Hello Wolves! Your School Counseling Department is so excited to welcome you and all of our students back for the 2021-22 school year. Last school year was one for the books! We know it brought lots of challenges for everyone in our community, and some of those challenges are still present as we bring our kids back to school full-time. Please know that we are here to help you and your students be successful and resilient despite these challenges. We know that through collaboration we can help each one of our students' thrive!

If you have read our newsletter before, you probably noticed that we have changed the format this school year. We are trying to keep it as simple as possible, but full of good updates and resources so you can support your student at home. This newsletter will go out the last Friday of every other month, so keep an eye for it in your email!

In this issue you will find:

• Meet Your School Counseling Team
• Attendance Matters!
• Family Learning Events
• SEL Family Nights
• Save the Date(s)!
• Community Resources
• Contact Information

Mrs. Anahi Amador (she,her,hers)

School Counselor

Hello Families! I am thrilled to be back at La Mirada for my third year as your proud school counselor. I missed all my students, and I am so happy to see them everyday back on campus. As a professional school counselor I am passionate about providing each student with a safe, caring and nurturing environment that fosters their unique talents and helps them acquire healthy academic, social, emotional and career skills to become well-rounded individuals.

Ms. Gloria Ortiz (she,her,hers)

School Social Worker

Welcome back wolves! To a new school year and for some being back in person. We are so happy to have you back and ready for a more “normal” start to the school year. For some that have enjoyed Mrs. Amador’s newsletter, I would like to introduce myself as I will be making an appearance to share with all of you some specific things related to mental health, community resources and/or improving our school climate. My name is Gloria Ortiz and I am your School Social Worker! I really enjoy working with our La Mirada Academy family providing social emotional lessons and providing strategies that support our students, staff and families as a whole.

To learn more about how your school counseling staff can support you and your students please watch the following video.

Attendance And Its Importance

In this edition, we would like to spotlight attendance and its importance as we return to this school year and really every year, because everyday counts when it comes to attendance.

Research from Attendance Works looks at chronic absenteeism or “missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absences for any reason—excused, unexcused absences and suspensions, can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third-grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school.”

Many absences among young students are excused and often tied to health problems and/or mental health issues. Other barriers include lack of transportation, a safe route to school or food insecurity (https://www.attendanceworks.org). If your student is struggling with their attendance for any of the reasons above or another reason please reach out to us or their school’s support staff, we may be able to help.

What You Can Do To Support

Prepare a Family Help Bank

Life can have many challenges and sometimes all we can do is prepare for possible scenarios. Attendance Works has created a family help bank that allows your family to have a back up plan to ensure your student(s) can get to school on days where the unexpected happens (https://www.attendanceworks.org). Sometimes during moments of crisis or unexpected events, maintaining a child’s routine is the best way to support their well-being and give them a sense of control and security.

Communicate With Your Child and Their Teacher(s)

The pandemic has brought on a lot of different feelings for everyone. If your family is concerned about sending your student to school, especially after possible exposure, it may be helpful to consider some of these tips for parents from the U.S. Department of Education (https://sites.ed.gov/). Talk with your child about the San Marcos Unified School District covid protocols and how they can keep themselves safe while at school. Please, reference the community updates page for up to date information regarding covid protocols (https://www.smusd.org). Also, reach out to your student’s teacher(s) with any concerns or questions you all may be having regarding covid protocols. The more we know about the questions and concerns you have, the better we are able to support your family.

LMA loves our families and we want to build stronger partnerships with all of you. Research shows that when families are involved in school their students show greater academic success.

This school year, we will be offering several Family Learning Events and a Family Learning Card. Every time you join us for a family learning event and bring your family learning card, you will get a stamp or signature, and for every five events you attend you will be able to earn awesome prizes. Your students win and you win as well!

Some of the events that will be included in this are:

• PTO Meetings
• ELAC Meetings
• Coffee with the Principal
• SEL Family Nights
• IB Tours and Grades Review

...and more! Please check our website and your email regularly for more information.

SEL stands for Social-Emotional Learning. There is a lot of research that shows that students that have healthy social-emotional skills do better in school, have less behavior problems, feel better about themselves, and have positive relationships with others.

This school year we would like to invite families and students to come learn together about managing emotions and the skills that can be used by the whole family to improve their overall well-being. These events can earn you a signature on your Family Learning Card!

Family SEL Nights will occur every other month. Please check our website calendar and check your school email constantly for more information.

Our first SEL Family Night will be this coming Tuesday, September 7th, 2021 at 5:30 to 6:30 pm. We will begin by focusing on COMMUNICATION and the various ways we can do it and teach it to those around us.

We hope to see you all here!

Please click on the following links for a comprehensive list of resources:

• Student Wellness
• Mental Health and Counseling Resources
• Emergency Psych Evaluation Centers
• Community Resources (Housing, Food, Etc.)
• Technology Resources and Support
• North San Diego County Food Resources

Email: marthaanahi.amador@smusd.org
Website: https://lamiradaacademy.smusd.org/
Location: Room A-128
Phone: (760) 290-2006

Email: gloria.ortiz@smusd.org
Website: https://lamiradaacademy.smusd.org/
Location: Room A-127
Phone: (760) 290-2444