Lea Express for Friday, February 15

Posted on February 15, 2019
Categories: Lea Express

IMPORTANT DATES

Monday, February 18 — Schools Closed – Presidents’ Day

Wednesday, February 20 — Lea Bulldogs Basketball Game, 4:00 pm

Friday, March 1 — Early Dismissal for Students

Friday, March 15 — Lea Talent Show, 6:00 pm, Auditorium

SCHOOL EVENTS & ACTIVITIES

LoveLEA Dance
Thank you to our Student Council, Mr. Rich and Ms. Gann for an awesome celebration of Lea yesterday!  Our students had a great time. And families, thank you for your donations to Student Council!

Lea Bulldogs Basketball Games
Our next Lea Bulldog Basketball Game is on Wednesday, February 20th at 4:00 PM in the Lea Gymnasium, and we encourage all Lea students and staff to wear red to school to support the team on game days.  ALL children and youth who come to watch the game must be supervised by an adult parent, guardian, or family member.

Lea Talent Show
On Friday, March 15th at 6:00 pm in the Lea Auditorium, we will be holding our annual Talent Show! Students must submit an application to Mr. Brown by no later than Tuesday, February 18th (please note the revised date). Please see the Application Lea Talent Show 2019.03.01 for more details.

AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM INFORMATION

Lea After-School Program
Below are some reminders regarding the after-school program:

  • The Lea After-School Program dismisses at 5:00 pm on Wednesdays for staff professional development. All after-school students must be picked up by no later than 5:00 pm on Wednesdays.
  • The after-school program waiting list for Grades K-3 closed, and we will not be accepting any new application for the waiting list. Families on the waiting list will be contacted when space is available.

FAMI-LEA INFORMATION

School Advisory Council (SAC)
The SAC had a meeting on Wednesday, February 6th.  The new School Progress Report (SPR) shows that Lea made wonderful gains- congratulations to our Lea Scholars, Teachers, and Staff!!!  We moved from the “watch” category to the “reinforce” category overall and in some areas we got “model” status- the best possible! We saw gains in all areas overall including English Language Arts, Math, Science, Climate, and attendance.  We are so grateful to the entire Lea team for working together for these gains!

We also discussed the possibility that our budget will be reduced due to our new “reinforce” status and the SAC brainstormed with Principal Savage about fundraising efforts, discussions with our partners, and other ways to reduce the impact of a possible budget change for next year.  We discussed the balance between enrollment projections, centralized budget items versus school-specific and enrollment-driven budget items for Lea, and the overall funding sources available to Lea.

There is interest in a Spring fundraiser and we discussed hosting a basketball tournament and a vendor market.  Other strategies including partnering with the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools (WPCNS) and other schools in our network to share information and fundraising resources were also discussed.  Donations continue to be needed for the Student Activity Fund, the WPCNS drive to finish the playground updates, the new play structure for the small schoolyard, and other items.

We also discussed the waitlist process for this year in both kindergarten and upper grades.  Lea is now working directly with Penn Alexander (Lea serves as their overflow, especially for their overcrowded kindergarten classes), with the Headstart program at Lea, and is working to identify incoming kindergarteners who have siblings at the school.  We continue to see new students arriving at Lea and estimate we will continue to have new students throughout the year.

Lea also has significant facilities issues that need to be addressed.  SAC agreed to write another letter to the facilities office of the District and to find other avenues for getting the District to pay attention to these things.  The L-wing has particular issues around heating, leaking areas of the roof, and broken pipes.

Lea is also continuing to participate in restorative practices and we heard about Mr. Brown’s reflection room (used for in-school suspension and to help mediate situations between students in conflict with one another or with teachers).

Principals Savage and Farrell (From Penn Alexander) are going to host monthly discussions as part of a Seeking Equity and Education in Diversity (SEED) series with the Lea and PAS communities. The first session is on Tuesday, February 19th from 6-8pm at Penn Alexander (please see the attached flyer).

Finally, the SAC has invited nominations and hopes to host a candidate forum before the talent show on March 15th.

Our next SAC meeting will be March 6, 2019 from 4:30 – 6:00 pm in the Lea Library and will coincide with our Spring Title 1 Meeting.  We will be discussing the school budget for 2019-2020 and other relevant items.  All families are welcome to attend!

SAC meeting dates for 2018-2019: 3/6/19, 4/3/19, 5/8/19

Home and School Association (HSA)
HSA meetings will be held on the third Wednesday of each month during the rest of the school year. The next HSA meeting is on Wednesday, February 20th at 3:30 pm in Room 106.

The HSA is selling Lea swag as a fundraiser! We have “be-LEA-ve” t-shirts as well as Lea pop sockets and stickers! Ask an HSA officer or email us at leahomeandschool@gmail.com. Baseball T’s are $15, regular T’s are $10, and pop sockets are $3.

HSA meeting dates for 2018-2019: 2/20/19, 3/20/19, 4/10/19, 5/15/19

Pre-K Enrollment for 2019-2020
Don’t wait until August to enroll your child in pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) as spots are limited! The School District of Philadelphia accepts Pre-K applications year-round at The School District Education Center (440 N. Broad Street, First Floor, Suite 170), Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. However, if you want to be in the first placement of children for the 2019-2020 school year, you will need to submit your application before February 28th!

Download an application at www.philasd.org/prek or pick one up at The School District Education Center (440 N. Broad Street, First Floor, Suite 170). And if you have any questions, please call 215-400-4270 (and press 1).

Lea Family Survey
Our Family Survey is designed to help us learn more about families’ perspectives on our school and its programming. A link to the online survey is available here (https://tinyurl.com/leafamilysurvey), as well as in the “Spotlight” section and the “Parents” section of the Lea school website (https://lea.philasd.org/). Also, paper copies are available on the Partnerships Office bulletin board (Room 125 next to the Visitors Entrance stairway), which should be returned to Mr. Rich’s mailbox. It takes about 10-15 minutes to complete the survey. Please consider taking a few minutes to share your thoughts with us!