DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME BEGINS THIS WEEKEND |
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Please remember that Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday, March 13. Don’t forget to change your clocks as we spring forward an hour!
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CHANGE TO MASK PROTOCOL BEGINS TOMORROW |
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Please be reminded that, effective tomorrow, Saturday, March 12, OCSA will be operating under the revised on-campus mask requirements that were announced last week. After tomorrow, masking will be strongly recommended, but not required, for all students and staff, in alignment with guidance from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) for K-12 schools.
OCSA will continue to follow safety guidance and mitigation protocols from the CDPH and the Orange County Health Care Agency, along with respecting the masking choice of each individual. We ask the OCSA community to please treat others with consideration and respect as everyone navigates their own preferences.
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UPDATED EVENT PATRON AND PERFORMER POLICY |
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As announced yesterday, the OCSA Board of Trustees has made adjustments to the Event Patron and Performer Safety Policy to align with the new guidance from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). Effective tomorrow, Saturday, March 12, event patrons no longer need to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in order to attend an OCSA event or performance. Additionally, masks are strongly recommended, but no longer required, for event patrons. Please click here to view the full updated policy.
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NO CONSERVATORY THIS THURSDAY |
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Please be aware that there will be no conservatory classes this coming Thursday, March 17 due to a professional development day for conservatory staff members. Students will be dismissed at 2:25 p.m. that day. School bus schedules and Homework Club will be adjusted for the dismissal time.
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Please be reminded that students may not congregate in the hallways during Office Hours. This is a supervision issue and also very disruptive to the teachers conducting Office Hours. Thank you for your cooperation! |
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RAPID COVID-19 TESTS AVAILABLE |
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Are you in need of a rapid COVID-19 test for home use? OCSA has a limited supply of iHealth COVID-19 test kits that will be made available to OCSA families who may want to take a test prior to returning to school after Spring Break. If you would like to request a test kit, please email ocsa.administration@ocsarts.net. Rapid COVID-19 tests will be distributed on both Thursday, March 31 and Friday, April 1.
Free COVID-19 test kits can also be ordered directly from the federal government at www.covidtests.gov. Upon submission of your shipping information, test kits will be mailed directly to your home.
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STUDENT DESIGN CONTEST VOTING TODAY |
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Thank you to all who submitted designs for the Student Design Contest! All of the submissions were incredible, and it was so difficult to choose the final designs for our OCSA community to vote on. That being said, the time has finally come to vote for your favorite student design! Voting will take place TODAY, Friday, March 11, on the @WeAreOCSA Instagram story. Click here or on the image below to cast your vote before the story expires!
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MIDDLE SCHOOL BOOMERS TRIP |
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Attention all middle school students: You are invited to an exciting adventure at Boomers Irvine! This group excursion will be held on Friday, April 29 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 on MySchoolBucks and include one-way transportation to Boomers Irvine, located at 3405 Michelson Drive in Irvine. Get ready to enjoy fun games and rides, such as go-karts, golf, bumper boats, laser tag, FlameThrower, Rock N Tug, teacups, and much more. To guarantee a seat on the bus and access to the event, be sure to buy a ticket before sales close at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, March 21!
Please note: This event is only open to OCSA students in grades 7 and 8. Buses will load on 10th Street as close to 2:30 p.m. as possible and will depart as soon as all guests are accounted for. All students must be picked up by their parents/guardians at the Boomers entrance when the event concludes at 5:30 p.m.
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SPRING DODGEBALL TOURNAMENT |
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Get ready to watch as 16 teams go head-to-head in OCSA's Spring 2022 Dodgeball Tournament! The tournament is coming up on Friday, March 25 and will be held from 3-5 p.m. in The Callero Family Foundation Plaza (DMS Quad). This semester’s tournament has been simplified to a double-elimination format. Each team will remain eligible to win the tournament until they lose two games. This will make it easier to track for both players and fans alike. Don't leave early, because in the end “there can be only one!”
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GRADUATION SPEECH CONTEST |
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Have you dreamed of giving one of the speeches at graduation? All interested seniors are encouraged to participate in the Graduation Speech Contest! Speeches must be uploaded to the Google Form by Friday, April 15. A volunteer panel of OCSA staff will anonymously read and select approximately 10 speeches to move on to the second round. Please click here for more detailed information. If you have any questions, please contact Dean of Student Services Becca Freeland at becca.freeland@ocsarts.net. Good luck and happy writing!
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GALA TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE |
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The OCSA Foundation is pleased to announce that tickets are now available for Gala 2022: Night of a Million Dreams! We are eagerly anticipating next month's enchanting event and would be honored if you would join us to celebrate on Saturday, April 23 at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa.
Click here to reserve your table, purchase your tickets, donate an auction item, or learn more. Don't miss your chance to commemorate OCSA's incredible 35-year legacy as we toast to many more years of dreaming big and reaching for the stars!
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Course selection presentations for the 2022-2023 school year will continue to be held by grade level in Social Studies or Health classes with school counselors. Students will select courses in Aeries during the presentations; however, hard copies of the forms must also be turned in to the Student Services Office in Room 101 of the Humanities Tower with a parent signature by the grade-specific deadline below. Forms received after the deadline will be dated and receive less priority for classes, especially for electives. Please do not request to meet with school counselors regarding course selection prior to the presentation where questions will most likely be answered.
Parents/guardians of high school students are invited and encouraged to attend Course Selection Parent Meetings via Zoom. For parents who are unable to attend, meetings are also recorded and uploaded to the Google Classroom for each class (Class of 2023, 2024, 2025, or 2026). Please have your student help you access the recording.
Please see the following schedule for more information.
Rising Juniors
Parent Meeting: The recorded presentation link can be found in your student’s grade level-specific Google Classroom.
Form Deadline: Friday, March 11 (TODAY!)
Rising Sophomores
Presentation: Monday, March 7 - Monday, March 14
Parent Meeting: Friday, March 18 from 2:30-3:30 p.m. (Zoom link)
Form Deadline: Friday, March 25
Rising Freshmen
Presentation: Monday, March 21 - Thursday, March 24
Parent Meeting: Friday, March 25 from 2:30-3:30 p.m. (Zoom link)
Form Deadline: Thursday, March 31
Rising 8th Grade Students
Presentation: Monday, March 28 - Friday, April 1
Form Deadline: Friday, April 29
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Parents/guardians: Don’t forget to reserve your tickets for our annual Elective Showcase, which will be held at the Margaret A. Webb Theatre on Thursday, March 24 during Blocks 4, 5, and 6 and on Friday, March 25 during Blocks 1, 2, and 3. Please note that tickets are free, but must be reserved in advance in order to attend.
To reserve tickets, please follow the steps below:
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Click here to go to the OCSA Box Office.
- Select the date your student is performing.
- Select the time that corresponds to your student’s elective block (see the flyer below for specific performance times).
- Click the “Select seats from map” button.
- Click the green dots and click “Add” to select the seat(s) you would like to reserve.
- Click “Add tickets to cart.”
- Click “Checkout” and complete the checkout process.
We hope to see you there!
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Tickets are going fast for our magical Symphony of Dreams concert, which will be held on Saturday, March 26 in the beautiful Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University. If you haven’t done so already, please click here to purchase tickets and prepare to be wowed as our students, both past and present, transform the stage into one of the greatest opera houses of all time!
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Please be reminded that the mandated California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) Assessments will be administered during our annual testing period, Tuesday, April 12 - Thursday, April 21. Your student will take these online tests in their Literature and Composition, Social Studies, and/or Science classes. The tests are computer-adaptive to allow a more precise measurement of individual skills.
Please see below for the tests to be administered by grade level.
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7th Grade: Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments (SBAC) for English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, and Physical Fitness Test
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8th Grade: Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments (SBAC) for ELA, Mathematics, and California Science Test (CAST)
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9th Grade: Physical Fitness Test
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10th Grade: California Science Test (CAST)
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11th Grade: Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments (SBAC) for ELA and Mathematics
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12th Grade: California Science Test (CAST)
Following testing, students will receive individual score reports that will include an overall score and a description of the student’s achievement level for ELA, Mathematics, and Science.
The OCSA Board of Trustees believes that it is important for all OCSA students to take these CAASPP Assessments as they provide us with an important tool to monitor the growth and success of our students and programs. For students in 11th grade, these assessments are required to obtain the Seal of Biliteracy upon graduation and may also provide an exemption to the English and Math placement tests in the California State University system. However, parents do have the right to request that their student not participate in the state mandated testing. Requests must be submitted in writing no later than Friday, April 1. Please contact Dean of Instruction Kimberly Barraza Lyons at kim.lyons@ocsarts.net if you wish to opt out or if you have any questions.
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We would like to thank those of you who shared their OCSA memories on our 35th anniversary Kudoboard last semester! This week, we are continuing to share our OCSA community’s stories with alumnus Sean Lee (IM, ‘05). Sean wrote, “Happy Anniversary, OCSA! Thank you for the countless memories of friendship, discovery, and incredible music – I’ll always treasure my time with this special community. Cheers to the next 35 years!” Please click here to see all the meaningful submissions from our OCSA family anytime on the full Kudoboard!
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OCTA YOUTH RIDE FREE PASSES EXTENDED |
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Good news – Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) has extended their Youth Ride Free Program! Current passes will be accepted until the end of March to allow adequate time to collect a new pass. These new passes can be picked up in the Bookroom during Lunch or Office Hours and will be valid from March to September 2022. Please note that an updated parent release form must be submitted in order to receive this pass. Click here to print the parent release form or pick up a hardcopy in the Bookroom. For more information, please visit the OCTA Youth Ride Free Program webpage.
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2022-2023 SCHOOL CALENDAR |
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If you missed it before, please click here to view the approved year-at-a-glance document for next school year. Be sure to mark your calendars for the first day of school for the fall semester on Tuesday, August 16. Please be reminded that the school holiday listed on Friday, March 17, 2023 is subject to change in order to coincide with the date of Gala 2023, which is pending. Stay tuned for the complete list of important dates for the 2022-2023 school year coming soon!
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HELP KEEP OCSA HEALTHY & SAFE |
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The following are a few reminders to keep our school community safe and informed:
Do not come to school if you are sick or experiencing flu or COVID-19 symptoms. If you have received a positive COVID-19 test, have a possible exposure to COVID-19, or experience COVID-19 symptoms, please report it to the school through the COVID-19 Reporting Form as soon as you can.
Please remember that free weekly COVID-19 testing is offered every Monday in the Symphony Hall lobby from 12-4:30 p.m. to all students, families, faculty, and staff as an extra health and safety resource. Please visit our COVID-19 Dashboard for information on how to register.
All of OCSA’s most recent COVID-19 information, including policies, procedures, and important health and safety resources, can be found on our COVID-19 Dashboard. Thank you for helping to keep our school environment safe for all students and staff!
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Conservatory Professional Development Day (No Conservatory): Thursday, March 17
Recovered Instructional Day: Monday, March 21
Recovered Instructional Day: Friday, April 1
Spring Break (School Closed): Monday, April 4 - Friday, April 8
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UPCOMING PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS
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