ins” are open to all students at any time, no commitment or sign-up necessary.  Students may be “Assigned” to ROSE Lab by their grade level counselor if they need additional support in a particular subject area.  
• Students, do you want to be a Peer Tutor?

• Please fill out this application today!

Multipurpose Family Income Form (lunch form) Available by clicking here (Sign In and apply for benefits) - It is important for all families to complete this form and impacts our funding.  On this same site, you can view Breakfast/Lunch Menus.  

ASAWA SOTA COUNSELING

Seniors and families: Get help with your FAFSA or CA Dream Act application in person at SOTA! Wednesday, November 2 at 5:30 PM in the library. Spanish and Cantonese translation available.

WELLNESS CENTER SERVICES

The goal of the Wellness Center is to support student health and well being in order to promote an environment where students can succeed academically, and build strong social and community bonds. We work to support our Asawa SOTA families and the larger community.  

The Wellness Center is looking for a few items: Mostly gently used.

• Folding wheelchair that includes leg supports.
• Office chair
• Arm chair
• 2 x 80" couches in fair/good condition
• 2 x 40" chairs in fair/good condition
• Heavy duty shredder
• Various decaf herbal teas
• Mugs

Please contact  Nurse Stuart if you can help! Thanks in advance for your help getting our Wellness Center looking good and welcoming for our Students!

Community Event: Youth Mental Health Symposium

NAMI San Francisco presents the 2022 Youth Mental Health Symposium! Mental health professionals in the Bay Area will discuss how parents and caregivers can support the mental health of adolescent and young adult children. The pandemic highlighted the youth mental health crisis: the number of young people who are diagnosed with a mental health condition has steadily increased over the last decade.

This event is for families, caregivers, and teachers/educators who want to support the mental wellness of teens and young adults, recognize signs that a young person is struggling, respond to a crisis, and talk constructively about mental health with teens and young adults. Hear from mental health experts who specialize in treating youth:

Veronika Mesheriakova, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at UCSF. She is the Director of the Youth
        Outpatient Substance Use Program (YoSUP) in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine.

        William Martinez, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of
        California, San Francisco and Director of the Child and Adolescent Services clinic in the Division of Infant, Child,
        and Adolescent Psychiatry at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. He is currently the Director of Pediatric
        Mental Health for the UCSF Health and Human Rights Initiative and principal investigator of the Fuerte program.

        Rachel Gordon, LCSW, is a Psychotherapist with a private psychotherapy practice and Mental Health Coordinator at
        Albany Middle and High Schools.

        Chase T. M. Anderson, MD, is currently an assistant professor in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of
        California at San Francisco. He graduated from adult psychiatry residency at The Massachusetts General Hospital
        and McLean Hospital and the child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at UCSF. His writing has appeared in
        Newsweek, The New England Journal of Medicine, and other news and journal outlets.

The Youth Symposium is part of NAMI SF x Youth Mental Health, an event series focusing on youth mental health in October and November. All events are free and held via Zoom webinar. Additional presentations include:

October 27: In Our Own Voice - featuring young adult voices

November 10: Parents as Allies as Advocates

For questions, please contact Andrew Tuttle, Director of Education Programming: andrew@namisf.org

We look forward to connecting with you on October 20th!

REPEAT ANNOUNCEMENTS (But Important!)

ATTENDANCE

Click HERE for more information.

Follow These Steps to Clear/Excuse An Absence or Tardy

(As a reminder, excused absences means your child is allowed to make up school work (homework, quizzes, tests). Unexcused absence means teachers are not required to allow the student to make work up).

• Submit a note from home OR a medical practice within 3 days of the absence
• For your convenience, you may print the Excuse Form for the student’s guardian to submit.

If Your Student Needs to Leave Early
Send your student with a physical, paper note requesting they be excused from school with the info below:

• Student’s full name
• Date
• Time to be excused
• Reason for departure from school
• Guardian signature & phone number

NOTE: Please do not email teachers for early dismissal. Teachers cannot excuse students from school. The above procedure must be followed in order for a student to be marked as excused.

Early Dismissal every Wednesday! Teachers currently plan to offer office hours for students 12:40 PM - 1:20 PM. We are asking students to leave campus after 1:20 PM so teachers can focus on our collaboration time. We know this is new and will take some time to adjust and appreciate your patience as we transition to this new schedule. Lunch will still be served and students can grab lunch to go before they attend office hours, if they like.

Advocating for your Black Child

Advocating for Your Black Child (A4YBC) is a free, 8-week psycho-education series held online for Black parents and caregivers of Black children & youth (elementary - high school) living with mental health and/or learning differences. Advocating for Your Black Child (A4YBC) is offered in a virtual group setting so that you can safely and confidently connect with other Black Parents. Register HERE & Flier with more information HERE

Multipurpose Family Income Form (lunch form) is available by clicking here (Sign In and apply for benefits) - It is important for all families to complete this form and impacts our funding.  On this same site, you can view Breakfast/Lunch Menus.  

MUNI will continue its Free Muni for Youth program. All youth under the age of 19 will be able to ride Muni without proof of payment. For more information on Free Muni, visit sfmta.com/freemuni4youth.

Open Campus Expectations

Historically, Ruth Asawa SOTA students have had the privilege of leaving campus during lunch.  This year, students will still have that option though we strongly recommend that all students opt to stay on campus for lunch each day.  The cafeteria will be serving free meals to all students during the 2022-2023 school year and can accommodate dietary restrictions and preferences. SF Department of Public Health guidance is predicated on the organization's ability to provide a consistent, supervised and controlled environment where everyone is following health & safety protocols. Because we are unable to guarantee any health and safety measures for your child once they leave campus, off-campus privileges increase the risk of COVID exposure for all members of our community.  We ask that you speak to your child(ren) about their options and help them to make a decision that best promotes the safety and wellbeing of themselves, your family, and our school community.

Student Assistance Program Request
Use this form to request a consultation from the SAP (Student Assistance Program) team. This team includes: AP, dean, counselors, health and wellness .

AP Testing for the 22-23 School Year

Please see the 22-23 Advanced Placement Testing Information for Asawa SOTA for information about test dates, AP Classroom join codes, fees, fee reduction and accommodations.  

Update Student Name & Gender Marker in SFUSD Systems → Students who, because of their gender identity or cultural experience, use a name and/or gender marker different from those given at birth, AND want to have this information included in an SFUSD system can review this document on how to update a students name and gender marker in SFUSD systems.