Tuesday, July 31, 2007

POWWOW Meeting Tomorrow

POWWOW Parent meeting

Wednesday (TOMORROW), August 1, 2007 at 6:00 pm
WHS Library

  1. Topics to be discussed will include:
  2. Registration
  3. Book distribution
  4. 4X4 schedule
  5. Small Learning Communities (SLC's)
  6. Autonomy
  7. Adult School moving onto WHS campus
  8. Parent Center
  9. Campus Safety and Campus Supervision

Parent Survey

If you haven't done so already, please complete the Parent Survey below. Click on the document, print, complete and return the form by email to powwow4life@aol.com . Thank you.






Bright Star Charter School Headed to OWMS Campus

Bright Star Charter School is moving to the campus of OWMS.

Mr. Rochelle (OW Principal) took our founder, Crissina Johnson, on a brief tour of the area where Bright Star Charter will be housed. Several classrooms, including a computer lab, will need to be moved in order to accommodate Bright Star. From what she observed, not much has be done to prepare for this transition. We are hopeful the necessary fencing and classroom changes are done before school begins.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Matters That Need Your Attention

The Westchester Public Library and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) have reached out to the school to assist in the number of OWM and WHS students who congregate in these locations either during lunch and/or after school.

There have been some incidents of violence. In an effort to resolve this matter, School Administrators, School Police, Healthy Start and POWWOW parents are partnering to insure our students are orderly and safe on and off campus.

Please encourage your child(ren) to avoid these areas.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Adult/Continuation School Headed to WHS Campus

An Adult/Continuation School is moving to the campus of Westchester High School this Fall. The school will occupy the east area of Westchester High School (the "S" bungalows and classrooms adjacent to the student parking lot). This area will be fenced and gated with separate entrance and exit gates.

Monday, July 23, 2007

MEETING REMINDERS & UPDATES

1) POWWOW Weekly Meeting: Tuesday, July 24th @ 7pm -- CANCELLED

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2) Neighborhood Council (NCWPDR) Education Committee Meeting -- Tuesday, July 24th @ 6.30pm -- Westchester Municipal Building (7166 Manchester Avenue) Community Room

This meeting is open to all registered stakeholders/parents of Westchester. Please note: Registered Stakeholders must live, work or own real property within the boundaries of NCWPDR.

See our previous posting below for information on becoming a registered stakeholder.

NCWPDR's
7/24/07 Agenda includes:

Welcome and Introductions
Minutes of June 26, 2007 Meeting
LMU Family of Schools Working Group Report
LAUSD Innovation Division Developments
Westchester High School Developments
Orville Wright Middle School Developments
Public Comment


If you're a registered stakeholder, please MAKE CERTAIN YOU PARTICIPATE!

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3) Healthy Start/Village Policing Combined Collaborative Meeting: Wednesday, July 25th @ 1.30pm -- Westchester High School Library

This is a meeting of agencies and law enforcement entities that work with students on the Westchester High School campus. They include School Police, LAPD, Airport Marina Counseling Service, Loyola Marymount University, Metro bus company, representatives from the mayor's office, the city council, and LAUSD together with administration, faculty, parents and students.

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4) LMU FoS MEETING ON AUTONOMY: Wednesday, July 25th from 4pm to 6pm -- Loyola Marymount University

CRITICAL and PIVOTAL MEETING! GET INVOLVED! BE THERE!


This is the SECOND OF ONLY THREE CRITICAL MEETINGS that will be held this summer (and that's it!!!) to address the following questions:

Do any or all of the schools within LMU FoS want to submit a proposal to the Innovation Division of the LAUSD seeking greater school or cluster autonomy?

What are the ways in which to articulate the role of the many stakeholders within the structure of a Family of Schools?

LOCATION CHANGE: LMU -- AHMANSON 1000 AUDITORIUM IN UNIVERSITY HALL
We have changed the location for this week’s meeting and it will now be held in the Ahmanson 1000 Auditorium in University Hall at LMU. For those of you who were able to join us for the first meeting, this is on the opposite end of the first floor of University Hall (it is the same room we used for the Town Hall meetings in June). For directions to University Hall, please visit www.lmu.edu/maps.
VIEW THE LMU MAP HERE: http://www.lmu.edu/AssetFactory.aspx?did=7234

1 LMU Drive
Los Angeles, CA
90045-2659

Friday, July 20, 2007

Our Guest Speakers

Many, many thanks to all of our amazing guest for their participation and encouragement of POWWOW. We enjoyed "getting to know you" while each of you were "getting to know us!"

Our founder, Crissina Johnson and all of our POWWOW parents look forward to an even bigger/grander "Parent Reception" in the fall.

We leave you with pictures of our guest speakers presented in the order of appearance.

Enjoy...



Douglas Waybright, Local District 3 (LD3)--School Services, Director, High School
Marvin Cooper, Healthy Start, Coordinator, Westchester High School
Susan Allen, Local District 3 (LD3)--School Services, Director, High School



Lainey Rogers, Local District 3 (LD3)--School Operations, Administrator
Jess Womack, LAUSD, Deputy General Counsel
Stephen Rochelle, LAUSD, Principal, Orville Wright Middle School



Drew Furedi, Loyola Marymount University (LMU), Executive Director, FoS
Suzanne Steptoe, PTA President, Westchester High School
Audrey Kitayama, PTA President



Mylah Wessels, PTA President
Ingrid Lamoureux, PTA President, Orville Wright Middle School
Kelly Kane, Westchester Playa Educational Foundation (WPEF), President



A.J. Duffy, Union Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), President
Terry Marcellus, Neighborhood Council (NCWPDR), Education Committee Chair; Westchester High School, Academic Booster Club
Rebecca Berverl, Assembly Member Curren Price's office



Coach Avery Delton, LAUSD, Westchester High School Athletics Department
Ron Mito, Past PTA President

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Join and Support POWWOW Today

Become a POWWOW Parent Today!

Membership is free of charge, but not free of participation!

Email us at
powwow4life@aol.com.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Parent Reception: A Huge Success!


More comprehensive details and pictures of our event to follow. Approximately 120 in attendance -- WOW!!!


So many diligent and dedicated parent volunteers donated their time to make calls, disseminate fliers, register new POWWOW parents, prepare/purchase food, contribute monetary gifts and provide design & technical expertise to create and develop: programs, brochures, fliers, other memorabilia, and this very blog (website) as a communication portal to ensure POWWOW's increased visibility.


Thank you, POWWOW Parents!


But, we must applaud and thank our visionary, our leader and our founder, Crissina Johnson, for our existence. She has led us to where we are today. Her unselfishness, persistence and dedication made our 1st Semi-Annual Parent reception a huge success!

THANK YOU, Crissina!

There are several others on our extremely long list to thank -- including recognition of our business sponsors that donated in the form of monetary contributions and professional services -- administrators, community leaders, LAUSD representatives, PTA presidents and many others, and we will acknowledge everyone over the next few days. Stay tuned...

In the interim, a big THANK YOU to each and everyone of you that made POWWOW'S 1st Semi-Annual Parent Reception a huge success!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Parent Recption TONIGHT from 6.45-8pm


PLEASE JOIN US TONIGHT!
6.45-8PM
WESTCHESTER HIGH SCHOOL





Monday, July 16, 2007

Free Tutoring offered by SAJ Tutoring


Free tutoring will be held every Monday through the end of Summer School from 12.30-2.30pm.
Location: Westchester High School -- Library

Subjects: Math and Science


Parents should register children by emailing us at powwow4life@aol.com.



Friday, July 13, 2007

First of Three Critical Meetings: Tomorrow (Saturday), July 14 @ 9am



QUICK, YET IMPORTANT, REMINDER!!


Please plan to participate in Tomorrow's Meeting from 9-11am!!!!

  • Saturday, July 14th

This is the FIRST OF ONLY THREE CRITICAL MEETINGS that will be held this summer (and that's it!!!) to address the following questions:

  1. Do any or all of the schools within LMU FoS want to submit a proposal to the Innovation Division of the LAUSD seeking greater school or cluster autonomy?
  2. What are the ways in which to articulate the role of the many stakeholders within the structure of a Family of Schools?

LOCATION: LMU -- UNIVERSITY HALL -- ROSKI CAFETERIA

VIEW THE LMU MAP HERE:
http://www.lmu.edu/AssetFactory.aspx?did=7234

1 LMU Drive
Los Angeles, CA
90045-2659

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

It Takes a Village




Our Meeting last evening was a very nice success!

We had over 30 parents in attendance last night!

POWWOW Parents: We are making great strides. Be sure to check your email for telephone scripts as we continue our quest to reach one, teach one and inform many!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Monday, July 9, 2007

You're Cordially Invited To Attend...




We still need food and beverage contributions and volunteers to serve on the set-up committee and hostesses. Please contact us today at 213.741.3230 or powwow4life@aol.com and let us know what you are able to bring and/or what capacity you can serve in during the event.


We look forward to your participation and a very successful event!


THANK YOU!

Thursday, July 5, 2007

WPEF: Community Meeting

Open to all Stakeholders -- that's you!


Attend tonight!!!!!





Visit WPEF Foundation website by clicking on link here ---> http://www.wpef.org/

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Happy Independence Day

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Parent Reception: Save the Date



As we prepare for our upcoming Parent Reception and post this Save the Date, there are two important words that are befitting for us to explore at this juncture.


Enjoy!

Interdependence and Synergy...

in·ter·de·pend·ent (adjective)
mutually dependent; depending on each other.

(Excerpt from Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.)

Interdependence: Rather than being dependent upon other people, or trying to be totally independent, we learn how to be more effective by effectively working with others.

------------------------------------------------

syn·er·gy (noun) 1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.

Covey writes: "What is synergy? Simply defined, it means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

To be successful you should learn to leverage the strengths of others.

We can do this! The WASC report dictates that we must become involved to ensure our schools remain accredited!

Parent Reception: Pot Luck Menu

Please contact powwow4life@aol.com to let us know what you are able to contribute to the table.

Below is the menu that has been decided. You may select any item you wish and you are not obliged to contribute the total allotment. Through multiple parent contributions and participation, we will reach the allocated goal.

Turkey/Ham/Tuna Wraps (20 Trays)
Ranch/Italian Dressing (10 bottles each)
Vegetable Trays (10)
Fruit Trays (10)
Sweet 'n Sour Meatballs Pans (10)
Cubed Cheese Trays (10)
Assorted Crackers (20 boxes)
Cubed Brownie Trays (10)
Beverages
Balloons
Lighting
Fancy Toothpicks (2000+) - donated
Small cocktail napkins (500) - donated
Paper Saucers (500) - donated



We need volunteers too!

Set-up Committee
Hostesses

Please email us at powwow4life@aol.com to be added to our list.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Drew Furedi Letter to Community

Please contact your school principal, PTA or Drew directly if you would like to participate.


************************************************

Subject: LMU Family of Schools Next Steps - Sent on behalf of Drew Furedi


Dear LMU Family of Schools Community:

I want to personally thank all of you for your input, energy, and involvement at the recent LMU Family of Schools Town Hall Meetings on June 16 and 19.

Thanks to some great questions and wonderful willingness to continue engaging in dialogue about the ways in which we can envision even better results for all students at the seven public Westchester schools, we have some clear next steps that will move our dialogue forward.

It is worth repeating that we have heard loud and clear from the Los Angeles Unified School District that there are no plans to alter the school governance, make-up of student enrollment, or to minimize the level of input from any student, teacher, administrator, parent, or the community as a whole. As we have stressed, this is the start of a dialogue without a pre-determined endpoint. Loyola Marymount University, through the LMU Family of Schools project will continue to play the role of convener, facilitator, and an active community partner, no matter the outcome of any discussions.

So now, on to the next steps…

Working Group: This fact-finding body (originally referred to at the Town Hall meetings as a Steering Committee) will meet three times as a group throughout the summer.

Once again, I want to stress the fact that this is not a decision-making body. It has one purpose – to do the research and preparation for us to engage in well-informed and fruitful community dialogues beginning in late August.




The group will help to answer:


  1. Do any or all of the schools within LMU FoS want to submit a proposal to the Innovation Division of the LAUSD seeking greater school or cluster autonomy?


  2. What are the ways in which to articulate the role of the many stakeholders within the structure of a Family of Schools?
Meetings:

The meetings will take place on:
1. Saturday, July 14 from 9 – 11 a.m. (Roski Cafeteria, University Hall, LMU)
2. Wednesday, July 25 from 4 – 6 p.m. (Hilton 100, Hilton School of Business, LMU)
3. Saturday, August 11 from 9 – 11 a.m. (ECC 1862, University Hall, LMU)

These meetings will take place on campus at LMU and will be open to the public. We will send out additional reminders with parking information prior to each meeting.

Participation: The suggested participants were identified with the goal of maximum stakeholder involvement. However, since this is not a decision-making body, we proactively ask for your flexibility and patience with the process, which might result in heavier representation from one stakeholder group than another. This is a fact-finding group and as facilitators of this process, we are confident that multiple opinions and perspectives will be represented in the research that we all do together.

In response to stakeholder suggestions, we have amended the list of identified participants to include PTA representatives and alternates for teacher representatives and other stakeholder groups as well:

  • 1 Teacher representative from each school site selected via UTLA procedures for representation (1 alternate for each)

  • 1 Admin representative from each school level

  • 1 LAUSD representative

  • 1 Neighborhood Council representative

  • 1 POWWOW representative

  • 1 WPEF representative

  • 1 LMU Family of Schools representative

  • 1 Preschool representative

  • 1 Continuing Education representative

  • 1 Parent representative from each schools PTA organization
To move this process along, we ask that each stakeholder group identify their representative(s) via email to me at mailto:dfuredi@lmu.edu by Tuesday July 3. Please identify an alternate in the event that a stakeholder representative is not available for one of the meeting dates.

Thank you once again for your interest, your energy, and all that you already do for the students in our schools. Loyola Marymount University is excited to partner with all of you to truly create student success for every student in the LMU Family of Schools.


Drew Furedi

LA Times: Mayor gets closer to deal on a role in schools

We (Westchester and Orville Wright) along with a few elementary schools are that "cluster of schools" the Mayor alludes to in the article below. Read and become informed and most important, BECOME ACTIVE!

Villaraigosa hopes new board majority will be open to alliance, but details are under wraps.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and top officials from the Los Angeles Unified School District expect to announce a new alliance this month that would give the mayor a role in running a cluster of campuses, most likely around Roosevelt High School.

The emerging partnership between these onetime adversaries comes as a new school board majority allied with Villaraigosa takes office today. At least four of the seven school board members, who were elected with the mayor's backing, are sympathetic to his desire to have an instrumental role in the schools.

But some key obstacles could still thwart the mayor's ambitions: He must win the approval of teachers and community leaders who want a say in the oversight of their schools and who feel betrayed in some cases by what they believe have been broken promises of reform in the past.

The president of United Teachers Los Angeles, for example, said any discussion about changing the union's contract to clear the way for a partnership would be premature until teachers are guaranteed a prominent voice.

Read the entire article here ==> http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-cluster3jul03,1,4541953.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Strength In Numbers!



Many of you have already purchased your POWWOW Parent T-Shirts. Some of you needed larger sizes. T-Shirts will be available for purchase on July 10th at our next POWWOW parent meeting. If you have not purchased your POWWOW Parent T-Shirt, you can do so on the 10th.

When volunteering on campus - all POWWOW Parents are encouraged to wear their POWWOW Parent T-shirts so you can be easily identified by our parents, schools staff, instructors, community and students.

If you can't make it to our July 10th Parent Meeting, call 310.741.3230 or send an email to powwow4life@aol.com to order a T-shirt today!