Academics took all different forms this week from dancing through history rehearsals to movie making in Spanish class and earthquake structure building in science. |
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It's the SCOOP for April 8, 2021
Your weekly news from Santa Barbara Middle School
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Dear SBMS Families,
Thank you for joining us for Cups and Questions this morning to discuss the upcoming events this spring. If you were unable to join, you may watch the recording here or on the HUB in the P.A. tile on the Resources board. In addition to our regular COVID team which includes Dr. Susan Zapalac, this week we were joined by our extended COVID team of Dr. Lynn Fitzgibbons, SBMS alum, MD and Infectious Disease specialist at Cottage Hospital, and Dr. Sunita Beall, SBMS parent, MD, Internal Medicine, and UCSB Student Health Physician, to talk through forecasting, our spring reopening plans, and outdoor expeditions so that we can intelligently and safely plan activities for the end of the year. They are cautiously optimistic about Santa Barbara specifically but are keeping an eye on the recent plateau of cases and the new variants that are spreading. Please read through the safety section below to learn more about our conversation with the experts.
New electives have started! We have had a great return to campus and love seeing the students down on the volleyball fields each morning and in the garden in the afternoons. We will continue Spring Reopening Phase 2 with off-campus electives options in the mornings and Friday afternoons starting April 19. The schedule will be released next week so your family can start to consider the logistics of pick-up and drop-off for these off-campus opportunities which include ocean sports, mountain biking, Ultimate frisbee and beach volleyball. With all these exciting new activities, adventure days, and virtual Songfest on the horizon, it is going to be a fun-filled spring.
In May, as we move to Spring Reopening Phase 3, we are fully committed to overnight trips for all grades at the end of the year. In addition to May expeditions, we will have our end-of-year ceremonies, sunrise swims, middle school traditions, and an in-person Rites of Passage. We are working hard to design the trips with multiple contingencies built-in for changing COVID conditions and guidance. Stay tuned for your grade-level details as we begin to weave trip prep and campfire lore over the coming weeks to ensure students feel prepared. Please continue reading the Scoop every week and keep an eye on the calendar as things are always subject to change.
This is all possible because of the efforts, flexibility and support of our students, faculty, and families. This community has proven again and again that we can do hard things and adapt to an ever-changing world. We can’t wait to end the year around a fire with our students and reflect on all that has been accomplished despite this pandemic.
To the journey,
Brian, Bianca and the SBMS Staff
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SONGFEST 2021!
We hope your child is practicing and recordings are coming along. Daniel and Marco are here to help with anything your student needs. The updated deadline for submissions is midnight, April 14!
Please help your student submit their completed videos (even if they have already emailed it to Marco) by going to the link below and finding their personal folder. Simply drag the file into their folder and you're done! We can't wait to see all your children's awesomeness!
Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 24, to watch SONGFEST 2021 together live, online!
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8TH GRADE RETREAT & ADVENTURE DAYS
We will be heading out on April adventure days towards the end of this month with a special 8th grade day that includes their retreat and special ceremonies. We will be sharing specific cohort details in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
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Tuesday, April 27: 8th Grade Adventure Day, Retreat and Ceremony of the Candles (more to come!)
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Friday, April 30: 6/7/9 Grade Adventure Day
Important Note: Please make sure to take your student's bike out of storage, dust it off, take it in for a tune up, and make sure it is ready to go for the end of this month.
RITES OF PASSAGE
We look forward to celebrating our 9th Grade class on Thursday, June 10, at the beautiful Godric Grove. Like last year, we will be following COVID guidelines and protocols and there will be a limited guest list. More to come on the event in the coming month.
2021-22 SCHOOL YEAR PRELIMINARY CALENDAR
Thank you for your patience as we finalized our start dates for the 2021-22 school year. We are hoping to start the school year with a full schedule, electives and outdoor expeditions. We will have the cohort model ready in case we need to pivot based on COVID guidance and are prepared for whatever the year may bring. Please note this calendar is subject to change and may be updated before the start of the school year.
- Tuesday, Aug. 31 - Friday, Sept. 3: Orientation Week with Orientation Ride
- Monday, September 6: Labor Day - No School
- Tuesday, September 7: First Day of Academic Classes + Electives
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The full preliminary calendar can be viewed here *Subject to change
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WELCOME DIA!
My name is Dia Rabin and I am an alumna of Santa Barbara Middle School ('14)! I have been working with kids since I can remember and am about to head off to the University of Southern California to earn my Masters in Education and Education Policy. I have been on trip staff at SBMS for about three years now and am excited to have a larger role on campus hanging with your awesome kids. Here at Middle School, I will be teaching electives, working as a substitute teacher, and joining on adventure days. Along with working at SBMS, I work as a GED instructor for incarcerated folk and recently got my EMT certification through the professional development program at UCSB. Although this year has been different, I am beyond excited to be back with the Middle School team.
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THE WEEK AHEAD
Monday, April 12
Tuesday, April 13
Wednesday, April 14
Deadline for Songfest submissions
Thursday, April 15
Friday, April 16
11:55am Town Meeting
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⚠️ WEEKLY SAFETY UPDATE ⚠️ |
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Hello SBMS Families,
This week we would like to take a minute to focus on what’s happening at SBMS and why.
While many schools are starting to open, and some restrictions have begun to loosen or change, we are putting a lot of thought into how that impacts what we are doing, what we can do, and why we would make changes. One of the more public shifts has been around social distancing and what that distance is. Many of the local public schools have started opening up, and they are using 3 feet in their classrooms. Why aren’t we? A lot of students are asking this question. For starters, we don’t have to reduce our spacing in classrooms to be fully open. This is one of the reasons we have been open continuously from October through now and hopefully to the end of the school year. The larger schools do not have the space to open up with 6 feet between desks so they are using a shorter distance. The new guidance and what we are hearing from the leading doctor on infectious disease in Santa Barbara, who is on our COVID Committee, is that 3 feet is allowed if necessary, but 6 feet is ideal and should be utilized if possible.
Our perspective is that we would rather keep the classrooms safer anyway and take any new or added risks in places that we get value back. For example, we will be adding Cohort vs Cohort sports electives. We will be moving morning electives for the lower school to the beach some mornings, and the upper school will have Friday off-campus electives starting soon. On top of that, we are planning multi-day trips for all grades. These are all areas where we get real value for the added risk.
We are cautiously optimistic that our situation in Santa Barbara may fluctuate but hopefully will not spike again. We are asking our SBMS community to continue to be vigilant with respect to COVID protocols and travel restrictions. Things are looking better, but we are not out of the woods yet! An uptick in cases, our county moving back to the purple, or positive cases on campus are all things that could throw a wrench in our plans to do overnight trips, more cohort vs cohort sports, and off-campus electives.
Let’s all do our best to put SBMS and all of our local schools in a position to finish the year strong. We are excited to be getting back on the road, and most importantly to be sitting around a fire again!
Thank you,
Erik Edwards and the Health and Safety Team
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SBMS BOOK CLUB
Our next book club meeting will be on Monday, May 17, at 9:30am. The next book will be "When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir" by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele.
Following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, three women – Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Khan-Cullors – came together to form an active response to the systemic racism causing the deaths of so many African-Americans. They simply said: Black Lives Matter; and for that, they were labeled.
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NEW RESOURCES TO HELP FAMILIES NAVIGATE TECHNOLOGY
Explore Google's new hub for families with helpful information about popular apps, parental controls, online safety and wellbeing, digital activities and classroom tools. Find tips, resources, and content from Common Sense Media, Sesame Workshop, PBS KIDS, Headspace, and more.
YOUTHWELL WORKSHOP
Simple strategies to manage anxiety & build relationships
DATE: SUNDAY, APRIL 11
TIME: 4:30PM-6:00PM
**SPANISH INTERPRETATION IS PROVIDED**
Things are changing rapidly with students heading back into classrooms, with college acceptances starting to come in, and with summer around the corner. After a year of so much stress and isolation from the pandemic, this is a great time to improve our connections with others and develop positive coping skills.
Youth (ages 10-25), parents, teachers, and community members will learn strategies to...
- actively listen
- ask for what you need
- connect after a year of social-distancing
- use your breathing to develop self-awareness, manage emotions, and decrease stress
This series of mindful and compassionate listening workshops with speaker, Dave Mochel, are an opportunity to build empathic listening skills to better interact with youth, family, friends, and co-workers.
SPANISH
estrategias simples para manejar la ansiedad y construir relaciones
FECHA: Domingo, 11 de abril de 2021
HORA: 4:30pm - 6:00pm
Se proporciona interpretación al español.
Los jóvenes (de 12 a 25 años), los padres y los miembros de la comunidad están invitados a aprender...
- escuchar activamente
- pregunta lo que necesites
- connect after a year of social-distancing
- conectar después de un año de distanciamiento social
Esta serie de talleres de escucha consciente y compasiva es una oportunidad para desarrollar habilidades de escucha empática para interactuar mejor con los jóvenes, la familia, los amigos y los compañeros de trabajo.
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FROM THE PARENT ASSOCIATION
April Parent Association Meeting
Thursday, April 22 at 7:30pm
*Family Friendly! - Invite the whole family to watch and prepare to be riveted!*
The PA Association is thrilled to be able to bring the SBMS family a big dash of inspiration, joy and laughter as we welcome Mitch Lewis to share inspiring highlights from his epic global adventures summiting the world's highest mountains as well as running marathons on all seven continents.
Please save the date and plan to join us April 22, 2021, for an interactive session with Mitch. He has opened up the presentation to include a Q&A session to dive into details and ask any questions. And Mitch has generously offered up a 15% discount on all of his publications via the website, simply enter code SBMSPA21 at checkout! |
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ON THE HORIZON
Please note that dates and events are subject to change and updates will be communicated. **Subject to SBMS COVID-19 Committee & Public Health Guidance**
April 2021
Thursday, April 22: Parent Association Meeting
Saturday, April 24: Songfest
Monday, April 26: No School / Faculty In-Service
Tuesday, April 27: 8th Grade Adventure Day and Retreat
Friday, April 30: 6/7/8 Grade Adventure Days
May 2021
Monday, May 17: SBMS Book Club
Thursday, May 20: Parent Association Meeting
Monday, May 31: Memorial Day - No School
Tuesday, May 18 - Tuesday, May 25: Possible 9th Grade Expedition dates... Stay tuned!
Monday. May 24 - Friday, June 4: All-School Staggered Expeditions
June 2021
Monday, June 7: Normal School Day
Tuesday, June 8: Last day of school for 6/7/8
Wednesday, June 9: No School, Media Night
Thursday, June 10: Rites of Passage**
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