
The Weekly Update #4
March 12th, 2024

Dear Birmingham Family and Friends,
It's been a very eventful last month at Birmingham. As was recently announced in a Parent Square posting, we are thrilled to let you know that Birmingham has been recognized as a 2024 California Distinguished School. Schools were recognized for overall academic performance, high graduation rate, decreasing suspensions, and accelerating academic performance for historically underserved student populations. We're proud of the work we have done to support all students at Birmingham and are grateful for your partnership in this work. Of course, we are extremely proud of our students who are the ones that have proved time and again, that with the appropriate support and belief in their talents and abilities, that they can accomplish amazing things.
I'm looking forward to, with great pride, being able to represent Birmingham at the recognition ceremony sponsored by the State Superintendent of Public Education, Tony Thurmond in early May with a small Birmingham cohort, including Mr. Wydra, English Department Chair, Mr. Avila, Math Department Chair, Ms. Hall, Special Education Department Chair, Ms. Pedrani, Emerging Multilingual Coordinator, and Board President Michael Bennett.
Our work over the past few years has been concentrated on building and refining support students for students, while maximizing their opportunities for growth inside and outside of the classroom. This work is grounded in our school values:
We value equity and choice because we know that with opportunity, our diverse and talented students can achieve their maximum potential.
We value our community and believe fostering positive relationships with students and parents will enhance student learning.
We exhibit empathy in our effort to provide compassionate support that will empower students.
We value curiosity and adaptability in our effort to identify and meet our students' needs.
We achieve excellence through perseverance and consistent growth.
Although it's my job as the leader of Birmingham to be relentless in addressing our areas of needed growth, I want to acknowledge the work of all Birmingham faculty and support staff in brining these values to life. As our work becomes increasingly aligned to our values, we are seeing a positive impact to academic performance and school culture.
In addition to this exciting academic recognition, we have also had an extremely successful winter sports season. The following teams recently brought home city championships:
Cheer
Boys' and Girls Wrestling
Girls' Basketball
Boys' Soccer
Incredibly, Cheer also competed in a national competition in Orlando, and finished fifth out of eight teams nationally, and was the only team from California that made it to day 2 of the competition!
Amidst all of this excitement, we are busy with final preparations for school accreditation which will take place March 17 - March 20 and Charter Oversight on April 4. Please also be aware of Smarter Balanced Assessment state exams that will be administered the week of April 15th. 11th graders will be on campus at 8:30 for testing Monday - Friday; however, the other grade levels will start school during the lunch period after testing: 11:30 Monday - Thursday and 10:30 on Friday.
Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in our daily work. Your participation makes a difference!
Principal Bennett
Seniors!
Second semester is off to a great start! For our 1st Spring Progress Report, we had an outstanding number of Seniors that made the honor roll. There were 193 with a GPA of 3.0 - 3.59 earning them on the Silver Honors List . Another 106 students made the Gold Honors Lists by receiving a GPA of 3.6 - 3.99. The Platinum Honors List had 127 of our Seniors achieving a 4.0 or above! Our Birmingham family is proud to recognize all the students who are continuing to perform diligently this semester. ONLY 2 more months to go!
Class of 2024 Prom Theme and Fashion will take place on April 4th during lunch on the Quad. Seniors can hardly wait to know what their Prom theme will be this year! During this event, The Senior Senate will head off the show with demonstrating several beautiful Prom attire. Prom Night will take place on Saturday, May 4th at Camarillo Ranch from 7pm-11pm. Prom tickets will go on sale beginning on March 18th and will end on April 26th. Don’t miss out and buy your tickets soon! If a Senior would like to bring a guest that is not a current Birmingham Senior and/or non-Birmimgham student, there will be a mandatory guest form that will need to be submitted for approval before purchasing their ticket. Guest forms will be located at the Student Store beginning March 11th and all guest forms are due no later than April 12, 2024.
On Saturday, April 13th, we are having our 3rd Annual Prom Boutique that will consist of free gently used and new formal dresses, men suits, shoes, and possibly accessories! ALL Seniors are welcome to attend from 10am – 2pm in the Blue and Gold Center.
Open House will be on Thursday, March 14th from 5:30 - 8:00 pm. This is a great opportunity for families to come out and see what their child is currently working on in each of their classes. Open House will kick off the night with our School Band, Cheer Team and Dance Team. There will be a variety of food vendors along with other yummy desserts. We encourage all families to support our school clubs during this fundraising event.
LET’S CONTINUE TO WORK HARD THIS LAST SEMESTER!
12th Grade Level Academy Team
Mr. Elmore - Administrative Director Mrs. Franco - 12th Grade Coordinator Mrs. Reisbord - 12th Grade Dean
Mrs. Martinez - Counselor (A-F) Mrs. Marquez - Counselor (G-N) Mrs. Mutia - Counselor (O-Z)
Mrs. Lopez - Psychiatric Social Worker Ms. Sedani - 12th Grade Administrative Assistant Mrs. Venegas - 12th Grade Clerk
Juniors!
Junior Families!
Happy March! We are moving quickly through the semester and Spring Break will be here soon!
Juniors are preparing in their English, science, and math classes for the SBAC and CAST tests. These will be taking place in mid-April after Spring Break. Juniors will test in the morning.Encourage your students to attend, take their time, and take the test seriously. They are not timed and students who need more time will work after lunch, so there is no rush to finish.
Students who MEET or EXCEED EXPECTATIONS in ELA and/or math will get $50 BCCHS Store Credit per test ($100 maximum) and this can go towards prom or school gear. Meeting the standards also meets CSU placement requirements. More information on that can be found here: https://www.calstate.edu/apply/freshman/getting_into_the_csu/pages/after-admission-placement-and-other-tests.aspx
Have a wonderful Spring Break before the last big push of the semester. Remember, the grades for this semester are the last grades that will appear on your transcript before applying to colleges in Fall! Do your best!!!!
Sophomores!
Class of 2026 March Newsletter Recap of Events from February February 2024 We celebrated the entire month for Black History Month with many events during lunch in collaboration with the Black Student Union (BSU). The BSU collaborated with ASB for our Spring Dance of the Year “ A Night of Soul”; and many students participated in this school event. We celebrated Kindness Week with many events at lunch as well as during the Academy period 10th graders created an Origami heart to give to someone they appreciate. Progress checks for the first 6-week progress check for students grades were sent home on February 22 and the 2nd progress check will be sent home on April 12. March 2024 Club Rush was an event at Lunch for all Students interested in joining a club on Campus. For Sophomores we have a club: Class of 2026 Senate- they are recruiting freshmen to participate next year in Sophomore Senate.
Thank you from: 10th Grade Level Academy
Team Mr. Climaco- Administrator Director
Ms. Fitzpatrick- 10th Grade Coordinator
Ms. Piliposian- 10th Grade Dean
Mrs. Riuesch- Counselor ( A-F )
Ms. Rocha- Counselor (G- N )
Ms. Vasquez -Counselor (O-Z)
Mr.Rodriquez -PSW
Mrs. Salvatierra- 10th Grade Clerk
Freshman!
Dear 9th Grade Families,
1st Progress Report and Honor Roll notices were sent out to students last month. As of this reporting period, we are excited to share that, in 9th grade, we have:
64 students on the Platinum List (GPA 4.0+)
133 students on the Gold List (GPA 3.60-3.99)
182 students on the Silver List (GPA 3.00-3.59)
Special pins and certificates are given to Honor Roll students who maintain high GPAs on the Final Report Card for each semester – Fall and Spring. Continue to remind your students to study hard, complete their assignments, and make up any missing assignments they may have. Look over Aeries and/or Google Classroom with your student, and discuss their progress regularly.
Also, please encourage your child to join one of our many exciting clubs on campus. Not only are they a great way to meet new friends and get involved in school activities, but they are also great for boosting college applications. A complete list of current clubs and meeting times may be found here: https://www.birminghamcharter.com/our-community/clubs.
As always, should you have any questions or concerns, you may contact any one of us on the 9th Grade Team.
Warm Regards,
Michele Wydra
9th Grade Coordinator
Isaac Alatorre
9th Grade Administrative Director
Lillian Galvez, Lisa Gazarian, Stephanie Scherrer, & Monica Montoya
9th Grade Counselors & PSW
Nick Halic
9th Grade Dean
Jenny Constanza
9th Grade Office Technician
Hello from PBIS!
For the month of March, PBIS is focusing on the schoolwide expectation ACCOUNTABILITY. With the school year coming fast to a close, the team wanted to put emphasis on our students keeping their grades up and finishing the semester strong.
The March PBIS pledge is:
“Stay in gear until the end of the year-make your grades count.”
PBIS is about reinforcing good behavior and being positive. BCCHS staff use PBIS strategies to support our students academically and teach accountability both in and out of the classroom. We reward our students for being accountable and making good choices with REACH rewards. REACH rewards can be exchanged for FREE merchandise from the student store! Let’s stay accountable and geared up as we begin to wrap up the 2024 school year!
Thank you from the PBIS Team
BCCHS is forming a Special Education Advisory Committee to help us improve our inclusive practices. This committee aims to get the parents' perspective on how we can improve our services and give parents a voice in their child's education. Making sure we have a diverse group of parents is a crucial step in ensuring the success and inclusivity of our special education programs. We will meet every other month once we get the team together. Please contact the special education coordinator with any questions or if you would like to be on the committee.
Sabina Szymanski (Special Education Coordinator)
818-758-4459