Dear AUSD Families,

This time of year, we get the opportunity to take a moment to reflect and to focus on the good in our lives. I am deeply thankful for your partnership in your child’s educational experience and mindful of the sacrifice, dedication, and love you have for your child and family.

One of the biggest gifts you are giving to your child is in the ways you help create a spirit of community, connection, and belonging in their classrooms, in their schools, and around our district. At the heart of all academic and life success is learning the art of navigating relationships with grace and compassion.

Your relationship-building willingness to seek common ground, see a situation from the perspective of others, and take note of how aspects of the situation may affect others is one of the most important skills we can model for our children.

It is an honor to work in a community that so values children, education, and relationships.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.

With warmest gratitude,

Denise R. Jaramillo, Superintendent

• Event Highlight: Equity Summit
  
• November 15th Board Meeting Staff Report Presentation Slides & Board Resolutions
  

• COVID Testing (Holiday Breaks)
• OneHealth Telemedicine Notices
  
• Student Support Services Parent Webinar: "Putting the 'Happy' Back in the Holidays (Coping Strategies for the Holiday Season)
• College & Career Center Workshop: "Cash for College"
• Small Spotlights (News and Information from Around AUSD)
  
• AUSD Featured in Local Papers

• Parent Resources: Community Offerings
• "Spark of Love" Drive
• Partner Non-Profit Organizations (AEF, ALA, AAA)
• Lunar New Year Scholarship Dinner
  
• Human Resources: Employment Opportunities & Game Changers
  
• High School Athletics Calendars
• Upcoming Events and Important Dates
• Highlights: Food & Nutritional Services Events (Crunch Week and Food & Wellness Fair)
  
• Featured Video: "Joey Back on Campus" (feature on AHS vs. SGHS football game)
  
• Follow AUSD on Social Media

Throughout the newsletter, please CLICK ON IMAGES AND HEADLINES to access additional information, embedded links, and larger versions of the photographs/graphics.

On October 31st, Alhambra Unified School District certificated staff members gathered at Alhambra High School and San Gabriel High School to embrace equity, diversity, and inclusion at the AUSD Equity Summit. It was a day filled with intellectually engaging sessions to inspire our staff to grow personally and professionally. Sessions featured nationally-recognized experts, along with our own amazing home-grown AUSD staff presenters. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and we look forward to the "next steps" as we work together to create a community where differences are respected, valued, and celebrated. Special shout-out to Dr. Lily Jarvis and the Educational Services division for such a well-organized and powerful event!

Although the slide decks give you an overview and basic information of each topic, we encourage you to attend our BOARD MEETINGS and listen to the detailed staff reports as they are presented to the Board.

At their November 15th meeting, the Board of Education adopted two resolutions: (1) proclaiming November as National Homeless Youth Awareness Month and (2) acknowledging the AUSD schools that will be included in the Community Schools Implementation Grant application. You can download the resolutions below to read their full contents.

Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) and the Department of Public Health (DPH) recommend COVID testing kits be distributed to students with the holiday breaks coming up. Kits were distributed to students this week. Each box includes two tests: one is recommended to be taken prior to your child's return from Thanksgiving break on November 28, 2022, and the second prior to your child's return from winter break on January 9, 2023.

Please Note: Results do NOT need to be submitted to the school/District; these kits are being distributed per LACOE/DPH recommendation.

Some of you have recently received an email or written communication from OneHealth Telemedicine about COVID testing and payment checks you may have received from your insurance carrier. If OneHealth Telemedicine is out of network with your insurance carrier, they may have mailed you a physical check to compensate for the District weekly COVID testing. These checks are intended to be forwarded to the provider, OneHealth Telemedicine. Please follow the instructions below to forward payments to the provider:

• Make copies of checks for your records.
• Endorse checks on the back with “Pay to the order of OneHealth Telemedicine, Inc.” add your driver's license number, and sign your signature.
• Mail checks to the following address:

OneHealth Telemedicine

5000 Birch St, West Tower, Suite 3000

Newport Beach, CA 92660

If you have already cashed or deposited the checks, you may write a single check made payable to OneHealth Telemedicine amounting to the total of all checks issued by your insurance carrier. If you have not received any check payments from your insurance carrier, you do not have to take any action.

For any questions, please contact OneHealth Telemedicine at (949) 545-8738 or the Risk Management Department at (626) 943-6585.

Click HERE to view informational flyer in multiple languages.

Click HERE to RSVP for the workshop.

Little Bits of Good News & Information from Around the District

Click on the masthead images below to view digital versions of the current issues. AUSD students, staff members, and programs are heavily featured in both papers. (December issues should be uploaded by December 1st.)

We thank our generous community members who donate toys for the annual SPARK OF LOVE TOY DRIVE each year. This year, you may drop off new, unwrapped toys to any AUSD school through Monday, December 12th. In addition to collecting toys, we also are collecting monetary donations (through the Alhambra Educational Foundation) to purchase gift cards for our middle and high school students. Thank you for helping to make the holiday season a happy one for our HOPE and foster families. Please read the letter below for more details and click HERE or in the link beneath the letter to make a donation.

Join us on February 3, 2023 at the AAA 33rd Annual Lunar New Year Banquet.

Early Bird Discount Deadline is December 20th. Click HERE to RSVP.

If you are interested in being a corporate sponsor for the event, please click HERE.

Please check EdJoin.com often for available full-and part-time positions. We have competitive salaries and excellent benefits!

• November 20: NO AUSD Booth at Farmers Market This Week
  
• November 21-25: Thanksgiving Break (No School)
• November 27: NO AUSD Booth at Farmers Market This Week
• December 2: National Special Education Day
• December 4: AUSD Booth at Farmers Market 9:00am
• December 5-9: Computer Science Education Week
• December 7: National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
• December 7: AUSD Parent Webinar: Putting the "Happy" Back in the Holidays (RSVP)
  
• December 10: AUSD Cash for College at MKHS 9:00am (RSVP, Informational Flyer)
• December 11: AUSD Booth at Farmers Market 9:00am
• December 13: Board of Education Meeting (Board Meeting Agendas & Minutes)
• December 16: Game Changer Employee Nominations Due
  
• December 16: "AUSD Connection" Newsletter Emailed to Parents
• December 18: AUSD Booth at Farmers Market 9:00am
• December 22: Secondary Pupil-Free Day (Gr. 9-12) - End of 1st Semester
  
• December 23-January 6: Winter Break (No School)
• January 8: AUSD Booth at Farmers Market 9:00am
• January 9: School Reopens
• January 10: Board of Education Meeting (Board Meeting Agendas & Minutes)
• January 13: "AUSD Connection" Newsletter Emailed to Parents

Food and Nutrition Services partnered with Fremont School to celebration CALIFORNIA CRUNCH WEEK October 24-28. Fremont second graders joined schools across the state as crunched locally grown fruit & vegetables to celebrate local farmers and healthy eating!

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Alhambra USD FOOD & WELLNESS FAIR on November 1st. We appreciate the students, staff members, and parents who took the time to taste and rate the various items, and we look forward to adding the highest-ranked items to our future menus! Even if you missed our Food & Wellness Fair, you can learn more about what it takes to feed our students by reviewing the presentation slide desk below.

We are thankful to Joey Vergilis and Bally Sports for selecting the November 11th CIF football game between AHS and SGHS (at SGHS Matador Stadium) as their featured game of the week.
Watch the episode of "Joey Back on Campus" here.

"Alhambra and San Gabriel brought the community together for their Division 13 match-up. Sportsmanship, gratitude, and passion were on full display here tonight. Both these teams have a lot to be proud of." - Joey Vergilis

In order to reduce the number of Blackboard-Connect messages you receive from the District, many of our initial notifications and announcements will now come through this newsletter. Fewer reminders will be sent via Blackboard, so please follow/like us on social media if you want our notifications/reminders to show up on your timeline.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (@AlhambraUSD)!

Email: AlhambraUSD@ausd.us
Website: www.ausd.us
Location: 1515 West Mission Road, Alhambra, CA, USA
Phone: (626) 943-3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alhambrausd
Twitter: @alhambrausd