Principal's Message April 1 - 5

"Watkins is the best school"

- testimony of a Watkins third grader, now officially entered into the record from last night's DC Council Budget Hearing. Our community members stood tall in support of more funding for DCPS schools and our Cluster. One of many incredible reasons to love our community is our caregivers' support of our schools. Our caregivers sent over 70 emails advocating to the Council and four caregivers and one student testified live to advocate for more funding to our schools. Thank you!!

At LSAT on Tuesday, I shared the detail of our submitted budgets for Peabody and Watkins. Despite overall increases of about $500,000 and $900,000, when compared to this year's staffing, there were budget shortfalls at both schools. Staffing costs have increased about 18% from last year leaving our schools in the unfortunate position to reduce staff. At Peabody, we will lose our front desk clerk, the Special Education Lead, and the Equity Lead positions. At Watkins, we will reduce to 3 5th grade homeroom teachers and 2 (from 4) instructional aides. This budget does come with some good news, however. Next year Peabody will have a full-time social worker and a second special education teacher. At Watkins we will also increase our special education teacher team to six (from the current five.)

The fact that our community leaders and school supporters are energized to advocate for our beloved schools, is one of many reasons to re-enroll! To support re-enrollment, we will host in-person and virtual events at both Peabody and Watkins. We can troubleshoot any questions you may have and laptops will be available at all in-person events. Please be sure to bring your proof of residency documents.

Please attend enrollment events at the school you are enrolling your child in.

April 9, 8:30- 9:30am and 3-5pm

Spring Into Enrollment: Onsite enrollment support.

In Person at Peabody

April 11, 8:30- 9:30am and 3-5pm

Spring Into Enrollment: Onsite enrollment support.

In Person at Watkins

April 24, 9:15- 10:15am

Watkins Open House: Principal guided building tour and Q &A. On-site enrollment.

In Person at Watkins

April 27, 9am-12pm

Enrollment Saturday: Onsite enrollment support for Peabody and Watkins

In Person at Watkins

May 1, 3- 5pm

Virtual Office Hours: Join this Teams meeting for online enrollment support from our registrars.

Online: https://tinyurl.com/EnrollHRS

Please see below for more information about:

• April 7: Cluster-wide Kickball!
  
• 3rd-5th Graders DC CAPE - prepare at home
• April 8: Solar Eclipse!
• April 8-12 Spirit Week!
• Recurring Reminders
  
• Peabody, Watkins, and Stuart Hobson Open Houses
• Peabody Anti-Racist, Anti-Bias Curriculum Extension read aloud and reflection

Link to our cluster calendar!

Quick look ahead. Click above to see details:

Greetings DCPS Families! As we prepare for the launch of online enrollment, the District will be centrally resetting the passwords for all users who have not accessed the ASPEN Parent Portal on March 25. The email will be titled "Welcome to the ASPEN Parent Portal". Please test and save these credentials, as families will use the same log in ID email and password to access the online enrollment platform starting March 29. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Montgomery or Mr. Roy.

Peabody is implementing an Anti-Racism and Anti-Bias curriculum extension this school year. For more information, visit our website https://www.capitolhillclusterschool.org/equity-inclusion

Nex week we will read: Our Skin by Meg Madison, Jessica Ralli, and Isabel Roxas.

Some discussion questions you could have with your child at home are: Continue the conversation about skin color. Try this suggestion from the authors: Every person has a unique skin tone. You can talk about skin tone in the same way you notice all the parts of your body. Introduce different skin colors during playtime when you may already be talking about physical attributes like size, shape, and color.

Staff Reflection: Reflection Jamboard Link

As you may know, we are encouraging us to reflect as a staff throughout our equity work. Below is the reflection for this week's read aloud.

DC CAPE (formerly PARCC) is starting soon! As usual, 3rd-5th grade students will take the DC Science assessment (5th grade only) and DC CAPE for ELA and Math.

The science test includes 4 units that will be completed in three testing days. The ELA and Math tests include 3 units each that will be tested one day at a time. We have been preparing at school and caregivers can help students prepare at home by

• Re-emphasizing the importance of doing their best on the test
• Be aware of the testing dates and ensure a good night's sleep
• Come to school on time and eat breakfast
• Practice at home

Below is our testing schedule:

April 9 - 11 - Science for 5th graders

April 23 - 25 - ELA for 4th graders

April 30 - May 2 - ELA for 3rd and 5th graders

May 7 - 9 - Math for 4th graders

May 14 - 16 - Math for 3rd and 5th graders

Make up testing with be ongoing on Mondays and Fridays and other non-testing days through May 22.

She was nominated to be America's Favorite Teacher! She's in 19th place - come on Watkins, let's get her to #1!

Hello Families,

We look forward to welcoming new families to our schools. Please promote the below flyers broadly within your networks.

Make sure you are checking class dojo for sports updates from Athletic Director, Coach Drakeford. Please send sports questions her way on dojo or latavia.drakefod-allen@k12.dc.gov.

Back by popular demand, we are restarting the Watkins WatchDOGS (Dads [& Others] of Great Students) Volunteer program!!

What is WATCH D.O.G.S.?
WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads [& Others] Of Great Students) is a family and community engagement educational initiative.

What is the goal of a WATCH D.O.G.S. program?
To provide positive caregiver role models for the students, demonstrating by their presence that education is important.

Who are WatchDOGS and how does WATCH D.O.G.S. work?
WatchDOGS are fathers, mothers, grandparents, and uncles/aunts who volunteer for at least one day each year at an official WATCH D.O.G.S. school. WATCH D.O.G.S., a K-12 program, invites caregivers to volunteer at least one day at their child’s/student’s school for part or all of the day during the school year. Identification will be checked upon entrance.

Is this program only for Dads?

Absolutely not!! We welcome all caregivers to volunteer.

What do WatchDOGS do (while they are at school)?
During the day, WatchDOGS may read and work on flash cards with students, play at recess, eat lunch with students, patrol the school entrances and hallways, assist with traffic flow and any other assigned activities where they actively engage with not only their own students, but other students as well. Many school principals have reported that the mere presence of a WatchDOGS volunteer dramatically reduces reports of bullying. On the day of their participation, WatchDOGS participants are given a brief review of their involvement and they wear an official WATCH D.O.G.S. name tag identifying them as a WatchDOG.

What days can I volunteer and how do I sign up?

WatchDOGS participant days will be every Wednesday. Please sign up at least a week in advance so we can notify school administration and teachers of your visit using this link to the WatchDOGS sign-up list: https://signup.com/go/xxkWcuc

Peabody and Watkins teachers have some big plans and big wishes for your kids and their classrooms this year. Please consider fulling some of those wishes from their wish lists.

Hello parents and guardians! We're back again for another year of FoodPrints at Peabody and Watkins Elementary and we are looking for parents to volunteer in our classroom and garden!

We'll have a maximum number of four (4) slots available for parent volunteers for each class. We'll be adding more dates in the coming weeks so be sure to check back frequently if you don't see your child's class as yet. Please reach out if you have any questions to ms. Natasha natasha@ffm.org at Watkins and Ms. Aubryn aubryn@ffm.org at Peabody.

The sign up genius also has the schedule for classes.

Thanks again for your support of FoodPrints!

Peabody caregiver sign up

Watkins caregiver sign up

Email addresses are often entered into our systems with mistakes. If someone you know (partner, friend, neighbor) isn't getting school communication please have them email their names, their child's name, email addresses and phone numbers and any other information to either PeabodyESEnroll@k12.dc.gov or WatkinsESEnroll@k12.dc.gov. Our team will correct the errors asap.

If you somehow are unsubscribed from Blackboard, please email your appropriate school inbox above and Adia.Howard-Stroud@k12.dc.gov who will fix the issue on Blackboard.

Field Trips have resumed and we welcome parents to join as chaperones. Parents who would to volunteer/ chaperone on an ongoing basis, must complete the DCPS Clearance process beforehand. Upon receipt, clearance letters should be emailed to tanisha.montgomery@k12.dc.gov.

Exceptions

Exceptions may be granted to the DCPS Clearance process in the following situations:

1. You are volunteering for a one-time, on-campus event, like Career Day or Field Day. Please email the Clearance Team at dcps.clearance@k12.dc.gov to confirm whether you qualify for a clearance exception.
2. You are a potential volunteer with an active secret or top-secret federal security clearance. Individuals in this group should complete the Federal Security Clearance Verification letter in lieu of being fingerprinted with DCPS. The original signed verification form and a copy of a state issued photo ID to dcps.clearance@k12.dc.gov