January 25, 2021
Hello Sankofa United Families:
Like many of you, I was tremendously moved by last week’s presidential inauguration. The words of Amanda Gorman and the overall experience brought tears and lifted a tremendous weight.
We are a week away from our monthly Student Celebration Assembly, which will be February 1st at 12:30 PM. Teachers will send families details in their weekly messages. This will also be the kick off of African American History & Black Excellence Month. We will hear from Sankofa United student musicians and members of our African American Male Achievement (AAMA) and Female Excellence (AAFE) programs.
This Monday Sankofa United became the first OUSD elementary school to host a learning hub on site. Initially this will serve only 12 students who have had very low engagement due to significant life challenges. They will participate in distance learning with their classes, but with supervision at school. Our afterschool program team, in particular Mr. D and Ms. Laura, will play a pivotal role in this. I’m deeply grateful to them, Ms. Erica, and our custodial team, Mr. Ashanti and Ms. Huiling. Of course, this is being done under very clear safety guidelines. If you have any questions about the hub, please email Erica.Macklin@ousd.org.
We have received a special gift box of books for each student at Sankofa United from Step & Ayesha Curry! Each box contains 5 books at a variety of levels, from pre reader to upper elementary grades. Here's a quick peek into the box. Anne Mills is preparing these for distribution by class. (Each will be labeled with your child's name and placed in a box labeled by class.) Speaking of materials pick up… this week promises to be wet and windy. On these days our materials distribution will be just inside the front entrance of school. As always, Grab and Go material distribution is from 8 AM - 4 PM Monday through Friday.
Food distribution continues at Sankofa United Mondays and Thursdays from 9 AM to 1 PM.
Thanks to those who participated in our School Site Council (SSC). If you were not able to join last week, you can see the slide deck here. Our next SSC meeting is February 10 at 6 PM at tinyurl.com/SankofaZoom. We will be discussing two very important things: our Safety Plan as well as our School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA). We hope to see you there.
Wish you all the best,
~ Dennis Guikema, Principal
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