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Quartz Hill Elementary

School Plan for Safe Reopening


 

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Dear Westside Families,

 

On behalf of the entire Westside Union School District family, including our Board of Trustees and staff, I offer our prayers and thoughts to the victims and families of the senseless school shooting in Texas. The tragedy these families are experiencing is just beyond belief.

 The safety of our students is our highest priority and we take that responsibility very seriously. It is at the center of everything we do. We cannot educate our students without them being physically and emotionally safe. I wanted to share a few thoughts with you about this situation and discuss steps that we are taking to ensure the safety of our school sites.

As you have no-doubt already observed, this tragic event will continue to attract endless news coverage and this exposure can be very unsettling to children. I would encourage you to limit your children’s viewing of this event on the news and social media, especially younger students. Keep in mind that the normal filters of what is acceptable to display on the news are not applied to social media, requiring extra vigilance. If you do watch news or content surrounding the event, please discuss it with your child. Specifically, it might be helpful to emphasize that such events are rare and that our schools have extensive safety procedures in place. All our schools conduct routine emergency drills and have safety plans.

We also work hard to secure our school facilities. 

  • No person may enter any school facility without clearance from the school office first, and only those with a legitimate reason for being on campus are permitted access.
  • Every Westside campus is a “secure school” where unrestricted access and movement is never permitted. 
  • All teachers and district staff are trained to rapidly “lock down” our school sites and individual classrooms at a moments notice. Our goal is maintaining a secure environment to protect our children and staff should any incident emerge.
  • Westside Union School District is capable of maintaining real-time communications with law enforcement, local and state officials and parents should any potential threat emerge.  Such communications can be initiated at a moments notice.
  • We maintain detailed evacuation plans to rapidly remove children, volunteers and staff from dangerous situations should they emerge.  These plans include multiple exits and methods of maintaining communication amidst the evacuation.
  • We will conduct a thorough internal review of safety protocols in the wake of this tragedy to ensure that every sensible strategy is being deployed to keep our children and staff safe.

 

That said, even with extensive safety measures in place, many of our students are struggling to make sense of these events and we are offering our complete support for them.

We will have counselors and psychologists available all week to support any student needing support to deal with this tragic event. I also encourage you to speak with your children about the importance of alerting the appropriate authorities when they see something out of the ordinary at or near their school. Far too often, after a terrible event we hear of “warning signs” associated with the individuals involved. As a society we must do better at picking up on such signs and acting accordingly. That starts with teaching our children to say something if they see something.

Out of an abundance of caution, we will be conducting drills at each of our school sites over the coming days to ensure that we have had additional practice with our students prior to their departure for vacation.

Please contact your principal if you have any questions or concerns. We continue to review our safety procedures to ensure the safety of our students and staff.

Finally, I want to take a moment to commend the teachers and staff at the school in Uvalde, Texas for their sacrifice and quick thinking to protect the children. Everyday our teachers and staff do whatever is necessary to protect our children. During the coming days, as we prepare for summer break, it might be an opportune time to let those who work with your children daily know how much you appreciate their dedication in making our schools safe. These are amazing heroes and heroines in our schools!

 

Please keep the families in Uvalde in your thoughts as they will need all of our help to endure this tragedy.

Again, thank you for working with us to keep our students safe.

News

Students use yarn to grab and stack red plastic cups.

Campus Climate Assistants

While on the playground, students have the opportunity to engage in academic activities with our Campus Climate Assistants. Campus Climate Assistants work with our school counselor to develop structured activities for our students to participate in during recess and lunch. In the picture above, students had to be strategic while working with their team to use rubber bands to stack cups.

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Quartz Hill Elementary School Entrance

Quartz Hill Elementary is located in the heart of Quartz Hill and serves students from transitional kindergarten through sixth grade. Additionally, Quartz Hill Elementary also has a special education preschool. The Quartz Hill Elementary staff prides itself in offering a rigorous curriculum that engages all students. Quartz Hill is an AVID certified school. AVID curriculum is taught in all grade-levels assisting students to develop critical thinking skills, goal setting, and organizational structures. In addition to our core academics, Quartz Hill offers multiple opportunities for enrichment. Students are encouraged to participate in student government, ballroom dancing, and robotics.

Student engineered city structure to withstand earthquake

STEM

Teachers infuse STEM into their classroom weekly to challenge our students.

Students in Mrs. Tidwell's fourth grade class worked to develop a city. Each team had to engineer a structure that withstand a major earthquake. Students then presented their structures to the class and reviewed the specialized structures in place that would allow the structure to remain standing through tumultous shaking.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

UPDATES FOR PARENTS OF SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN

Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in TK-12 Schools

This document reviews current policies and important action steps to keep children safe in Los Angeles County’s 3,040 TK-12 schools. At the end you will find resources you can turn to, including where to call, if you want further information or need assistance with COVID-19 prevention or care.

Parent Updates TK-12

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