This is your last chance to purchase a Fall 2020 T-shirt or Hoodie!
Sales run through this coming Tuesday, September 8 (contactless pickup in mid-September).
Proceeds benefit the Chabot Elementary PTA. If your child wants a shirt, but the price is too steep, please send us an email.
** Free Shirt Alert! Follow our Instagram account (@bobcat_styling) We will have a drawing Sept 8 for Chabot family followers!
Hello Chabot Families!
It’s so wonderful to be back in “community” with you all – even if that community looks and feels a little different from in years past. It’s in times like this that the Chabot community is that much more important, and the need for us all to come together is even stronger felt.
In this spirit, we’re excited to launch this year’s Annual Fund!
For those of you who are new to Chabot or who need a refresher, the Annual Fund is the Chabot PTA’s biggest annual fundraising campaign. The Chabot PTA exists to support the school community and to fill the $550,000 gap between what OUSD gives Chabot, and what it takes to run our amazing school. This year, filling this gap feels even more critical, because it will fund small group specialists, psychologists, enrichment programs, and teacher funds. In addition, we anticipate additional needs related to health and safety and technology, where the PTA will likely play a leading role. But because these programs are not funded by public dollars, the PTA needs to fundraise. That’s where the Annual Fund comes in.
It starts now! The PTA is running a 100-day Annual Fund campaign that starts August 25th and ends on December 1st – Giving Tuesday. Our goal is for 100 percent of Chabot families to participate in this year’s Annual Fund during that time.
In order to maintain our current enrichment programs and support Chabot’s diverse community, both this year and in the future, the PTA is asking for a suggested donation of $950 per child, based on your family’s ability to give.
We know that this is a tough time. If your family is not able to give at this level, any type of participation is greatly appreciated. That might be a $5 donation, or even an offer to help behind-the-scenes with the Annual Fund (just email our co-chairs below!) However, to emerge from this crisis truly resilient, we need to be able to continue to provide the resources that this PTA budget covers, like technical tools and support, and enrichment programming (whether delivered live or via Zoom). And, we need to support our teacher community, who devote their lives to the education of our children. Several teacher and staff salaries are paid for by the PTA budget, and we need to raise funds in order to keep them on the payroll. So, if you can give, we’re asking that you do so to keep our school programming alive.
The Chabot community has always stood in solidarity with our fellow schools in the district. This year, we’d like to go further. Recognizing that many communities in Oakland are the hardest hit in this crisis, and have historically been under-resourced, for the first time, we’re allocating a portion of the PTA budget to Chabot’s Community Engagement committee – this parent-led committee will think about how to allocate these funds to advance equity and justice across Oakland (this may include donations to organizations and causes working at the forefront of equity in Oakland). Further, we will be allocating an additional portion to the Equity & Inclusion Committee, who will continue to think about those within the Chabot community who could use additional support (emotional, financial, and otherwise) during this period.
Donations to the Annual Fund can be made in two easy ways:
Please reach out to this year’s volunteer co-chairs, Meera Chary & Erin O’Hara at annualfund@chabotelementary.org
August 25. Annual Fund Campaign launches
December 1. 100-day drive ends
Google Chabot CalendarChabot Google Calendar – Add it here to stay up to date.
Greetings Chabot Families,
I want to extend a huge Bobcat welcome to the scores of new families joining our community this year. I especially want to acknowledge the cohort of families who have transferred into Chabot from Kaiser Elementary due to that campus closing. We are so happy to have all of you with us. Please know that we have some special Orientations scheduled for these new families:
KINDERGARTEN ORIENTATION – Monday, August 3, 8:30pm – Room Parents will send link
NEW TO CHABOT FAMILIES IN GRADES 1-5 – Wednesday, August 5, 7pm (keep an eye out for Zoom Link via email)
By the end of Friday, everyone should have received a greeting from your new class’ Summer Room Parent Ambassador and you should know who your new teacher will be. I am very appreciative of the parent volunteers who have stepped up to welcome all families and to begin creating a class community. As you are aware, teachers will not be back at work until next Wednesday, August 5, when they will be immersed in some very intensive professional development and planning geared towards making this year’s Virtual Chabot as strong as possible.
My last letter shared some of the details about what you can expect from Chabot’s Distant Learning this fall. I want to now share a little more about what the first 3 weeks of school will look like. Please keep in mind that all plans are contingent on the MOU between OUSD and OEA which has still not been agreed upon.
OUSD has designated the first 3 weeks as “STRONG START”. Each morning teachers will meet with their classes on Zoom for a class meeting. The main focus of this time is to establish the class community, learn expectations and protocols for interacting in the virtual world, and develop student’s socio-emotional skills. These are the same priority and focus areas that our teachers always have during the start of school, and they are more important now than ever!
After the morning meeting, students and families will have a standards-based set of academic learning activities that they can access asynchronously while teachers are engaged in crucial activities including 1:1 meetings with students and families, small group assessments to plan instruction, professional development, planning, and grade-level collaboration. By the end of Week 2, all families will have a chance to meet with their teachers. If possible, this will happen outdoors on campus with social distancing – if not, it will be on Zoom.
By Week 4, Virtual Chabot should be moving to our new “normal” schedule where your child will have a consistent predictable daily routine that will include whole class meetups, lots of small groups with their teacher (and specialists when needed), asynchronous/independent learning and assignments, and options for Enrichments.
You can hear more about all of this with a special focus on Socio-Emotional Learning – what is it and why does Chabot keep talking about it at my very first COFFEE WITH THE PRINCIPAL on Friday, August 7, 9:30 am. Look for Zoom Links through email.
OUSD and Chabot want EVERY student to have their own device for Distant Learning. There are three different options for your family:
1. Purchase your own laptop or device
2. Borrow one from Chabot (or keep the one you borrowed last Spring)
3. If you have a demonstrable need for a permanent device/internet solution also complete the #OaklandUndivided survey (opens Monday, August 3). The #OaklandUndivided program seeks to bridge the digital divide. See attached TECH DISTRIBUTION MEMO for details on the qualification process. As these devices will not be available until early September, you should still borrow one from Chabot until they arrive.
Chabot will be distributing Chromebooks to any currently enrolled student who needs one on THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1-4 pm. One adult per family – no children, masks required. Please only enter through the Main Gate and please adhere to all social-distancing protocols. In order to avoid crowds, please make every effort to come according to last name: A-I, 1-2 pm; J-P, 2-3 pm; Q-Z, 3-4 pm. If you need a computer and cannot come on Thursday, please reach out to margaret.thorp@ousd.org and we will make arrangements. For more information see this TECH DISTRIBUTION MEMO.
Part of Registration is the paperwork you have to fill out every year – emergency contact info, Policies Page (with all the initials), etc. This year the district is calling this “Data Confirmation”. In the past, this is the paperwork that was filled out at registration events during the week before school started. Last year many of you filled out this information through SchoolMint. This year the district is asking families to update student information in Aeries (an effort to both save money, streamline the process and eliminate data transfer errors).
Here is a LINK to a “how-to” about how to login to the parent portal and complete the “Data Confirmation”.
You will need to set up a Parent Portal account here, parent.ousd.org – you will need an ID# and district verification code. Margaret has this information for everyone, please email her to request this information. Please provide your child’s full name when requesting.
Incoming Kindergarten families are required to provide a copy of their student’s most recent immunization record.
ALSO, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE TAKE 5 MINUTES TO COMPLETE THE MEAL APPLICATION regardless of income. Chabot actually gets additional money based on both applications completed and on applications approved. https://family.titank12.com/application/new?identifier=NY34JE
Feel free to email margaret.thorp@ousd.org with any questions or problems you may have.
In community,
Jessica