Next week is SLC week at Da Vinci Design October 14th-17th, and we are excited to have you on campus with us! SLCs are an important time when parents and teachers come together for a meeting led by the student. It is a time to highlight a student’s strengths and hard work, to encourage students to set new goals, and to ask guiding questions so students can take ownership of their learning. Every student is expected to participate in leading an SLC with a parent/guardian present this semester. SLCs will happen in-person. See below for SLC schedules and details presented by each grade level teaching team.
Reminders for families arriving for SLCs:
Families can find parking anywhere in the lot north of 201 N. Douglas St.
Please check-in on the 1st floor upon arriving to get a name tag and find which classroom to report to
Please arrive 10 minutes before your scheduled time to allow time to check-in
Student Led Conferences (SLCs): Grade Level Resources
Next week we are kicking off our very first Community Learning Day (CLD) on Friday, October 11th. This is an opportunity for students to come together for an on-campus learning experience with friends from other campuses; or to take advantage of a “leave to learn” activity off campus. All parents will be receiving a permission slip and a agreement form to sign in order to give students the option to learn off-campus that day. If a student signed up for an on-campus learning session, they will receive confirmation of their choice early next week. For more information on CLDs, click the “Coffee with DVD Admin” slides link below.
Also, next week will be having students in all grade levels participate in free PSAT / SAT testing on Thursday, 10/10. Students in Grades 9/10/11 will all take the PSAT, and students in Grade 12 will have the option to take the SAT. Please make sure your student(s) get a good night of sleep and eat a good breakfast before test day to make sure they are ready to test. For questions about PSAT/SAT testing day, please reach out to Asst. Principal Kirk Takeyama: ktakeyama@davincischools.org.
Thank you to the families who joined us for our Coffee with Admin meeting on Wednesday! It is great getting the chance to meet with families, hear what is on your mind, and share the great things happening at DVD. If you did not get a chance to meet with us this week, click here for the Coffee with DVD Admin slides from October 2024. Coffee with DVD Admin happens at 8am and 5pm via Zoom on the first Wednesday of every month.
Here is the Week 8 Bell Schedule for DVD:
Upcoming Events and Key Dates:
Thursday, Oct. 10th: PSAT / SAT Testing Day
Friday, Oct. 11th: Community Learning Day
Mon, Oct. 14th – Thurs, Oct. 17th: Student Led Conference (SLCs) *MINIMUM DAY SCHEDULE*
College Rep Visits (Week 8, 9 & 10): Seniors can sign up via Naviance
Tomorrow, Wednesday Oct. 2nd, at 8am and 5pm join the DVD admin team for our monthly “Coffee with Admin” chat. Simply log on via Zoom and bring any school-related questions, or just sit back, relax, and hear about school updates. This will be our second Coffee with Admin of the 2024-25 school year. Hope to see you there!
Wed, Oct. 2nd: Coffee w/ Admin
All DVD parents and guardians welcome! Join for brief school updates and open Q&A with the DVD admin team.
8am or 5pm, via Zoom
Agenda: 1) Campus Updates, Highlights & Calendar Events 2) Short Term Ind. Study, 3) Community Learning Days (CLDs), 4) Q&A
This week, we had our annual DVD Club Fair! On Thursday afternoon, we had over 20 DVD student-run clubs host booths at our club fair to get Design students excited about joining. This year we had a wide variety of clubs to join on a range of topics and which celebrate academics, culture, and fun hobbies. See pictures from our DVD Club Fair below.
We ended our week with our first Community Dialogue assembly (aka: “CD”) of the new school year! At CD, we introduced our Advisory names and mascots, had an “Advisory Olympics” competition, and had our new staff play Blind Musical Chairs. This year, as we focus on increasing school attendance, we are rewarding Advisories with the best attendance each month with exclusive access to watch CD from the SkyBox in the WDV Gym. Congrats to Sr. V and Mr. Schilp’s advisories this month for having the best attendance! It was a great day for building spirit and community at DVD. See pictures from our first CD below.
DVD Picture Day photos are now ready for review! We are using a new platform to host photos this year that allows for each student to have their own individual gallery and gives them the option to choose the photo they’d like for the yearbook. Families were emailed directly with information to access the gallery, but you can also access your individual gallery here: https://my.photoday.com/s/staceelianna/davincischools
Next week, DVD is hosting our annual DVD Club Fair! At the end of the day on Thursday, 9/26, student club leaders will set up booths and introduce their clubs. This is a great opportunity for students to find a club to join as well as meet other students that share their interests. This year we have a wide variety of clubs to join on a range of topics and which celebrate academics, culture, and fun hobbies. Clubs can also be great way for students to collaborate on ways to complete service learning with other students in a club setting. See the full list of clubs this year (so far) below!
DVD Picture Day photos are now ready for review! We are using a new platform to host photos this year that allows for each student to have their own individual gallery and gives them the option to choose the photo they’d like for the yearbook. Families were emailed directly with information to access the gallery, but you can also access your individual gallery here: https://my.photoday.com/s/staceelianna/davincischools
Enter your student name and their 5-digit ID number
Access your photos and make your selection
The deadline to choose photos for the yearbook is next Friday, September 27th. This will give students who take make-up portraits next week on Tuesday, Sept. 24th the option to select their photo as well. If you have any questions regarding photos, please email photographer Stacee Lianna directly at stacee@staceelianna.com for support.
Progressreports are being mailed home today, September 20th. The purpose of this is to give families the opportunity to have a snapshot of student progress, and to be able to have a conversation at home with students about how to stay successful in school. This information will also be used by teachers and counselors in their plans to support all students. Please follow up with your child’s teachers directly with any questions about assignments or grades.
If you do not receive a progress report in the mail by Friday, 9/27, please reach out by calling Da Vinci Design at 310-725-5800, or send an email Office Manager Maria Beltran at mbeltran@davincischools.org to request a digital progress report for your child.
Here is the Bell Schedule for Week 6 at DVD:
Upcoming Events and Key Dates:
Friday, Sept. 20th: Progress Reports Mailed Home
Tuesday, Sept. 24th: Make Up Picture Day at DVD
Thursday, Sept. 26th: DV Club & Service Learning Fair
Wednesday, Oct. 2nd: Coffee w/ Admin @8am and @5pm via Zoom
It was great to have so many of you on campus for Back To School Night on Tuesday! We began with a brief presentation in the BlackBox theater from grade-level teams, and then we headed up to the fourth floor to meet and greet teachers in classrooms. If you did not get a chance to meet with us this week, click here for the Back To School Night slides from Sept 4th 2024.
Here is the Bell Schedule for Week 5 at DVD:
Exciting News About School Attendance!
Thanks to recent updates in California’s education laws, students can now receive credit for attendance even if they miss a day of school, as long as they’re still engaged in learning. In other words: If your child participates in an educational activity or completes makeup work assigned by their teacher during an absence, they can still be marked “present” for that day. To avoid your child being marked “absent”, have your child fill out this simple form:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about attendance for parents/guardians:
Q: Do I still need to report my child’s absence to the school? A: Yes please! Keep doing what you are doing by calling or emailing the front office any time your child is going to be absent.
Q: If my child is out sick and they absolutely cannot do work, do they have to complete this form? A: No. They will be marked “excused absent” for that day.
Q: Is this different from the Community Learning Days (aka: CLDs) that I am hearing about? A: Yes – this is is new, and different from CLDs. There will be a different but similar form that students will complete on Community Learning Days.
Q: Why is this form called “independent study”? A: Thanks to new law signed into place in summer 2024, students at Da Vinci Schools are now able to participate in 15 days of short-term independent study that assists their school in recovering critical attendance funding for days missed. Being present on campus is still incredibly important to student learning, connectedness, and equity. School sites will continue to follow up with students who miss more than 10% of school days, but the new law helps to acknowledges that students sometimes need to miss school but can still engage in educational activities while they are not physically present on campus as well.
Q: Is there anything I will have to do as a parent/guardian to approve this? A: Yes. A signature form will be sent home soon to each Da Vinci Schools family which will have even more information on Short Term Independent Study.
Q: Who can I reach out to for more information about Short Term Independent Study or absences? A: Reach out to your DVD Admin team:
Principal Russell Stoll (rstoll@davincischools.org) or Asst. Principal Kirk Takeyama (ktakeyama@davincischools.org)
Your involvement helps our school count these days as attendance. Thank you for supporting your child’s education!
Upcoming Events and Key Dates:
Friday, Sept. 20th: Progress Reports Mailed Home
Thursday, Sept. 26th: *NEW DATE* DV Club & Service Learning Fair
Wednesday, Oct. 2nd: Coffee w/ Admin @8am and @5pm via Zoom
Next week is Back to School Night! Back to School Night is a great opportunity to hear about classes, make connections with your students teachers, and tour classrooms at DVD. Each grade level will begin with an assembly in the Blackbox theater from their grade-level teams, and then will head up to the fourth floor to meet and greet teachers in classrooms. Please note that the presentation for 9th and 10th grade families is at 5:30pm and the presentation for 11th and 12th grade families is at 6pm. See the schedule for Back to School Night here:
Thank you to the families who joined us for our first Coffee with Admin meeting of the school year! It is great getting the chance to meet with families, hear what is on your mind, and share the great things happening at DVD. If you did not get a chance to meet with us this week, click here for the Coffee with DVD Admin slides from Sept 2024..
Coffee with DVD Admin happens at 8am and 5pm via Zoom on the first Wednesday of every month.
Da Vinci Schools is aware that high temperatures have been forecasted for the next few days, with temperatures reaching above the 90s. Here are some ways that we as a school community can support our students:
Students will be invited to stay indoors for lunch today and tomorrow when temperatures are at their peak.
Students are encouraged to stay indoors as soon as they arrive before school and until they are picked up after school.
We encourage students who normally walk or bike to school to ensure they travel safely and bring water, or to consider arranging to be dropped off/picked up or to carpool this week.
Please reach out to the DVD front office with any questions: 310-725-5800.
Atlas@Design is our school’s travel program that has been traveling for over 12 years all around the world. We are excited to open up enrollment for our next adventure, GREECE, which will take place during Spring Break of 2026. If your student is interested, please join us on Thursday, September 12 at 6:30pm for a Zoom info meeting. You can register for the meeting using the QR code on the flyer or by going to this page: https://bit.ly/3LZPG8O.
Reach out to Frank Solis at fsolis@davincischools.org if you have any questions.
Tomorrow, Wednesday Sept. 4th, at 8am and 5pm join the DVD admin team for our monthly “Coffee with Admin” chat. Simply log on via Zoom and bring any school-related questions, or just sit back, relax, and hear about school updates. This will be our first Coffee with Admin of the 2024-25 school year. Hope to see you there!
Wed, Sept. 4th: Coffee w/ Admin
All DVD parents and guardians welcome! Join for brief school updates and open Q&A with the DVD admin team.
