Hello HTLA Community.
I hope you are all doing well and staying safe. California is entering Phase II in the re-opening of our economy/society process. Please stay safe.
We are making our way to the end of the 2020 school year. The spring semester has been, said politely, a mess. But, through it all our teachers and students have continued to perform at the high level we expect. Nothing is ever perfect, but our community has done amazing work to sustain the commitment to the long-term growth of our students. It is not easy in the face of difficult short-term (and possibly medium-term) difficulties to keep working towards a long-term goal. It is easy to get side-track or distracted. But we have continued to work toward the goal of having all our students ready for post-secondary success. And, we will all continue to aim for the stars.
I hope you all have seen the remarkable success our senior class has achieved. The statistics are impressive. From Ms. Miramontes, our College Advisor, “The Class of 2020 has been accepted to 87 different colleges, and was awarded a combined total of almost 3.4 million dollars in merit based scholarships by those colleges. 100% of our seniors will attend college in the fall, and 82% will attend a four-year college.” Amazing and congratulations to all!
As the seniors prepare for what comes next in their lives, we normally have a traditional commencement ceremony. Unfortunately, this is not possible this year. So we are figuring out what we can do to mark the occasion and celebrate their tremendous accomplishments. We have had several meetings between seniors and faculty to hash out ideas and options. I would like to talk with the parents of seniors as well. We are going to have a meeting at 7 PM on Monday, May 11 to discuss. I will forward and post a link to the platform to you on Monday. I hope you can attend.
You may have heard that LAUSD announced it will be starting school in the fall on August 18. This has always been our scheduled first day of instruction.
Finally, please join me in celebrating our wonderful faculty at the end of Teacher Appreciation Week. Thank you to so many of you who acknowledged them by contributing to the Parent Association’s drive. That effort and thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated. I believe we have the best faculty around. I know how hard they work and how committed they are to helping our students progress and achieve success. I try not to be overly sentimental, but here is what I think of our teachers. From my heart to theirs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6SNYXcB21w