Issue 8| June 2019| Lynbrook High School

Finishing Strong

With all the rain we have had, let's hope for a mild, sun-filled season. Make time to play outside and enjoy nature.

The work we do demands so much from us. We strive to give our best and be our best for our students and for each other.  This summer, plan time to treat yourself. Let's get rejuvenated, relax, reflect, refocus and unwind. 

Enjoy the summer and make memories. One of the highlights of returning in August is our retrospect of the summer. Please be sure to share your two favorite snapshots. Upload them here: https://lynbrookhs.smugmug.com/upload/S3jJrN/summer2019

Closing up shop

• Look in your mailbox in the office for your checkout form. Maya's desk will be your last stop. Complete the checkout process by Monday, June 10 at 3:00 pm. 
• Scan in all the books you have received by students and any books with barcodes in classrooms.
• Get classrooms ready for deep cleaning. No loose items on the floor. Take valuables home or place them in a locked cabinet. Complete the Classroom Checklist: https://forms.gle/7y1HiHwpsqBBUPWE7.
• Create an out-of-office email message set to begin on Friday, June 7 at 3:00 PM.
• Shredding- Bring your taped and labeled boxes of papers needing shredding to the Viking Room in the library. We ask that you box, seal and label your shredding.
• LHS Staff Technology Use Survey 2019

Second Semester Grades

Teachers can complete the checkout process once their grades have been submitted electronically, printed, signed and submitted to Thao. Grades are due electronically by 8:00 am on Tuesday, June 11, 2019.

To respect our students’ privacy, please do not display grades publicly. Students can access School Loop to view their individual grades, or they can wait until the grades are mailed home. No list of grades or scores should be posted on walls, doors or windows (even if names are not listed).

Summer Shutdown & Construction Activity

The main office will close for the summer on Friday, June 21, 2019, at 3 pm and reopen to staff on Thursday, August 1, 2019.

The campus will be closed for deep cleaning, repairs, and construction from mid-June to late July. Access to classrooms and parking will be limited. The usual entrance to the staff parking lot will be blocked from June 17, 2019, through August 16, 2019. This summer the concrete in the quad and adjacent areas of the 500s, 000s, 100s, Auditorium, the 70s, and the office will be completed. If you do come on campus, please enter campus through the gate near Voyager, by the pool. Drive along the emergency access road follow it along the fields to get to the staff parking lot.  The campus will be locked down and alarmed after 3:30 PM.  Do not access campus after 3:30 PM from June 21 to July 31, 2019.

Homeroom, Tutorial, and Bell Schedule Tweaks for 19-20

Bell Schedule Adjustments: After viewing the Bell Schedule survey results, the FEA leadership decided to keep the schedules in their current state for 2019-20.

Tutorial for 2019-20: Crystal Isola did not get any responses to her request for staff to join her to create a Tutorial Guidelines group.  Crystal did reach out to the other campuses to find out how other schools in the district structure their tutorial times. We had hoped to have completed the following things: 1. Understand how tutorial is currently being used 2. Provide a Framework of Tutorial Practices for Teachers 3 — Draft Updated Tutorial Guidelines for students.

LHS Homeroom Plan for 2019-20: Given the parameters outlined by FEA, Homerooms next year will consist of a teacher's 5th period students. As a result, some homerooms will have mixed grade levels. The size of homerooms will vary, too. Homerooms will meet weekly on Wednesdays for study time, and no more than ten times a year, there may be a planned activity/lesson targeted to our school action plan.  In a nutshell, Wednesday's tutorial will be "closed" for Homeroom and teachers will have their students. Students will leave 4th period and go to their 5th period classroom for Homeroom. After Homeroom, students will be dismissed for brunch. Following brunch, students will return to their 5th period room for class.

The Specifics:

• What activities will be planned? Who will plan them?
  • We are discussing this at the leadership retreat, and we will invite students into the planning process.
  • Most Wednesdays will be set aside for students to study.  Teachers can set their norms and guidelines for this time. Students are to remain in the classroom.
  • ASB may use this time for activities that would have usually taken place during 3rd period. This will preserve instructional time during 3rd period.
• What will teachers who have a prep (no students) during Homeroom do?
  • Teachers who do not teach a 5th period class will be assigned to another class in their department.
• How will administrators, guidance counselors, school psychologists, the student advocate, the library media teacher, and classified staff stay involved in Homeroom?
  • Teachers who specifically request a partner during the planned whole-school activities will be matched with another staff member.

Construction update

The cafeteria building is progressing as planned and will be ready for the start of school.

The gym lobby project was reworked and the plans are finalized. They have been submitted to the Division of the State Architect (DSA). The gym will be closed in the summer (June 10- July 26) to prepare it for the major part of the construction project that will begin in March 2020. It is slated for completion in December 2020.

On May 21, 2019, the schematic design for the new Guidance and Student Support building, was approved. Below are the updated renderings. Groundbreaking is expected in June 2020. The construction of this building will overlap the Lynbrook Gym Lobby project. An RFQ/P process was conducted. Blach Construction submitted a competitive proposal and was chosen for the project. They are already familiar with the campus, as they are currently building the Cafeteria and Quad.

There may be some changes to the office assignments and some slight changes to the floorplan. This is provided as a general tentative look at the office layout. It will give you an idea to the flow and organization of the new building.

The image below is looking at the new office from the quad.

staffing update

Sailing on to the next adventure- Jon Penner and Paul Willson are retiring at the end of this school year.  Make sure you get a chance to wish them well.

Announcements on the latest staffing changes will be made at the Wednesday Taco feast. 

way to go's

Powerful Publications! See the "Unseen"  this year's Valhalla yearbook. Congratulations to Leslie Robledo and our yearbook staff for their professional and appealing work. Students will cherish it for a lifetime. The final edition of the award-winning Epic was published last week. Be sure to view their outstanding online version at https://lhsepic.com/. A big shout out to Josh Miller for your commitment to teaching students the power of the pen. Be sure to check out the latest edition of the Vertigo. If you didn't get a print version of Scintilla, the Spring 2019 edition of the Vertigo literary magazine, you can read it online http://lhsvertigo.com/scintilla/. English teacher, Connie Willson, is the advisor for the creative writing club. The collection of prose and poetry will give you a unique glimpse into the world of our students. 

Making magical music- The Lynbrook Orchestra was 1 of 5 high school orchestras in the country to be invited to perform at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, IL. This is one of the highest honors a school orchestra can achieve. Congratulations to Mike Pakaluk and our talented musicians.

Clubs are Crushing it- FBLA: FBLA students placed 4th in the state at the State Leadership Conference in April. Advisor Leslie Robledo will take the 17 students who advanced to the National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, TX June 29 – July 2nd. Math Club: Over 400 students participated in 11 competitions this year. LHS continues to rank #1 in local and state contests. The team ranked 1st in the nation at the Berkeley Math Tournament. Thank you, Rita Korsunsky for your guidance and dedication to this club. Science Bowl: Lester Leung took our team to Washington, D.C. to compete at the national level. DECA Dazzles- Advisor Brad Fulk shared news of the clubs phenomenal success. There are over 210,000 DECA members worldwide. Lynbrook had 53 make the finals. This means these students ranked among the top 1% in the world. Student, Helen Hu, was our first international champion in 5 years. Robotics Rocks to the World Finals-Our Funky Monkeys had an excellent run at the FIRST Robotics Competition's World Championships at Houston. They broke their own records by finishing as division semi-finalists and receiving their first award at the Championship level. Speech & Debate Results- The 2019 Stanford Invitational Tournament is one of the most highly competitive tournaments of the year. This year, of the 2,356 students from 273 schools; internationally and from 26 states, LHS had four students finish near the top in their divisions.

Viking Athletics Standout- The Swimming & Diving, Boys Volleyball, Softball, Badminton, and Baseball teams are all CCS Scholastic Team Award winners. The  LHS F/S Boys Basketball team claimed the El Camino league title. The Girls Varsity Basketball team went all the way to NorCal competition.

French Students Shine- On the "Le Grand Concours 2019" 149 LHS students are National Winners with two platinum medalists (FIRST place) and 34 gold medalists (students placing in the 95 percentile).

Maria Jackson, Principal | maria_jackson@fuhsd.org | Phone 408.366.7701