Happy New School Year, Balboa Families! And a very special and warm welcome to our new families. I hope the start of the school year has been nothing but amazing for your scholar. I am excited for what’s entailed for every scholar this year. At Balboa Magnet, we are committed to providing an exceptional education with pathways to explore beyond textbooks. We believe in teaching to the whole child and providing opportunities that cultivate every scholar’s gifts and talents in order to pursue their passion. We encourage all families to get involved, whether it’s in the classrooms, Teacher Assistant Program (TAP), BSC event and fundraising committees, or just attending a school-wide event. Please make sure you complete a volunteer application ASAP if you have not done so already as it can take some time to process and be approved. For more information, please reach out to our wonderful Parent Community Representative, Mrs. Lisa Henderson at lisa.henderson@lausd.net.

On behalf of the teachers and staff, I thank you for your generous donation which allows the school to offer an accelerated academic program to prepare our scholars as 21st century learners. Your generous Compass Fund donation allows us to offer a vocal music instructor, STEAM lab instructor, YMCA physical education coach, master gardener, and more!

I look forward to working together as a community to ensure the best learning environment for every scholar. Here’s to an excellent school year ahead!

Principal Chun

We'll be hosting a volunteer fair on Friday, August 16 at 8:30 AM on campus (just after dropoff) to learn about the Balboa Spirit Club, its executive board and chair positions, Room Parents, and all of the other ways you can get involved helping out on campus.

Join us on Saturday, August 17th from 3-6pm for an afternoon of games, music, dancing, and crafts! This is our big celebration to welcome all of our scholars and families to the 2024-2025 school year at Balboa.

Always a popular and well attended event, it does take quite a few volunteers to help make it a success. Please review all of the opportunities to help and click here to signup.

Please contact Julie Brooks at jlbrooks.la@gmail.com with any questions.

Thanks to all of the families and scholars that attended Orientation and our New Family Welcome Playdate. It was great to see so many new faces and watch our newest scholars play with their classmates. A huge thanks to all of the parent volunteers that helped make this possible, including Angel Lechner, Julie Brooks, Keri Pina & Tim Donahue & Family, Virginia Martinez, and Mirranda Salas.

Thanks to Bubblemania for providing all the soapy fun and to Code Ninjas Northridge for introducing our scholars to circuits and coding! And thanks to you for supporting the Balboa Spirit Club and helping make these events happen!

The BSC loves to show our amazing teachers and staff how much we appreciate them. We were honored to host the Welcome Back Luncheon once again this year. Big thanks to Virginia Mines, Kristine Eckert, Issa Trudgeon, Jaya Sharma, and Virginia Martinez for all their efforts in making this event a success.

Hello Balboa families, and welcome to the 2024-2025 school year!

My name is Ellie, and I'm the site director for all STAR after-school programs at Balboa Magnet. I'd like to provide some information on after-school care with STAR. There's a lot of information here, so if you have any questions please reach out!

During the school year, we at STAR operate two different programs, called Galaxy and Nova. On the Balboa campus, the other after-school program is Beyond the Bell, which is only open to grades 2nd and above.

Galaxy refers to the daily after-school enrichment program for grades 1-5, and our most popular program. We are located in our lovely classrooms right on the Balboa campus. Students join us any day that LAUSD is open, from dismissal until 6pm, with pickup at any time. Attached are some sample enrichment calendars from this year.

Our typical Galaxy schedule involves snacktime, outdoor recreation, an hour or so for homework, and then an hour or more of enrichment activities. Most students do finish their homework with us. The activities include everything from weekly Wednesday visits from our rescue zoo, to snow volcanoes, to giant paper airplanes to discuss flight dynamics. Students work on art projects and presentations to learn about famous figures in history, and improve on classroom empathy skills. From our Eco Station rescue zoo, we've had a water monitor, several types of snakes, praying mantises, hedgehog, etc. visit the classroom.

We are first and foremost an enrichment program, focused on using STEAM principles to improve student's minds and afternoons! You can choose from 3, 4, or 5 days a week on a sliding payment scale. Payment is made in 10 installments, so you are able to leave the program without financial stress if needed. Our STAR student:teacher ratio is 14:1, but at Balboa we typically operate more at 10:1. These students spend all year together and it gives them an opportunity to make friends outside their classroom and grade level. We truly have a wonderful STAR family here!

Nova refers to our hour-long, daily after-school specialized classes. While students in Galaxy get a taste of everything STEAM from our teachers, these specialized classes are taught by guest teachers who are professionals in that field. These classes start right at dismissal and have two 1-hour classes, split by grade level. There are 4 Nova sessions a year, each about 8 weeks long, so if you miss a session you can always join us for the next one! This also allows for the curriculum to change every session and keep students interested.

This year, we are offering Minecraft on Mondays, Chess on Tuesdays, the Science of Star Wars on Thursdays, and Spanish on Fridays. Nova is a good option for those who don't need daily or consistent after-school care. 1st graders can only attend the first hour of class immediately after dismissal, and then must be picked up. You can also enroll in Galaxy AND Nova for the most personalized experience for your child! Other students (2nd and above) can join Beyond the Bell before or after their class.

Galaxy registration is OPEN and spots are filling quickly! Nova registration opens on the 19th at 9am, but you can check out the offerings and register for Galaxy at starinc.org. I recommend using a Chrome browser on a laptop or desktop.

If you have any questions at all, I'm here for you! Again, welcome and I'll see you soon!
Contact: balboa@starinc.org // Call/text: (310)386-6359

Thank you to all our Balboa parents who served as Room Parents for last year! We hope you will return this year too! Room Parents play an integral role in building a classroom community, facilitating important communications, and supporting their teacher, the BSC, and parents. If you would like to volunteer to serve as your child(ren)'s Room Parent, please complete the interest form below.

Contact balboacommunications@gmail.com if you have any questions.

The application to become an approved LAUSD volunteer for next academic year has open. You will need to be approved by the district to help out on campus during school hours. To learn more and to apply, please visit the LAUSD Volunteer Portal. You need to re-apply for each school year.

For questions, please contact Lisa Henderson: lisa.henderson@lausd.net

Each year the Balboa Spirit Club creates a beautiful and unique yearbook capturing all of our scholars and the memories they created. It takes a good bit of hard work, effort, and time to put the entire book together. Please click here to read the descriptions and opportunities and add your name where you’d like to help out. The more volunteers dedicated to helping out, the easier it becomes for all!

Please click here to volunteer for the Yearbook Committee.

If you have any questions, please reach out to balboayearbook123@gmail.com

The TAP Room is always looking for extra volunteers to help support our teachers by completing classroom projects so our teachers have more time to focus on teaching! Meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays, this group of volunteers helps cut pieces for art projects, laminate finished work, staple, collate, and more.

If you are interested in helping or have any questions, please contact Julie Shon at juliero30@yahoo.com.