| Dear Parents and Guardians,
Welcome back from Spring Break! This year is not an easy year for BSD because of the enrollment drop. The district just sent out the recommendation for relocation (see below for the communication recap.). While both Jing Mei and Big Picture may be excited to start planning the move to newer facilities, we understand that the consolidation of schools that resulted in vacant buildings was extremely difficult for students, staff and families at Wilburton and Eastgate. It is important that students, staff and families continue to model empathy and thoughtful consideration for the Eastgate and Wilburton school communities. At this point, Wilburton and Eastgate ES is still going through the transition time with school closure/consolidation. Please be mindful about our action and conversation between now till the end of school year while they are planning on the change for next year. I know most of us haven’t had a chance to visit either of the schools and not know the building well enough to give inputs. But please know that we don’t have a plan to tour visitors to either Wilburton and Eastgate at this point. Thank you for being mindful during this sensitive and transition time. District staff will be working closely with the administrators of those schools and will follow their lead on when and how to best engage with their staff as part of the transition process. We encourage you to fill this Microsoft Forms so the district can hear your feedback and if you have questions, feel free to join our family forum on 4/20 at our gym. One of the frequently asked questions is about our bell schedule if we move. The district has confirmed that Jing Mei will remain as a late start school and keep the current bell schedule for school year of 2023-2024. Please see the relocation communication recap here: Thank you for reading our newsletter. We recognize that the recent recommendation to relocate schools may have caused worry and ambiguity for some families. We want to reassure you that we are committed to collaborating and assisting each other, particularly during times of transition. Your ongoing partnership with us in cultivating and educating the next generation of leaders is greatly appreciated. Thank you again. Sincerely, Ms. Tan and Mr. Shelton |
| Important Dates coming up:
4/20 1-1:30 Online Volunteer Training: Join on your computer, mobile app or room device Click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 296 786 305 100 Passcode: bVqMCu Download Teams | Join on the web (If you haven’t had a chance to join the training to become volunteer in our community, please consider to do so. The training usually lasts for 15 mins and there is time for questions at the end. If this time and date doesn’t work for you, please let us know and we can arrange more options.) 4/20: Jing Mei Relocation Family Forum 6-7PM In person at Jing Mei Gym 5/29: Memorial Day, No school 6/15: 5th Grade Graduation Ceremony at Gym 2:20-3:20 and after graduation party at 3:30 |
| Recap for Update on facilities for Big Picture and Jing Mei:
Two facilities will be vacant in the Fall 2023, the facility that is currently Eastgate Elementary and the facility that is currently Wilburton Elementary. Students, staff and families have an opportunity to provide input on this preliminary proposal by attending in-person meetings and/or completing a survey which is accessible here (click here). Feedback from these surveys will be reviewed by a joint committee with members from Big Picture School and Jing Mei. The committee will provide feedback and considerations to the superintendent who will make the final decision. The format for the community café will be a very brief presentation of the options, recommendation, and rationale followed by questions from the community and an opportunity for families to talk with each other about the options. Thursday, April 20, 6:00-7:00 p.m.: Community Café for families at Big Picture and Jing Mei at their own gym April 4-24: Survey completion (click here to complete survey) April 21, 3:00 p.m.: Deadline to submit committee interest form (see below for more information) April 27: Stakeholder committee will review feedback and provide input to the Superintendent After April 27: Superintendent decision |
| 2023-2024 Class Placement Feedback: We need your input by 5/1/2023
The time has come for us to begin thinking about preparing for classroom placements for the 2023-2024 school year. Our goal during this time is to spend the spring focused on creating drafts of balanced classrooms that will meet the needs of all students. We value parent/guardian inputs. Creating balanced classrooms where children will be successful is a complex process, and we need your cooperation to make it work. We appreciate the opportunity to work together with you to create well-balanced classrooms. Your feedback is not confidential as our teaching team will collectively review the survey results. Please do not request specific teachers by name or by language ability (i.e. requesting a Chinese homeroom teacher). Note: In 3rd-5th grade students spend the same amount of time in both Chinese and English instruction, regardless of their homeroom teacher. The purpose of designating a homeroom teacher is to cover logistical procedures. 2023-2024 1st-5th Grade Class Placement Survey 一到五年级分班调查 (For current 5th grade) Middle School Interest Inquiry 中学学校就读意愿调查表 |
| Fire and LockDOWN Drills
In April we will have our 3rd Fire Drill of the school year. Washington state law and Bellevue School District policy require all schools to hold at least one drill per calendar month while school is in session. This month, we will be conducting a fire drill and practicing evacuating the building and accounting for everyone. During a fire evacuation, students are taught to quickly and quietly exit the building. They meet on the field at an assigned location and stay silent while attendance is taken to ensure all people have safely evacuated. Please talk with your student about preparing for emergencies and disasters such as fires. Encourage them to talk about their concerns and express their feelings. Emphasize that even though sometimes things happen that we may not expect, there are lots of things we can do to help us stay safe. For more information on fire safety, you might want to visit the National Fire Protection Association “Kids” page at http://www.sparky.org/ or their parent resource page at http://www.sparky.org/parents. In May we will practice our LockDOWN drill. Please note that a lockdown is considered a preventative measure and is not the same as an Active Threat. During a lockdown drill, students learn about the importance of listening to school staff and following instructions quickly and quietly. Lockdown is initiated when there is a threat to the campus or school. All threats are taken seriously. In the interest of student safety, lockdown may be initiated while the nature of the threat is evaluated. Staff are trained to lock classroom doors, shut off the lights, close the blinds, and to continually assess the situation. Please talk with your student about preparing for emergencies and disasters. Encourage them to talk about their concerns and express their feelings. Emphasize that even though sometimes things happen that we may not expect, there are lots of things we can do to help us stay safe. For more information on talking to your child about school safety, you might want to visit the website https://www.mhanational.org/talking-kids-about-school-safety. Please let us know if you have any questions. |
| Resource for Families: Is Your Child Overdue for a Well-Child Visit?
Bellevue School District partners with the Washington State Department of Healthto monitor and support student immunizations. Now is the time to catch up on immunizations! Many children are due for well-child visits because of challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. Talk with your health care provider to find out which vaccines your child needs. Use yearly checkups and other visits, such as sports physicals, to make sure your children have all the immunizations they need. Request a copy of your child’s immunization record from your health care provider so you can keep track of their immunization history. Or sign up for MyIR Mobile, which gives you online access to your own and your family’s immunization records. Children under 19 years of age in Washington are provided with all recommended vaccines at no or low cost at one of Washington state’s Childhood Vaccine Programproviders. Health care providers may charge an office visit fee and a fee to give the vaccine, called an administration fee. If you can’t afford the administration fee, you may ask for it to be waived. |
| Counselor’s Corner:
We had a Principal Tea around SEL and counseling service at Jing Mei. Here are the resources we shared: Here you can see the K-12 Social & Emotional Learning overview: https://bsd405.org/about/initiatives/social-emotional-learning/ Here are the handouts that we passed out during PrincIpal Tea time: Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Support: If you need Social Emotional Support for your child, RULER has a whole website created to share resources with families? Check out: https://www.rulerapproach.org/ruler-resources-for-families/ Included are some great conversation starters designed to get families talking about social and emotional skills at home. The conversation starters are available in English & Spanish. Grades K-1 (English) Grades 2-3 (English) Grades 4-5 (English) Grades K-1 (Spanish) Grades 2-3 (Spanish) Grades 4-5 (Spanish) There are also tip sheets for building stronger family relationships in English, Spanish & Mandarin! (Translation is on page 2) Families Tipsheet (English) Families Tipsheet (Spanish) Families Tipsheet (Mandarin) |