Patriot News
Newsletter | January 2020
Principal's Message
Dear Birmingham Family,
I hope it’s been a very happy New Year for the entire BCCHS family. I’ve always enjoyed the month of January because of the opportunity it provides all of us to renew hope, set goals, and focus on our priorities and values. This year our opportunity is even greater as we’re beginning the 2020s, a new decade. I’m confident that 2020 will prove to be foundation-setting in a way that will allow us to leverage school academy reform to improve academic opportunity and achievement of all students. This foundation will enable BCCHS to thrive on the Smarter Balanced Assessment, increase college and career readiness, and improve parent and student engagement as we strive to become the number one school of choice in the San Fernando Valley.
With this in mind, I’m excited to announce that we will be able to offer parents higher quality service with a new on-campus Parent Center, located next to the main office. The Parent Center will open on January 14th and serve as the primary hub for any parent or guardian that has questions or needs support. Ed Van Hoose is the administrator in charge of parent engagement, and he will have an office inside the Parent Center to ensure services, support, and information are provided with quality and care. Maricela Lomeli, who works closely with Mr. Van Hoose, and also serves as the lead for the Parent Newsletter will also work in the Parent Center.
Margarita Ponce, Parent Center Liaison will move into the Parent Center to continue her effort to increase parent engagement and support at Birmingham. Jennifer Victoria, EL Support Advisor, will move with Ms. Ponce into the parent center as we try to increase class offerings for parents during the day and at night. Finally, Evelyn Garcia, Nutrition Coordinator for our School Nutrition Assistance Program will also have an office in the Parent Center to facilitate the lunch application process and make it a more user friendly one for students and parents.
I want to publicly thank all BCCHS parents for your partnership in helping us support the success of our students. We’ve received numerous phone calls from parents who are running late and concerned that their student is going to be late to class. We greatly appreciate your support for our on-time, in class, everyday initiative. With your support, we know attendance will continue to improve and students will be on time to class. To enhance our partnership, we will send out parent surveys in late January to get your feedback on how we’re doing, what we can do to improve, and what we can do to provide more information about the topics important to you.
For your information, please also let your friends and neighbors know that we still have a few spots left open for the 2020-2021 Lottery Enrollment Application. If you have questions about our Open Enrollment process, please call 818.758.5216.
We hope you join us in our daily effort to inspire our students to
DREAM IT. DO IT. At Birmingham!
Sincerely,
Ari Bennett
Principal
SOCIAL MEDIA
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College Center News
Junior Class of 2021-
We will be having a Parent College Night on Thursday, January 30th at 7 pm in the MPR. We will be going over college options, the application process, financial aid and other programs to prepare your students for their senior year. PSAT score reports will be available as well. See you there!
Senior Reminders
- Send SAT Score Reports to Colleges - Please make sure to send your SAT scores through collegeboard to all the colleges you have applied to. Most colleges have January deadlines so do not delay.
- Complete your financial aid application- March 2nd is the deadline for both the FAFSA and CA Dream Act Application. These are important applications to qualify for financial aid.
- Check and read your emails and portals. Many colleges only communicate with you through email/portals, do not miss out on any important requests that can delay your college applications.
- Apply to Scholarships- visit our BCCHS scholarship list at https://tinyurl.com/scholarshipsBCCHS for scholarships you can apply to.
If you need help please come see us in the college center, we are open from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.
Health Tips regarding Cold and Flu Season:
The Flu season is upon us and it is especially prevalent in Los Angeles County. Signs of flu include fever, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, and tiredness. Some people may also vomit or have diarrhea. The best way to avoid the flu is by getting the flu shot.
The following tips will help keep you, your child, and community healthier.
- Remind your student to wash hands or to use hand sanitizer like Purell before eating and throughout the day. Most germs are contracted through touching a surface someone has sneezed on or touched. Hand sanitizer is available in all of Birmingham’s classrooms.
- Remind your student to cover their mouth when coughing and to sneeze into their shoulder. If your student sneezes or coughs into their hands remind them to wash their hands in order to not spread germs.
- Sick children should stay home. Please protect the health of all of us by keeping sick students home. Students need to be fever free for 24 hours before resuming school.
- The most effective way to not get or spread flu is by getting your flu shot. The flu shot is recommended for persons aged 6 months and older.
BCCHS PSW's
PBIS
PBIS would like to wish all staff, students, and their families a very happy new year. PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Intervention and Support and BCCHS continues to work on promoting a positive school culture by utilizing PBIS strategies. We pride ourselves in supporting all students and their academic success. The PBIS focus for the month of January is CHOICE. PBIS reminds all of our students to make good and productive choices at school and within our community.
CLASS UPDATES
Class of 2020
Welcome Back Seniors!
We are glad to see all of our students back at school to finish off their year. Although this is their last semester here at BCCHS and it will be bittersweet for them, please remind them to embrace every moment and to push through. We will be here to support them in every way we can.
They can visit Ms. Hernández in room E-28 or Mrs. Wydra in room D17 for any questions or support.
We will be planning a fun cultural field trip this semester, please encourage your child to attend. Information will be sent out soon.
Stay Warm!
Class of 2021
WELCOME BACK and HAPPY 2020!
Wishing you all the very best this year.
With a new year comes a new fresh semester, so let’s make it a good one! A few quick reminders; seek help early on in the semester to achieve the highest success because it’s still not too late, after a nice needed break tackle the semester with full force, stay focus, dedicated, optimistic, avoid being late or absent, set your alarms daily, make yourself a schedule to allow suitable time for breakfast, academics, extra-curricular activities, good night sleep, family and personal time. Remember you can do it!
Beginning the first week back from Winter Break, Juniors are welcome to sign up for a college tour at either UCLA or USC. The tours are scheduled for Wednesday, January 29, 2020 with a school departure at 8:30 am and returning at 3:00 pm.. Students who would like to attend the UCLA tour must see Ms. Molinaro in D-11 and those students who want to go on the USC tour must see Ms. Franco in F-40. Reminder it is a first come first serve, so please pick up a permission slip and return it as soon as possible. We will only be taking 100 students to each university. Don’t procrastinate!
Have a great start to a NEW YEAR!
Stay Strong!
Jenina Franco and Bertie Molinaro
Class of 2021 Academy Leads
Class of 2022
The Birmingham Patriots and Class of 2022 hope you have spent a happy and peaceful holiday and want to welcome all of our students back to school. The Class of 2022 is starting the year strong and continuing on the momentum from the previous semester.
Our class is also excited to announce that we have received our students' PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test) scores and will be holding a Parent/Student PSAT Scores Night on January 22. BCCHS College and Career Advisors will review student scores and help both parents and students understand what the scores mean about students’ academic progress.
Lastly, the Class of 2022 will be hosting college field trips to Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal State Long Beach during during the months of February, March and April. All 10th grade students are invited to attend. Permission slips will be given out in math classes and can also be picked up in room E24. Signed permission slips must be turned in to room E24 no later than Friday, January 24. Also, parents are invited to attend a special college field trip to Cal State Fullerton on SATURDAY, March 28. Please call 818-758-5246 for information about how to sign up for this trip.
Class of 2023
Freshmen class,
Welcome back and Happy New Year! We are looking forward to a great semester. Let's practice and showcase our good academic skills this spring.
We are having an awards lunch/dinner (TBA) for the students who did well in the fall semester. Stay tuned for info.
Also, we have college field trips set up to start out the semester (with more to follow):
February 3, 2020 - UCSB & Pepperdine University
February 25, 2020 - Loyola College & Occidental College
Make sure to listen to the morning announcements for when and where to sign up for the field trips.
BECAUSE I LOVE YOU
Tuesday, January 24, 2020 | B80 | 6:30 PM-8:00 PM
Tuesday, January 28, 2020 | B80 | 6:30 PM-8:00 PM
PSAT (9th Grade) TESTING
Thursday, January 16, 2020 | SMALL GYM | 7:00 AM- 2:00 PM
Friday, January 17, 2020 | SMALL GYM | 7:00 AM- 2:00 PM
CLASS OF 2022 RECOGNITION NIGHT
PTSA MEETING
BOARD MEETING
PARENT WORKSHOP
TWO SESSIONS/SAME WORKSHOP: 8:30 AM- 10:00 AM OR 6:30 PM-8:00 PM