“Neurodiversity may be the birthplace of some of humanity’s greatest minds.”

~Harvey Blume, journalist.

Good evening Ochoa Families,

Parents as we near the close of the year there are lots of upcoming events, please take a look at the calendar linked below to ensure you do not miss anything important. This week, we begin CAASPP Testing and students will dismiss at 1:30PM daily. Please plan accordingly for pick up for your students. In preparation for testing, ensure they get a good night's rest, have their clothes laid out, have a bite to eat, and arrive on time each day. All students will be testing for math this week. All students who have zero period will meet each day. Students not enrolled in the YEP program should be off campus within twenty minutes of dismissal as there will not be any adult supervision.

I'd like to offer a special thank you Mr. Barrera and LOWEs for the very generous donations to help beautify our campus this year. Thank you to our staff, students and parent volunteers with the heavy lifting with the arrival of our donations. The plants, flowers and umbrellas add a special homey touch to the campus. On behalf of students, staff and families, we appreciate your kindness and generosity. Thank you for thinking of us at Ochoa! Thank you to Ms. Illankoon and her amazing students, Leadership, YEP, and our custodial team for helping to carefully plant the new flowers and plants and erect our new umbrellas we received. These are just in time for the sun this week!!!! This has truly been a team effort.

Our beautification project was the prelude to our 2nd Annual Community Open House. The lead up to the evening was exciting; it took lots of time, hard-work and planning. Thanks to our SBDM team for planning and organizing an amazing event, Ms. Kean and Ms. Hiester for taking the lead and distributing roles and responsibilities, and recruiting community partners. Thank you to teachers for updating our bulletin boards with amazing displays of student work. I'd like to offer a special acknowledgement to Mr. Tanada for our site-wide Honors Assembly, on display for the evening. There was lots of positive excitement from students and families for this special touch. Last but not least, thank you to our Parent Ambassadors (Ms. Emmie and Ms. Paulette) and other Parent Volunteers( Mr. & Mrs. Monday; Ms. Penate) thank you for standing in a moments notice; and all of our staff who pitched in for set up and manned the various stations for the evening. The book fair was well attended and there was so much amazing art on display during Mr. Kirsch's Student Art gallery. Teamwork really does make the dream work! I thought it was a great night. As always when we host events, I look forward to an opportunity to debrief and identify ways we might improve for next year's event. Add your thoughts about the experience by taking this brief Poll: 2nd Annual Community Open House at Ochoa Middle School.

Finally, many families have been asking about the 2025-26 school calendar. I have linked it below for the purpose of your planning for family vacations etc. We want to ensure all students are here for the start of the school year, August 14th. Parents, if at all possible, please do not pull students for appointments or early starts to weekends and or vacations. This has a negative impact on student learning and our school funding.

Have a wonderful week! Thank you for your continued partnership as we support our student through a successful middle-school career.

Warmly submitted,

~Principal Rowe-Andrews

April 2025

As you have heard me say many times, the primary responsibility of school staff, is student safety and learning. As Ochoa staff and I supervise the parking lots at drop off and dismissal, there are serious safety concerns that we must not ignore. Please help us to keep our students safe by adhering to the following:

• Do remember there are children walking/crossing; they may not be alert always
• Do always yield to school busses
• Do adhere to ALL traffic signage (example: stop signs/no u turns/right turn only/directional arrows)
• Do drive less than 10 mph while inside the loop and our parking lots; be ready to stop
• Do travel the state mandated speed limit of 25 mph (or less) when driving in a school zone
• Do drive one way in and one way out allowing a more efficient flow of traffic
• If you are in the rear parking lot, and there are no spaces, please exit to allow the school buses sufficient space to move/ingress/egress
• Do not block the entrances to either lot

Each year Mr. Tanada and his yearbook club produces an annual yearbook. They are careful to capture all of the year's events in a wonderful 30+ page book as a keepsake for students. Make sure your student' doesn't miss out on this special keepsake! Orders due: May 2nd

Click the link below to order:

All Interested Students must apply:

The Hayward Youth Commission (HYC) advises the Mayor and City Council, and the elected boards of the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD) and Hayward Unified School District (HUSD), about issues that affect young people in the Hayward community. Members may also work on projects and activities throughout the year such as identifying youth needs, organizing youth conferences, and more. Serving on the HYC counts towards community service hours. This is a Two-Year Term opportunity.

The Hayward Youth Commission meets monthly on the 2nd Monday of each month from September to June at 6:30 p.m., except holidays. Meetings are held at City Hall, Council Chambers.

APPLICANTS MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:

1. Live in the City of Hayward or within the boundaries of the Hayward Unified School District.
2. Be between the ages of 13 and 20 years old.

APPLICATION PROCESS:
Applicants are interviewed by a committee of representatives from each of the three elected bodies who then recommend the new members. Selected members are appointed by the City Council at a Council meeting. Commissioners are eligible for reappointment to additional terms if they continue to meet the criteria for membership and have actively participated in Commission meetings.

The Office of the City Clerk will notify qualified applicants of the date and time of the interviews.

Applications must be completed and submitted to the Office of the City Clerk no later than Friday, May 9, 2025, either online or to:

Hayward City Hall

Office of the City Clerk

777 B Street, 4th Floor

Hayward, CA 94541-5007

cityclerk@hayward-ca.gov

Interviews to be held on: Friday, May 30, 2025

QUESTIONS: Please call the City Clerk’s Office at (510) 583-4400.

Ochoa is a restorative practices school. We open each school year with a school-wide assembly during which, we speak with students about school expectations as well as what to do when they have differences of opinion and or conflict with friends/peers. This message is reiterated in our student handbook, presented by staff, in morning announcements and reiterated at the mid-year mark usually through a March/April assembly. Historically, behaviors tend to uptick during this time. Families, I urge you, to closely monitor your student's interactions via social media as well as remind them that when conflicts arise, fighting is NOT the solution. We have a responsibility to model for our students pro-social conflict management; fighting never resolves the issues. We ask that students and or families notify trusted staff so that we can allow the students to have a mediated conversation. Through our investigations, we have seen in many cases, conflicts begin with "he say/she say" from other students, who are not otherwise involved. They do not want to get into trouble themselves, and so they may sometimes unintentionally, take information they heard back to others. This often instigates and further fans the flames of conflict. Families, we ask you to notify us when you have concerns. The Ochoa staff and I will always do our best to get to the bottom of things, hopefully in a way that there are no fights or continued animosity between peers. Our students are part of a feeder pattern and need to even go to High School together. Lots of conflicts begins with evening or weekend activities- social-media posts, group chats, and other messaging (SnapChat, Tik Tok, InstaGram, Discord, Youtube, video game chats etc). From time to time, conduct a periodic/unannounced check of your student's cell phones so you know what's going on. Once again, we are asking for your partnership with these type of issues. Please take a look at the resources below to help you with this.

1. How to Lock Apps on iPhone-while this feature can be helpful for adults to maintain privacy of confidential documents such as banking information; in the hands of a teen-ager they can lock your access.

2. Access Hidden Apps on iPhone

3. How to Use the Search Function

4. Hidden Folder Access (Photos/Videos)- allows you to hide images and videos under a secondary password. (Vault/Calculator Vaults)

5. 5 Ways to Hide Apps

6. The Three Best Parental Controls to Manage Screen Time

FYI: You can find anything online. This is how the kids learn!

UPDATE: At the last Saturday HUSD Budget Town Hall, our Superintendent, Dr. Reimann expressed that every student absence district wide, not only costs valuable learning time for our students, it also costs HUSD approximately $86 per student, per day. Our Assistant Sup of Business Services, projects "just a 1% increase in attendance, can yield as much as $2 million" back into the district to be used to better support student learning and development. That is a significant amount of possibility that our students are missing out on. How can we make changes at Ochoa with our student population to improve these outcomes? We are at 91.21% for December (👇from November 92%) and our goal is 98%.

Check back often for updates on our current budget shortfall.

Let's talk about the upcoming assessments for which students are responsible.

CAASPP Testing Begins- April 28, 2025

C.A.A.S.P.P.- ELA & Math Tests (7th & 8th Grade) This assessment is taken late April into May by all 7th and 8th grade students in California and assesses student reading comprehension, writing skills, and research skills

Parent Guide to Summative CAASPP_ENGLISH and IN SPANISH

PRACTICE TESTS FOR STUDENTS

C.A.S.T.- California Science Test (8th Grade) This assessment is taken April into May by all 8th grade students; it covers all of the sciences from earth and space, physical, and life sciences.

Parent Guide to Understanding the CAST_English and IN SPANISH

PRACTICE TESTS FOR STUDENTS

*Click here to link to a current (2023-24) sample of the CAASPP student report.

SBDM meets: **Tuesday, May 6, 2025 Meeting Agenda (Eng/Span)~Hybrid

Submit Meeting Agenda Items by clicking the box below Due: 4/28/25 for 5/6 meeting

I feel it important to share with you the urgency of getting students to school each day. Ochoa, like all schools sets an attendance goal for each month. Although we strive for 98% monthly attendance rate, we have not been able to reach 95% as of yet this year. We are noticing patterns of absences, Monday, Wednesdays, and Friday each week. If your student has appointments, we ask that you make them at the end of the school day whenever possible. We especially are noticing patterns of absences around holiday weekends. More than anyone, we recognize the need to enjoy a little family time, however doing so may come at a cost to your student's learning. Take a look at our attendance rates so far this year.

Our monthly Attendance goal: 98%

**April attendance= help us to increase our attendance rate by 10% this month!

March attendance= 92.01%

February attendance= 89.69%

January attendance= 91.78%

December attendance=91.21%

November attendance= 92.17%

October attendance = 93.5%

September Attendance = 93.3%

August Attendance = 94.19%

When our students miss instruction, they are still responsible for the work and mastering the content. Repeated absences over time (days, weeks, months, years) has the potential to create learning slide. This can make children fall behind their grade-level peers and create a level of anxiety, when they are unable to perform in the classroom. Help your student move toward the path to success this year and make sure they are in attendance daily and for the duration of the school day. Quarter 2 starts this week, let's turn our attendance rates around. Help Ochoa achieve a 98%!

Keep your Child on Track in Middle School_English

Keep your Child on Track in Middle School_Spanish

• The N-word+ ban policy translated into Spanish for easy access and understanding.

• A document outlining the history and harm of the n-word, also translated into Spanish, to help families discuss the significance of the policy at home.

• A link for families to provide their input on the policy, ensuring their voices are heard.

• A resource guide on how families can support at home (Spanish here and English here) with practical tips on fostering conversations about respect, inclusivity, and the importance of eliminating hate speech.

• Slide decks from the presentation: English presenter and Spanish presenter

• Spanish Words That Are Anti-Black & Anti-Indigenous video

Ochoa Families, there are many interventions that we put in place here at Ochoa to support all of our students; some are especially for those students who may be struggling academically and or behaviorally:

• Attendance incentives & programs (AC Transit Free bus pass)
• COST- Counseling supports (individual/group)
• Tutoring Support (Lunch/ After school/Weekends)
• Focal Student Progress Monitoring
• After school Programming (YEP)
• Restorative Circles & Mediations
• Academic Counselor Check Ins
• Student Success Team Meetings
• Progress reports (weekly)
• Check In-El Spec

This is a non-exhaustive list, however these supports are put in place to ensure your student gets the help they need to be successful and thrive here at Ochoa Middle School. When students do not meet academic or behavioral requirements, they are in danger of being placed on the 1) Risk of Retention List (Academics) or 2) The LOP List (Behaviors). I want to share with you what being placed on either of these lists might mean for your student. Please know that I am sharing this information proactively with the best of intentions for us to work in partnership.

Students at Risk of Retention (ROR)

Identified during the 3rd-4th qtrs

When students are unable to maintain their academics and have three or more "Fs" on their quarterly report card, we begin to hold a series of student success team meetings, academic check ins and start a process of progress monitoring your student. We offer one or a combination of the interventions listed above. If there are no improvements in their grades from Quarter 1 through the middle of Quarter 4, we will make a recommendation for retention. Students with three or more "Fs" on their report cards, will then be placed on the LOP list, where they become ineligible to participate in school related events such as: clubs, games, dances, end of year field trips, end of year fun school related activities up to and including 8th grade promotion. These lists apply to 7th and 8th grades students.

Students on the Loss of Privileges List (LOP):

Students can be placed on the LOP list for a number of reasons. The first, described above for academics and failure to perform. The second reason is based on violations of school rules and policies outlined in our student, district handbook, and california education code. This non-exhaustive list of violations may include:

• attendance
• any disciplinary action (Suspensions, In School Suspensions)
• poor attendance (includes tardies/absences)
• poor behaviors (any disciplinary actions)
• failure to serve consequences (i.e. detentions, community service, study halls, progress reports)
• failure to adhere to dress code
• failure to adhere to cell phone policy
• failure to maintain grades (less than two Fs)

Students appearing on this list will not be able to participate in any school related activities.

Families, this doesn't mean students can't make mistakes, we expect them to, however as we move toward the end of the school year, we do not expect to have to reiterate expectations, especially when there may have been an obvious disregard for the school and district policies. We are here to work in partnership with you and want ALL-100% of our students to participate through year end. Please have a proactive conversation with your children so that they fully understand this process.

Our meetings this year are:

SSC Meets as follows: Meetings held virtually at 5:30PM

10/17/2024- Hybrid Mtg, 5:30PM

10/22/2024- SSC District Training (mandatory), 5:30-7PM @ The HUB

12/5/2024- Topic: CAASPP Data review, 5PM Virtual

1/16/2025- Topic: Planning for 2025-26 & Budget Updates, 5:30PM Virtual

3/20/2025- Topic Data review

4/17/2025 Topic: SPSA Development/Review

4/17-Meeting Agenda English or En Español

Board Policy 6020: Parent Involvement & Family Engagement

🔻🔻All students must be picked up within 15 minutes of school events end.🔻🔻

Student athletes must maintain a 2.0 GPA with no more than one "F: Grades will be monitored regularly and students will be advised by the athletic director. School games and evening events must follow school expectations.

• dress code is enforced
• students must attend school; If absent and or on suspension during the day may not attend events/sports etc
• school appropriate language required
• school appropriate behaviors required

*Agenda is posted 72 hrs in advance.

Next Meeting: May 6, 2025

Meeting Agenda :To be published

Join Here: Google Meets Link or In person

Site Based Decision Making (SBDM) was introduced to Hayward USD in 1996 as a strategy for ensuring that staff, parents, and students at individual school sites had a vehicle for engaging in the decision-making that most affected their own sites. Over the years, HUSD board and district leadership have affirmed the importance of SBDM as a means of exchanging ideas, data, and other information necessary to improving educational opportunities for HUSD students.

These are public meetings any member of the Ochoa community is welcome to join meetings, submit agenda items, voice concerns, support process improvements and spending (MAA funds), and offer input to the School Site Council (SSC) team at Ochoa Middle School regarding suggestions for spending that supports student academic achievement.

Board Policy 6020: Parent Involvement & Family Engagement

Monday, April 28, 2025

• CAASPP Testing begins; students dismiss at 1:30PM

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

• Students dismiss at 1:30PM
• Parent Mtg, Sex Education Information Session, 6PM (8th grade parents)

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

• Students dismiss at 1:30PM
• College Day, Wear your college gear
• Dept Collab 1:45PM
• Soccer Teams (girls/boys), (Link to Soccer Schedule_2024-25)
• Softball , (Link to Softball Schedule_2024-25) *Championship Game

Thursday, May 1, 2025

• Students dismiss at 1:30PM
• AA Student Awards Chabot College, 6-8PM

Friday, May 2, 2025

• Students dismiss at 1:30PM
• VAPA Rehearsal

*Attend these meetings by invitation.

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Looking Ahead:

May 3, 2025

• VAPA Trip to Great America

May 5th-9th

• Science & English CAASPP, 1:30 Dismissal for Students

Does your student require public transportation? If you would like to apply for a free AC transit card for your student please click the link below. This is not transportation specific to students with IEPs, but is available for ALL students.

Students should plan to arrive to school each day between 8 and 8:15AM, unless they have a zero period class. Students with a zero period PE class must arrive at school daily no later than 7:15AM. The first bell rings at 8:20AM and students must be in their seats or on their PE numbers by that time. Even if a student arrives "just 1 minute late," they legally must be marked tardy according to the law. Help us to achieve our daily and annual attendance goals this year and help us to get to 98% or better.

Website: https://ochoa.husd.us
Location: 2121 Depot Road, Hayward, CA
Instagram: coming soon

Facebook: coming soon
Twitter: coming soon