March Gladness

It's finally here--the BEL AIRE PTA PLAY is this week! Students are pumped up and the excitement is palpable here on campus. When I came on board here, everyone told me, "The PTA play is a BIG event!" Now, I see that it really is a big deal!

The Bel Aire PTA play staff have put so much work into this production--it's incredible. I want to thank the play production team for running this show for our kids.

Thank you: Megan, Carli, Lana, Laura--all of the PTA members who lended their time...and all of the cast and crew. Great work! Break a leg!

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On Monday, Bel Aire teachers participated in a staff development day. The focus was "Intro to Responsive Classroom." Responsive Classroom is an evidence-based, student-centered, social and emotional learning (SEL) approach to teaching and discipline that focuses on engaging academics, positive community, effective management, and developmental awareness.

The RC workshops help elementary and middle school educators create safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities where students develop strong social-emotional and academic skills.

I'm excited for staff to continue this meaningful work!

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Masking: See below for the release from Marin County Public Health. Beginning 3/12, wearing masks in school and child care setting is recommended.

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Bathroom Graffiti: On the Friday before break, teachers led discussions about the graffiti incident. I dropped in to several classes to observe and l led one discussion for an absent teacher--students were eager to talk about their feelings and had plenty of questions.

This month, we have the Mosaic project coming to work with each grade level and individual classes this month. Their work ties in to social justice and equity--I've reached out to let them know about the incident and see if their curriculum can address this type of unfortunate incident. We will continue to work to make Bel Aire a safe and welcoming school for all of out staff and students.

Additionally, we are now locking the E-wing bathrooms after school instead of 6-7 pm. We're looking into the addition of a security camera to catch the blind spot outside of the E-building. In the past, the umbrellas in that corner have been vandalized.

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Please take a look at the other important announcements below.

Regards,

John DiCosmo

Principal

Schools and child care facilities may choose to be more restrictive than the state and County guidelines

San Rafael, CA – Marin County Public Health (MCPH) is aligning with the State to remove the requirement that children wear masks in Marin County Transitional Kindergarten through 12th grade schools and early childcare settings beginning March 12. MCPH strongly recommends that all individuals in schools and child care settings continue to wear masks for the time being to keep an added layer of protection and minimize disruptions to in-person learning.

Masks remain an effective tool to prevent COVID-19 infections, and as always, school systems and child care sites may choose to be more restrictive than state and local guidelines. Masks are still an important prevention tool for now and in the future, and residents may need to rely on masks again. With high vaccination rates and case rates dropping, the school community can relax some mitigation strategies as while preparing for the next epidemic wave.

After reviewing forthcoming updates from California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Marin County Office of Education (MCOE) and Marin County Public Health will update Marin County School Guidelines ("32 point plan").

MCPH strongly recommends child care and schools implement a “group tracing approach.” Students and staff who are exposed should test for COVID-19 five days after exposure and wear a mask at school until they test negative on day five.

“Most importantly, parents and guardians should keep sick students home,” said Dr. Lisa Santora, the County’s Deputy Public Health Officer. “They should test for COVID, follow isolation guidance if they test positive, or if they test negative, stay home until symptoms are resolving.”

Vaccination and staying up to date are the county’s best tools to protect both adults and children from future epidemic COVID-19 waves. Last week the County confirmed another case of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) in an unvaccinated child.

MCPH has prioritized increasing vaccine equity countywide by increasing neighborhood pop-up clinics and working with medical and community partners to increase vaccine education in communities with vaccination disparity. While 71% of Marin’s children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, only 52% of Latinx and 24% of Black / African American children ages 5 to 11 are vaccinated with at least one dose. And, while 73% of eligible Marin residents are boosted; only 50% and 64% of eligible Latinx and Black / African American residents, respectively, are boosted.

To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines or find a local Marin County vaccination clinic, visit GetVaccinatedMarin.org.

# # #

Dr. Lisa Santora

DEPUTY PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICER

Department of Health and Human Services

415 473-4163 T

CRS Dial 711

lsantora@marincounty.org

www.marinhhs.org

Contacts:

Marimar Ochoa

PUBLIC INFORMATION SPECIALIST

County Administrator’s Office

415 473-7018

CRS Dial 711

pio@marincounty.org

www.marincounty.org

Upcoming Dates

March 9th – March 13th – Bel Aire Play, Frozen, Jr.

March 25th – Bel Aire Spirit Wear Order Deadline

April 12th – Bel Aire PTA Meeting

The Frozen Jr. cast is very excited to be onstage this week for their performances. They can’t wait to bring the magical land of Arendelle to life, onstage.

There is still a limited number of tickets for the Magic Cast performance on Saturday, 3/12 at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available for purchase at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bel-aire-play-frozen-jr-magic-cast-march-12th-at-630pm-tickets-265690095227. Please note that masks will be required for all audience members.

If you are unable to attend in person, we are happy to announce that shows will also be available for live-streaming. The Arendelle performance on Wednesday, 3/9 and the Magic performance on Thursday, 3/10 will be available for live-streaming. Please check the Bel Aire Frozen Jr. Play Page (https://www.reedschools.org/Page/2146) for links and additional information.

We need parent volunteers for supervision and backstage, particularly at the Thursday evening and Sunday matinee performances (scroll to the end for Sunday). These volunteers keep our 70+ little actors safe. Bel Aire Play Supervision Volunteers

If you know high school or middle school studentsinterested in volunteering, here is the link: Teen Volunteer Sign Up for Frozen. Jr!

There are free play tickets available to watch the play for people who sign up for "door duty." Interested people can sign up here: Tickets volunteer sign up for Frozen, Jr!

If you would like to volunteer for the play in another capacity, especially if you have Headsets/Backstage experience, please contact the volunteer management team (Afsaneh Zolghari, TIna E. Davis and Anne Moffet Ciranni) and they can connect you to the right team. annemoffet@yahoo.com

Can you believe it’s already time to order your student’s yearbook?! Your PTA yearbook team is already hard at work taking and compiling photos to make this year’s book memorable and special for our Bel Aire students. The yearbook cost is $20 per book and ordering takes less than a minute. Submit your order today!

https://www.schoolpay.com/pay/for/BEL-AIRE-SCHOOL-Yearbook-202122/SeoDxM6

Please note: If you have children at multiple RUSD schools, you will need to perform 2 separate SchoolPay transactions to purchase their yearbooks. If you still experience an issue with SchoolPay, please log out of SchoolPay and purchase each yearbook as a guest. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Bel Aire Spirit Wear: Show your Bel Aire spirit and support the Bel Aire PTA! Get your Bel Aire Spirit Wear including t-shirts, hoodies, and tote bags featuring the new Bel Aire design. Order Bel Aire Spirit Wear online by March 25th

https://belaireschoolspirit2022.itemorder.com/shop/sale/

For more information, contact Amanda Hyslop at amandahyslop@gmail.com. All proceeds support the Bel Aire PTA.

Bel Aire PTA: If you are interested in learning more about the PTA or want to get involved, please join us for our next Bel Aire PTA meeting on Tuesday, April 12th at 9:00 a.m. (Please note, April’s meeting is on a Tuesday due to Spring Break.) For more information, contact Bel Aire PTA Site Chair Laura Smith, lauracarolinesmith@gmail.com

PTA Nominating Committee for 2022

The Nominating Committee is currently meeting to develop a slate of PTA officers for the following open positions, each with a two-year term:

· Reed Site Chair

· Del Mar Site Chair

· District Executive Vice President

· Auditor

· District Treasurer

If you are interested in one of these leadership positions, or would like to nominate someone else, please contact any of the Nominating Committee members - Amada Hyslop, Amy Dugdale, Annie Defesche, Samantha Chatham and Christine Neumeier or rusdptasecretary@gmail.com

On Tuesday, the 5th grade team met to review the puberty curriculum to be used in the 5th grade puberty talk. This year, instruction for the unit will tale place before spring break. A parent info Zoom will be held on the evening of March 23rd at 6:30 pm.

5th grade teachers sent a notification with more information and a link to submit questions in advance.

Resources from MCOE, including a recording of this week's webinar:

https://sites.google.com/marinschools.org/screening/ukraine-resources

From the Marin Community Institute for Psychotherapy:

Community Institute for Psychotherapy announced today the topics and dates for the fifth annual “Raising Healthy Families,” a free community educational series being held this March via Zoom, examining important issues facing many Marin families.

It is a heartening sign that mental health is increasingly recognized as a vital component to overall health and wellbeing. Our Raising Healthy Families Education Series plays an important role in providing parents, caregivers and teachers the strategies and tools they need to assist them in feeling more confident in their own abilities to build a child’s capacity to cope with the challenges we are all facing today.

Transforming Your Parenting with Authentic Leadership

Presented by Colette Reid-Horn, LCSW, PPSC

Thursday, March 10, 6 pm – 8 pm

Strengthening Immigrant Families: Working with Acculturation and Trauma in the LatinX Community

This 2-hour presentation is in Spanish

Presented by Juanita Zuniga, PsyD

Tuesday, March 15, 6 pm – 8 pm

Empowered Parenting: How Changing Your Role Can Change Your Kids

Presented by Michelle Bonsignore, MS, LMFT

Thursday, March 24, 6 pm – 8 pm

Events are free and open to the public, including parents, caregivers, and teachers. Pre-registration is required.

Please RSVP at https://cipmarin.org/support-cip/raising-healthy-families-2022/ or call (415) 459-5999 ext. #100

Email: jdicosmo@reedschools.org
Website: www.reedschools.org
Location: Bel Aire Elementary School, Karen Way, Belvedere Tiburon, CA, USA
Phone: (415) 388- 7100