COVID-19 UPDATE: Meal program and additional resources during closure
NOTICE: THIS MESSAGE INCLUDES DETAILS ON MEAL PICK-UPS FOR ASPIRE BAY AREA SCHOOLS AND ASPIRE LOS ANGELES SCHOOLS, AS WELL AS GENERAL RESOURCES FOR ALL ASPIRE FAMILIES. INFORMATION ABOUT ASPIRE CENTRAL VALLEY SCHOOLS AND MEAL PICK-UP WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE END OF THE SCHEDULED SPRING BREAK.
BAY AREA COMMUNICATION
Subject: Meal program and additional resources during closure
Dear Aspire Bay Area families,
I am writing to follow up with additional details regarding our meal program during the school closure, as well as provide additional resources for our families.
Each of the counties in which we serve is offering options for families in their communities to have access to free, healthy meals for youth 18 years of age and younger.
For West Contra Costa:
The district will be offering meals to students at several schools during the closure. Meals can be picked up at Pinole Valley, De Anza, Richmond, and Kennedy high schools; Helms and DeJean middle schools; and Nystrom, Riverside and Montalvin elementary schools. The meals will be available between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
For Oakland:
- Monday: 8:00-12:00 (3 breakfasts/3 lunches per student)
- Thursday: 8:00-12:00 (2 breakfasts/2 lunches per student)
- Food is available to any child under 18.
- Please bring a grocery bag or cooler to bring food home for the week.
- Northwest/West Oakland: Sankofa Elementary, West Oakland Middle School and Hoover Elementary
- Central Oakland: Oakland High School and Garfield Elementary
- East Oakland: Bret Harte Middle School, Life Academy/United for Success, Coliseum College Preparatory Academy, Madison Park Upper, Fremont High School, Castlemont High School and Elmhurst United Middle School
For East Palo Alto:
Monday-Friday, 10:00am-1:00pm
School Sites Offering Meals:
- Belle Haven Elementary – 415 Ivy Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
- Brentwood Academy – 2086 Clarke Avenue, East Palo Alto, CA 94303
- Costaño School – 2695 Fordham Street, East Palo Alto, CA 94303
- Los Robles – Ronald McNair Academy – 2033 Pulgas Avenue, East Palo Alto, CA 94303
- Ravenswood Middle School – 2450 Ralmar Avenue, East Palo Alto, CA 94303
- Willow Oaks Elementary – 620 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025
We recognize that the decision to close our schools impacts you, as well as your scholar(s) in complex ways. In an effort to acknowledge that scholars may experience mental health challenges as a result of the change in routines and supports, we have gathered some recommendations and resources:
| Common Questions | Recommendations |
| What are signs that my scholar is in need of mental health support? |
|
| What should I do if I think my scholar needs mental health support? | You have the option to:
|
| What are hotlines that can support me and my scholar? |
|
Family Resources:
- The CDC Mental Health and Coping During COVID-19– (Only the parent section)
- The Child Mind Institute’s Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus.
- National Association of School Psychologists’ Talking to Children About COVID-19: A Parent Resource
- SAMSHA’s Taking Care of Your Behavioral Health: Tips for Social Distancing, Quarantine, and Isolation During an Infectious Disease Outbreak
- SAMHA’s Coping With Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks
- Coronavirus – BrainPop Video
- Just For Kids: A Comic Exploring The New Coronavirus
We hope these resources help our scholars and families to stay safe and healthy during this challenging time. If you or your scholar need additional support, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your principal or me. We will send further communication about parent-requested learning packets in the coming days.
Thank you,
Nicole Williams Browning
Aspire Bay Area Superintendent
LOS ANGELES COMMUNICATION
Subject: Meal program and additional resources during closure
Dear Aspire L.A. Families,
I am writing to follow up with further details regarding meal programs during the school closure and provide additional resources for our families.
LAUSD is opening 60 Food Centers that will be open weekdays from 7 am to 10 am, and each child can take home two nutritious meals. Locations of the centers can be found at achieve.lausd.net/resources or by calling the LAUSD Family Hotline: 213-443-1300.
Other Food Resources can be found here:
- Los Angeles County
- LA County 211 https://www.211la.org/food or Dial 2-1-1
- https://www.lafoodbank.org/find-food/pantry-locator/
- Huntington Park
- Los Angelitos Bakery – is offering 1 free bread to each child, aged 5-13 years old, Monday-Friday from 12 pm-2 pm (For more information, link here)
- Southeast Churches Service Center – 2780 East Gage Avenue, Huntington Park, CA. 90255; Phone: 323-585-8254
- LAUSD Food Center:
- Marquez Senior High School – 6361 Cottage St., Huntington Park 90255
- Gage Middle School – 2880 E. Gage Ave., Huntington Park 90253
- South Gate
- LAUSD Food Center:
- South Gate High School – 3351 Firestone Blvd, South Gate CA 90280 from 6 am – 6 pm.
- LAUSD Food Center: South East Senior High School – 2720 Tweedy Blvd., South Gate 90280
- South Los Angeles
- LAUSD Food Center:
- Fremont Senior High School – 7676 San Pedro St., Los Angeles 90003
- Dymally High School – 8800 San Pedro St., Los Angeles 90003
- LAUSD Food Center:
- LAUSD Food Center:
We recognize that the decision to close our schools impacts you, as well as your scholar(s) in complex ways. In an effort to acknowledge that scholars may experience mental health challenges as a result of the change in routines and supports, we have gathered some recommendations and resources:
| Common Questions | Recommendations |
| What are signs that my scholar is in need of mental health support? |
|
| What should I do if I think my scholar needs mental health support? | You have the option to:
|
| What are hotlines that can support me and my scholar? |
|
Family Resources:
- The CDC Mental Health and Coping During COVID-19– (Only the parent section)
- The Child Mind Institute’s Talking to Kids About the Coronavirus.
- National Association of School Psychologists’ Talking to Children About COVID-19: A Parent Resource
- SAMSHA’s Taking Care of Your Behavioral Health: Tips for Social Distancing, Quarantine, and Isolation During an Infectious Disease Outbreak
- SAMHA’s Coping With Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks
- Coronavirus – BrainPop Video
- Just For Kids: A Comic Exploring The New Coronavirus
We hope these resources help our scholars and families to stay safe and healthy during this challenging time. If you or your scholar need additional support, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your principal or me. We will send further communication about parent-requested learning packets in the coming day
Sincerely,
Stefan Bean, Aspire Los Angeles Superintendent
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
UPDATE: Aspire California School Closures March 16, 2020 through April 10, 2020
Date: March 12, 2020
Dear Aspire Families,
We have appreciated your understanding, patience, support and feedback over the last two weeks as we have worked together to navigate the uncertainty and disruption caused by COVID-19. Taking into consideration statements and guidance from state and local officials, our authorizing districts and peer schools throughout the state, we have made the difficult decision to close all Aspire schools throughout the state beginning on Monday, March 16 through Friday, April 10. Schools will proceed with their days tomorrow, Friday March 13, as planned.
Please know that this is not a decision that we have taken lightly, but one that we have made to put the health and well-being of our scholars, families, staff and communities at the forefront. We understand that the next four weeks will be difficult, and we plan to support our scholars and families in every way that we can, given the nature of the circumstances. We recognize the incredible burden this puts on our families, and that while it helps us mitigate some problems — namely, the spread of the virus — it creates other significant challenges. Thank you for understanding that this decision was made to support the well-being of our community.
We are still in the process of finalizing our learning plans for our scholars, and we are committed to doing everything we can to support our scholars’ continued learning throughout the closure. At the request of parents, teachers will provide work packets to students, with the exception of our previously scheduled Spring Break. For families that have requested learning packets, we anticipate beginning to distribute those packets on Wednesday.
We are also actively working with our food service provider to determine the method for the distribution of meals for our scholars throughout the closure. Given the need to make a quick decision about this closure, we are still working through many details, but we will follow up no later than Monday with more information about learning options and the meals program.
Throughout the closure, we will continue to use Parent Square as our primary method of communication. We will commit to a weekly communication, distributed on Thursdays, to provide updates and plans for reopening as the date gets closer. We will also share updates on the Aspire website, aspirepublicschools.org. We will communicate more frequently if there is new information to share.
Please know that our Aspire team is here to support you and your child in any way that we can during this challenging time. During challenging times like these, we commit to coming together to take care of every member of the Aspire community.
Thank you,
Nicole Williams Browning, Stefan Bean, Tony Solina, Aspire Superintendents
____________________________________________________________________________
Subject: Cierre de todas las escuelas Aspire: 16 de marzo a 10 de abril
Estimadas familias de Aspire:
Apreciamos su comprensión, paciencia, apoyo y comentarios durante las últimas dos semanas, ya que hemos trabajado juntos para navegar la incertidumbre y la interrupción causada por COVID-19. Teniendo en cuenta las declaraciones y la orientación de los funcionarios estatales y locales, nuestros distritos que autorizan nuestras escuelas y las escuelas pares en todo el estado, hemos tomado la difícil decisión de cerrar todas las escuelas Aspire a partir del lunes 16 de marzo hasta el viernes,10 de abril. Las escuelas procederán con su día de clases mañana, viernes 13 de marzo, según lo planeado.
Tenga en cuenta que esta no es una decisión que hemos tomado a la ligera, sino que hemos tomado para poner la salud y el bienestar de nuestros estudiantes, familias, personal y comunidades como prioridad. Entendemos que las próximas cuatro semanas serán difíciles, y planeamos apoyar a nuestros estudiantes y familias en todo lo que podamos, dada la naturaleza de las circunstancias. Reconocemos la increíble carga que esto supone para nuestras familias y que, si bien nos ayuda a mitigar algunos problemas, a saber, la propagación del virus, crea otros desafíos importantes. Gracias por entender que esta decisión se tomó para apoyar el bienestar de nuestra comunidad.
Todavía estamos en el proceso de finalizar nuestros planes de aprendizaje para nuestros estudiantes, y estamos comprometidos a hacer todo lo posible para apoyar el aprendizaje continuo de nuestros estudiantes durante el cierre. Hemos escuchado la petición de nuestros padres de proporcionarán paquetes de trabajo a los estudiantes, y los maestros proveerán paquetes de trabajo durante este lapso de tiempo con la excepción de nuestras vacaciones de primavera programadas previamente. Para las familias que han solicitado paquetes de trabajo, anticipamos comenzar a distribuir esos paquetes el miércoles.También estamos trabajando activamente con nuestro proveedor de servicios de alimentos para determinar el método de distribución de comidas para nuestros estudiantes durante el cierre. Dada la necesidad de tomar una decisión rápida sobre este cierre, todavía estamos trabajando en muchos detalles, pero haremos un seguimiento a más tardar el lunes con más información sobre las opciones de aprendizaje y el programa de comidas.
Durante el cierre, continuaremos usando Parent Square como nuestro método principal de comunicación. Nos comprometeremos a una comunicación semanal, cada jueves, para proporcionar actualizaciones y planes de reapertura a medida que se acerque la fecha. También compartiremos actualizaciones en nuestra página web de Aspire, www.aspirepublicschools.org.Nos comunicaremos con mayor frecuencia si hay nueva información para compartir.
Tenga en cuenta que nuestro equipo en Aspire está aquí para apoyarlo a usted y a su hijo de cualquier manera que podamos durante este momento difícil. En tiempos difíciles como estos, nos comprometemos a unirnos para cuidar a cada uno de nuestros miembros de la comunidad Aspire.
Gracias,
Nicole Williams Browning, Stefan Bean, Tony Solina, Aspire Superintendents
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