Hello Korematsu Families - 

Our second week of the year down! Our students are settling into the Phoenix way and working hard in class. The one thing many students can see is that we have some really large classes! We need to get the classes down to our contract limits.

There are quite a few more students this year than we expected. As a result of a significant increase in our expected student enrollment we will be adding several new sections (class periods) over the weekend. Our original projection was for KMS to have about 633 students. After dropping our no-shows we know that we actually have closer to 680 students. This means that we need to add new classes to our schedule to make sure that all students have a place to learn. Unfortunately, that means some classes will need to be moved around, and there will be many schedule changes. On Monday, many students will have new schedules. We will try to make these changes as smooth as possible, but please know that student schedules may be different as we have to add class and move classes to different periods. While the bulk of changes will be ready for Monday, schedule changes will continue throughout next week as we balance classes. We ask for your patience as we make these significant changes. 

Tablets and Hot Spots
All students must have a tablet for both school and home use. If your student does not have a school/district issued tablet please complete this form. Students also need to have internet access at home. WCCUSD will provide devices for students to access the internet at home. If your child needs internet access please complete this form.

Attendance
This year we are keenly focused on improving student attendance. Our academic data points to a clear understanding that if students are in class they are learning. Our faculty committed to create clear information to support students with classwork if they miss school. But we need the assistance of parents and guardians to make sure students arrive to school on time prepared for learning. If students are sick, they should stay home, but we need families to notify the school when a student will not be at school. Please call (510) 231-1449 or use this form to submit the absence.

Week at a Glance
Monday: Regular School day, Cross Country after School
Tuesday: Flipped Day, Cross Country after School
Wednesday: Regular Minimum Day
Thursday: Flipped Day, Grade Level Assembly #2, Cross Country After School
Friday: Regular Day

Upcoming
8/31 - Grade Level Assembly #2
9/4 - Labor day Holiday
9/14 - Back to School Night

Ongoing Announcements:

• Daily Announcements/Information
  • At KMS we are working to develop students who advocate for themselves as they get ready for high school and beyond. Our daily announcements are used to provide information to all students and hopefully they bring the information home. Of course we also recognize our teens may "forget" to bring the information home in a timely manner. Here is a link to our daily announcements in case you want to keep up as a parent/guardian.
• PTSA
  • The Korematsu PTSA is a wonderful group of parents and guardians focused on creating a positive learning community. I encourage everyone to become a member to support our school. 
    • Become a member here!
    • Sign up to receive emails from PTSA by sending an email to:  korematsu-ptsa-news+subscribe@googlegroups.com.

• Gym Construction
  • The KMS gym is undergoing extensive repairs. The entire gym floor was removed and new flooring is being installed. We anticipate the gym will not be available for another 6 - 8 weeks. Luckily we will not be seeing rains anytime soon and students can continue with PE on the basketball courts and the grass area at Castro Park. 
• Lunchtime  
  • This school year all students will be eating lunch in the cafeteria.  After eating (and throwing away their trash!) they can go out to the yard, to a teachers classroom, or the library if those spaces are open and available. Students may not wander the halls at lunch. Please remind your student they need to stay in a supervised area at all times. This is for their safety.
  • Students may not order food from deliver services such as uber eats, doordash etc.
• Cell Phones
  • KMS does not allow cell phones to be used on campus. School is a place for learning and cell phones continue to be a distraction from learning. Please remind your student that cell phones are for emergency purposes. We need your support to keep the focus on learning please do not call or text your student while they are on campus. Please call the main office. We can pull your student from class to call you back. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/09/school-cellphone-ban-yondr/
• Social Media
  • Please review your students social media accounts and pages. Instagram pages are often used to spread misinformation, harassment and bullying of students at KMS and other schools. In all my years of flagging these accounts to Instagram I have yet to see a single page taken down.  Students are creating pages using multiple accounts and shared passwords. Sometimes several students are in "control" of a page. Often the language and images/videos of these pages are innocent and fun, but there are also instances where the page and posts are intentional harassment of classmates. As we have seen, this harassment can be extremely harmful. Please speak with your student about their use of instagram and social media. Here is instagram's own parent guide that you may find useful.  Here is a review from Common Sense Media for Instagram.

Phoenix Expectations

Respectful

Responsible

Resilient

Allies

Hello KMS Community, 

The first week of school is in the books. It has been wonderful to see our returning students and meet our new 7th graders. We had our first grade level assembly last week. The students did great and exemplified the Phoenix Expectations for events. Here is the slide deck for your information. 

We wanted to extend a huge thank you to the PTSA members who provided a wonderful brunch for KMS staff on Thursday! 

• Please remember to have students bring their tablet fully charged to school every day.  

Staffing:
We are currently conducting interviews for our open science position and hope to make an announcement soon. We still have an open Resource position.

Scheduling:

We are balancing schedules, conducting schedule change requests, and ensuring that all students are enrolled in the correct classes .  Please be patient as we work diligently to address all scheduling concerns. We have a lot of requested changes and are limited in what we can accomplish. 

Week at a Glance
Monday: Regular School day, Cross country meeting after school C 212
Tuesday: Flipped Day
Wednesday: Regular Minimum Day
Thursday: Flipped Day
Friday: Regular Day

Upcoming
8/31 - Grade Level Assemblies #2
9/4 - Labor Day Holiday
9/14 - Back to School Night

• Staffing:
  • We are currently conducting interviews for our open science position and hope to make an announcement soon. We still have an open Resource position. 

• Daily Announcements/Information
  • At KMS we are working to develop students who advocate for themselves as they get ready for high school and beyond. Our daily announcements are used to provide information to all students and hopefully they bring the information home. Of course we also recognize our teens may "forget" to bring the information home in a timely manner. Here is a link to our daily announcements in case you want to keep up as a parent/guardian.
• PTSA
  • The Korematsu PTSA is a wonderful group of parents and guardians focused on creating a positive learning community. I encourage everyone to become a member to support our school. 
    • Become a member here!
    • Sign up to receive emails from PTSA by sending an email to:  korematsu-ptsa-news+subscribe@googlegroups.com.

• Gym Construction
  • The KMS gym is undergoing extensive repairs. The entire gym floor was removed and new flooring is being installed. We anticipate the gym will not be available for another 6 - 8 weeks. Luckily, we will not be seeing rain anytime soon and students can continue with PE on the basketball courts and the grass area at Castro Park. 
• Lunchtime  
  • This school year all students will be eating lunch in the cafeteria.  After eating (and throwing away their trash!) they can go out to the yard, to a teachers classroom, or the library if those spaces are open and available. Students may not wander the halls at lunch. Please remind your student they need to stay in a supervised area at all times. This is for their safety.
• Cell Phones
  • KMS does not allow cell phones to be used on campus. School is a place for learning and cell phones continue to be a distraction from learning. Please remind your student that cell phones are for emergency purposes. We need your support to keep the focus on learning please do not call or text your student while they are on campus. Please call the main office. We can pull your student from class to call you back. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/09/school-cellphone-ban-yondr/
• Social Media
  • Please review your students social media accounts and pages. Instagram pages are often used to spread misinformation, harassment and bullying of students at KMS and other schools. In all my years of flagging these accounts to Instagram I have yet to see a single page taken down.  Students are creating pages using multiple accounts and shared passwords. Sometimes several students are in "control" of a page. Often the language and images/videos of these pages are innocent and fun, but there are also instances where the page and posts are intentional harassment of classmates. As we have seen, this harassment can be extremely harmful. Please speak with your student about their use of instagram and social media. Here is instagram's own parent guide that you may find useful.  Here is a review from Common Sense Media for Instagram.
    
    

Phoenix Expectations

Respectful

Responsible

Resilient

Allies

Hello KMS Families,

Like many schools, Korematsu is searching for teachers for the coming year. We had several unexpected teacher resignations after the conclusion of last school year. As the school year is fast approaching we are working to fill these open positions to complete our teaching staff. 

We are looking for the following positions:  

– Science Teacher https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1813100
– English Teacher  https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1805007
– Math Teacher  https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1800675
– Special Education Teacher  (Mild-Moderate Support Needs) https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1780013

If you have any friends, family, recent college graduates, or colleagues that might be interested, please feel free to share these job postings with them! Qualified teaching candidates need to have a Bachelor’s degree and we can work with the candidate regarding a credential program. For any questions about the following job postings, please reach out to Mr. Burnham mburnham@wccusd.net or Ms. Krug bkrug@wccusd.net

Click here to view the Summer Letter 2023