Pearl Preview 2013-11-11

• Thursday is Class Dress Day!
12th graders dress as royals
11th dresses as business casual
10th dress in rock n roll clothing
9th dress as a blast from the past

• Thursday from 9 –12 Pierce College representatives will be on campus. Sign up at the counselor table.

• Friday is Fiesta Friday and our annual Art Show in the MPR

• Friday night is Homecoming! Presale tickets are $5 and tickets at the door are $7.

• Sign ups are going on now for the House Olympics!

• Leadership is holding a canned food drive. Please bring in canned goods to share with those who have so much less than most of us.

• The Jr. Class is selling pies!! Order one for your holiday family gathering or as a gift for someone special. You can order them now until Nov. 15 and then you pick them up in Sherman Oaks. Contact Mr. Hoeks to order one!

• Club Constitution forms were due on Thur. Oct 31. Clubs who have not yet submitted need to do so NOW.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

At Daniel Pearl Magnet High School our focus is on student learning and achievement, and graduating all students college-prepared and career-ready.

Recently there have been changes in state law that will have a profound impact on the required tests taken by your student. Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 484, which means that students, on the whole, will no longer be tested on the California Standards Tests (CST) and the California Modified Assessment (CMA) in English Language Arts, Mathematics and History/Social Science.

Please click here to view the rest of the letter from Principal Smith: Changes in State Testing 2013 October.

We are proud to share that our very own Mr. Middlebrook is LAUSD’s Teacher of the Day for November 6th, 2013. You can read more about him on LAUSD’s Facebook page here.

The School Site Council will have their first meeting of the 2013-14 academic year on Tuesday, August 27th at 5:30 pm. Council elections will be held at this meeting, so please come to vote and make your voice heard!

Here is the official announcement (which includes a section to return to the main office): SSC Orientation & Election Notice

Hi Everyone!

Below please find an update on our piano keyboard funding for DPMHS:

As of August 4th, 2013, we have 22 donors who have donated $1691.59 on the Donors Choose website. We still need to raise $4457.21 before the project expiration date of August 22, 2013.

There is a matching donation special going on right now - donors who enter the code “DREAMS” at checkout will have their donation matched, up to $50 at http://tinyurl.com/caafsd7 .

This means if we can find 45 people who can pledge $50 in the next 17 days who enter the code “DREAMS” we will have our keyboard class!

I know we can do it - we are featured prominently on three Facebook giving pages.

Thank you,
Ms. Gorski

P.S. More exciting news - the Guitar Center Charity Team has donated a $500 store credit to us. I hope to use this to purchase keyboard stands. Special thanks to Mr. Schaffter for introducing me to his friend who is an executive at Guitar Center!

A few weeks ago, NBC’s “The Voice” taped a segment on our campus. That segment will air on one of these four Tuesdays: May 21st, May 28th, June 4th, or June 11th.

Please tune in to see our talented students, our amazing Ms. Gorski, and Terry McDermott (one of the show’s finalists). You can keep track on NBC’s website: www.nbc.com/kia

You can see a longer video on Terry McDermott’s website (http://terrymcdermottmusic.com/kia-commercial/) of some behind-the-scenes footage.

And now you can see longer videos that showcase our wonderful students here (http://www.nbc.com/the-voice/exclusives/kia/)

Our very own Ms. Jackie Remillard Gorski is one of 21 LAUSD educators named Teacher of the Year!

Ms. Gorski has done so much for our community, far above simply teaching. She has created new connections with the wider community, secured new resources for our music program, and put our name on a national stage.

Please join us in congratulating her!

Has Ms. Gorski made a difference in your life? Let her know with a quick note - [email protected].

2013 Teacher of the Year Press Release

We received wonderful news this week that part of our Title I funding has been restored for next year. These funds are very important to the operations of our school community. This has also been reported by the LA Daily News. Here’s Principal Smith:

“Dear Parents and Students of Daniel Pearl Magnet High School,

Thank you for bringing your concerns about the loss of Title I funding at Daniel Pearl Magnet HS to the attention of the Local Interim Superintendent, Mr. Byron Maltez. I have received information due to an investigation launched by the LAUSD Administrative staff. Mr. Maltez reports, ” ….Recently, a discrepancy was reported between the original instruction/deadline for the free/reduced lunch application (September 28, 2012) and another District communication from the Title I Office (October 3, 2012) causing a slight confusion and potentially affecting the Title I eligibility for several schools in the District. Daniel Pearl Magnet High School was found to be one of the affected schools and I am pleased to inform you that the school’s Title I status has been restored. Principal Deb Smith will soon receive the Title I allocation and additional time for the Teacher Librarian may be considered by the School Site Council at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School.”

With this new information from LAUSD, DPMHS will hold an additional SSC meeting to discuss the new allocations and give input to the principal regarding the allocation and budgeting of these funds. Please monitor your phone and email messages closely to be kept informed of this important meeting.”

The additional School Site Council meeting will be held on Monday June 10th at 5:30 pm. See you there!