Dear Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) Staff, Students, Families and Community:
In our continued commitment to serving our community and providing current information, we have some important updates in this week’s message. Our next scheduled Board of Education meeting will take place on December 15, 2021 at 5:00 p.m.
Veterans Day
In observance of Veterans Day, our District Offices and schools will be closed on Thursday, November 11, 2021. School and District operations will resume on Friday, November 12, 2021. Please join us as we recognize and thank the many men and women who have served, and currently serve, in our country’s armed forces. We honor them for their service, sacrifice, and their commitment to ensuring our safety and freedom.
National Homeless Youth Awareness Month
During the November 3rd School Board meeting, we passed a board resolution recognizing November as National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. Homelessness continues to be a serious problem for many students and families across Los Angeles County. In the 2019-2020 school year, Los Angeles County identified almost 68,000 youth experiencing homelessness. Our District will continue to provide resources, in an effort to address the educational needs of students experiencing homelessness in our district. In addition, we will continue to collaborate with our community, and other social services agencies to support our students and families. Please join us in wearing green on Fridays during the month of November to support our fight to end child and youth homelessness.
Native American History Month
Our District is proud to join the nation as we celebrate Native American History Month (NAHM) for the month of November. The commemorative month focuses on the significant contributions that Native Americans have made toward the establishment and growth of the United States. It aims to provide a platform for Native people to share their culture, traditions, music, crafts, dance, and ways and concepts of life. Please join us as we share a series of Native American heroes within our weekly newsletter and on social media throughout the month of November. To learn more about Native American History Month, please click here.
IUSD Stellar Student Spotlight
by Maygan Orr
These Crozier Middle School students are the epitome of brotherly love! Seventh grader Justen Key and eighth grader Branden Key are brothers who are standout students in and out of the classroom. Both brothers attended Highland for elementary school, and were consistently on the honor roll and principal’s honors list. Justen and Branden have won medals and trophies for their sportsmanship and skills playing for the Jr. Clippers traveling basketball team. At Crozier Middle School, they both maintain a 3.2+ GPA and play for the school’s flag football team and the basketball team.
Justen’s dream college is Stanford University, where he wants to major in Chemistry. He says he wants to become an astronaut one day, because he wants to “go places that no one has ever gone”. Justen’s hobbies are playing football, basketball, video games, and boxing. Branden’s dream college is Duke University, where he would like to play basketball and major in Biology. He wants to be drafted into the NBA one day, but his plan B is to become a scientist, so that he can help cure diseases such as Cancer, and find solutions to food insecurity. Branden’s hobbies are basketball, video games, skateboarding, and boxing. Both Justen and Branden serve their community with their fellow church members by helping to feed their neighbors experiencing homelessness. They also take time out of their Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations to feed those experiencing homelessness.
Justen has this advice to share with his fellow IUSD students: “Always believe in yourself, work hard, and persevere.”
Branden has this advice to share with his fellow IUSD students: “Never give up on your dream- anything is possible when you have faith.”
To nominate a stellar IUSD student to be spotlighted next month email maygan.orr@inglewoodusd.com.
LA vs. Hate United Against Hate Week 2021 Campaign
The City of Inglewood has partnered with the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors and the County Human Relations Commission for the LA vs. Hate United Against Hate Week 2021 Campaign, a community-driven approach to empower all residents of Los Angeles County to unite against, report, and resist hate. The November 14-20, 2021 movement offers information on free follow-up services and supportive resources after reporting a hate crime, shares how members across the LA County community are standing up to and resisting hate, and provides ways to combat hate through bystander training and self-education. For more information, including a list of resources, and LA vs. Hate events happening throughout Los Angeles County, please click here.
California Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities (YLF)
The California Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities (CCEPD) is now accepting applications for the 2022 Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities (YLF), tentatively scheduled for July 17, 2022- July 22, 2022. The YLF is a six-day residential self-advocacy and leadership development program for students with disabilities. Participants will have an opportunity to interact with state and national leaders with disabilities. In addition, participants will also learn advocacy and leadership skills from alumni and professionals with disabilities and create a “Personal & Career Leadership Plan” to help reach their future education, independent living, and career goals. There is no cost for students who are selected to attend. The selected delegates’ travel, room and board, meals and disability accommodations are covered for the entire event. To register, please click here. To access the event flyer, please click here.
COVID-19 Updates
In response to staff and parent feedback and after much consideration, our current onsite weekly testing vendor, GenStar Labs, is being transitioned out and will no longer be providing services to the District effective November 5, 2021. We are transitioning these services to Vital Healthcare, who began providing COVID-19 testing for athletics and walk-up/drive through clinics for the District in March 2021. We understand that this change has an impact on those already testing with GenStar and we truly apologize for this inconvenience, as we will need participants to register with Vital Healthcare.
Weekly Onsite COVID-19 Testing
STUDENTS
EMPLOYEES
Student Registration
Must be completed by Parent/Guardian, if under age 18
Student COVID-19 Testing Website
Employee Testing Registration Employee COVID-19 Testing Website
COVID-19 Procedures, Contacts, Forms, Schedules, FAQ’s
COVID-19 Vaccinations
Last week, the CDC and FDA authorized the COVID-19 vaccine for 5 to 11-year-old children. We strongly encourage all of our families to get their school aged children vaccinated. As we have seen, the higher the vaccination rates, the less impact COVID-19 has on our day-to-day lives. Please help keep our schools and classrooms safe by getting your school aged children vaccinated.
To help in the vaccination process, our District will have several vaccine clinics where your children can get their vaccination. For more information on the IUSD vaccination clinics, please click here. The information below provides the site locations, dates, and times of the clinics. Hard copy registration forms will be provided to the school sites.
Thank you staff, parents, students, and community members for your ongoing support and commitment to the success of our district.
WeAreInglewoodUnified
Sincerely,
Erika F. Torres, Ed.D., MSW
County Administrator
