Newsletter Nov. 2018

Upcoming Events 11/3 Dia De los Muertos Celebration

Highlights from Principal Susan Ryan •

Enrollment Fair Success on 10/14: Our parents and students fielded tough questions from prospective parents and students. Thank you to students: Juliana, Nikki, Sysy, Anita, Lili, Bidesh, Tyree, Katherine, Carla, Eduardo, Miguel, Charlotte, Jennifer, Gloria and Carlos. Thank you also to the moms of Gus, Gloria, Jose and Carlos. This was the best fair performance in my eight years at O’C.

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Sunday Supper with CUESA on 10/15: Six ECA students participated in the fundraiser, where they prepared a dish with ingredients from the O’C garden. Rosalinda Puac made a speech to the 300+ participants, and the funds raised were the highest in CUESA history. Well done MJ, Alicia, Ayala, Camille, Eljanae and Rosalinda.

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BSU Summit Field Trip on 10/16: A record 26 O’C students attended the annual citywide BSU Summit. Thank you Mya Canty and Sabrina Johnson!

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Foreign Exchange Student Chooses O’C: An O’C exchange student fought to come back to O’C after getting transferred to a high-demand high school off of the EPC wait list. When I asked him why, he said, “The teachers here are better, and the subjects are better. Of course I wanted to come back.”

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O’Connell Community Impact Award from MEDA: At the 44th anniversary gala of the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), O’Connell was celebrated for the increase in our graduation rate in 2016 and was presented an award for community impact, which is now on display in the main office. Well done O’C Community!

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Fall Showcase for Prospective Families on 11/16: J’O’s “integrated Labs” invite you to explore the scope of their work. Last year our showcase brought 200 middle school students. These recruitment events are important so we can strive for more student enrollment.

11/3 Cram Jam 11/8 MPN Credit/ITIN Workshop 11/9 Principal’s Chat 11/13-11/17 Parent Volunteer Opportunity 11/15 SSC/ELAC Meeting 11/16 O’C Fall Showcase 11/20-11/24 Thanksgiving Holiday 11/30 MPN Tax Clinic (See website for details)

Marking Period 2 ends Nov. 9th. Important Message from Nurse Stuart: Please protect the OC Community by keeping your sick student home. If your child has FEVER, DIARRHEA OR HAS VOMITED after 6 p.m., keep them at home. They will be sent home if they are still sick the next day. Please also UPDATE YOUR STUDENT’S EMERGENCY CARD. In the event of an illness or natural disaster, every student must have an adult who can pick them up from school. This

For Families from Ms. Flores •

Parent Engagement Activities: We received a generous donation from Rainbow Food Coop as well as Bi-Rite. Thank you!

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Halloween Movie Night: Thank you to all parent volunteers that

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person MUST be on the card.

Absences If your student is going to be absent, contact our attendance clerk, Andrew Cornejo. Email:[email protected]

donated cookies and healthy snacks to raise funds. Your love is appreciated. •

After School Program: Sunset Youth Services has begun their work during lunch. Please encourage your student to stop by if they are thinking about a career in music or would like to contribute to our International Women’s Day mix tape. Sunset will be at O’C every Monday and Thursday until Nov. 16.

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Employment Training: JVS is providing training for Salesforce Administrator (SF; 10/13 – 2/9; perfect for unemployed database or online systems administration; sales and project manager professionals with computer proficiency; veterans with data analysis experience); Job Search Accelarator (SF; 11/3-11/17; perfect for unemployed and recently laid-off people eager to get back to work; veterans returning to civilian work; people with job search goals); Business Administration Bootcamp (Oakland; 11/9 – 12/22; people looking for gig jobs; job seekers in need of basic computer skills, veterans returning to civilian work; parents with out-of-date office skills, college graduates who need help finding a permanent position). If you are interested in more information, please contact Ms. Flores.

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Latinx Heritage & Spirit Week: In the week starting 10/27, there will be a series of events that will kick off with an assembly featuring guest speakers, presentations and special performances and culminate in activities on 11/3 to honor our ancestors.

Phone: 415-695-5370

Keep Us Posted Please inform Parent Liaison Rebecca Flores of any changes to your phone or address. You can now contact her directly by phone. Email: [email protected] Phone: 415-695-5370 Option 4

School Address: John O’Connell HS 2355 Folsom Street San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 695 - 5370 https://jochs-sfusdca.schoolloop.com/ SF Unified School Dist. 555 Franklin Street San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 241-6000 http://www.sfusd.edu/

Sports Update For the second week in a row the cross country team finished in second place and currently stands in 4th place in the league. The girls’ volleyball team, at 8-2 in their division, is in a playoff fight with Mission and Marshall with three games left in their season. What a great showing by the fall sports players! Winter sports is around the corner and hopefully they can continue the positive energy.

Message from the Librarian We have over 10,000 books and 36 computers for students and staff. The library is open Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri for class and student visits as well as every day after school for tutoring. Students interested in chess or who enjoy reading should consider participating in the library clubs. For further information about the O’Connell library program, contact the school librarian, Elaine Moskowitz ([email protected]).

Classroom Chronicles:

An Academic Report from the Teachers Entrepreneurship and Culinary Arts Lab: After finishing our Global Potluck, ECA is moving into the past. We will be learning more about entrepreneurship, consumerism & the Great Depression. Students will be exploring boom and bust cycles in the 1920’s and 30’s while also designing their own innovation to address modern day issues.

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CET Construction and Environmental Technology: CET Lab is closing up Integrated Project 1 with a Time Capsule Ceremony this Friday. Students are preserving their memories through writing and placing their written narratives in the time capsule they built in Construction class. Health and Behavioral Science: Six O’Connell students applied and five were selected to attend the 2017 Global Health Youth Summit in Washington, D.C, where 20 FACES students from California had the opportunity to meet leaders in the global health sector including representatives from the USAID. Please take a look at this beautiful video produced by our partner, the Global Health Fellows ProgramII. It features our students: Tiffani Wong, Nour Aissoui, Lionel Lemus Santander, Aaron Romero Mariano and Yocelyn Zaragoza. Humanities and Social Justice House: We are analyzing and writing dystopian literature in English class and designing ideal societies in World History. Economics and Government: Ms. Burke's students have been discovering economic and political ideologies that will let them achieve their personal wealth goals. Since most students seem to agree that the government should at least provide healthcare and education with taxes, we are about to evaluate whether they want to pursue the Nordic model (higher taxes and more social services) as they reach voting age. This lesson will culminate in small group oral reports. Students will be required to incorporate technical vocabulary in their oral arguments without the aid of notes. A challenge to be sure, but one worthy of our amazing students. Spanish Dual Immersion: We are practicing for the AP exam, specifically writing the response to the email, one of the required written parts. We are also looking at analyses of expository texts like newspaper articles.

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