Friday, May 14, 2021 Quote of the week: “What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.” - Glenn Close, actress and mental health advocate Dear Ocean Shore Families, May is mental health awareness month and it seems more important than ever to focus on caring for ourselves, our students, our children, our families, our friends. This pandemic has impacted all of us. Like many people, I feel passionate about issues that relate to my interests or needs. I helped found the Pacifica Education Foundation because equity in education is important to me. I served on campaigns to pass our parcel taxes for the same reason, and volunteered at the San Francisco SPCA because I care deeply about animal welfare. I feel just as passionate about raising awareness about mental health. It's much easier to talk about mental illness now than it was in the 1970's and 80's when I was growing up. I didn't know why I seemed to feel things more intensely than other people, or why my sisters spent so much time in their rooms with the doors closed. Out of the five Boland siblings, four of us were diagnosed with clinical depression as adults. In my case, clinical depression and general anxiety disorder, and I didn't seek help until I was 41 and convinced that my 6-year-old son and my 3-year-old daughter would be better off without me. Of course, this was not the case, but it felt real to me. When you are in the grips of depression, you don't think rationally. Luckily, I was able to get the help I needed. I found a great therapist, started taking medication, and began learning how to manage depression and anxiety. I share this because mental illness affects 20% of the adult population in a "normal" year (https://www.nami.org/mhstats) and I'm sure the numbers for 2020-21 are much higher. I share this because we need to talk about mental health with each other and with our children in order to destigmatize it. I share this because it's never too early or too late to get help. Finally, I share this in the hope that my openness might encourage others to speak up, find help, or support others that are struggling. Take care and be well! Jeanne Vaccinations available for 12-15 year-olds! Please go to SMC Health's website for more information or call your pediatrician. Get those kids vaccinated asap! https://www.smchealth.org/vaccine-clinic-calendar. Shout out of the week: Our amazing PTO and our 7th/8th grade families provided a wonderful lunch for us last week and Liza Scatena-Martinez, one of the managers at Colombo's, and mom to Maxton, spent hours making us sandwiches that Columbo's donated to our staff. Thank you for taking care of us! And another shout out to the Pacifica Education Foundation which raises much-needed funds to support the elementary music, middle school band, SPARC Poetry, and other programs that benefit our students and staff. Please consider donating to the Pacifica Education Foundation during Donation Days next week, May 19th-21st. We cannot run these programs without your support, and our goal is to sign up 100 new families as PEF members. As the founding president of PEF, I know how crucial it is that we support an education foundation that benefits all of Pacifica's children. Please see the attached flier for more information. School Business Link to the 2021-22 Return to OSS form: Return to OSS 2021-22 Please fill this out immediately so that we can plan staffing for next year. Our office staff has started calling families for confirmation. Town Hall Wellness Event: Our special education and student services department are hosting a Zoom event on May 18th that will include a guided discussion on the effects of the COVID crisis and encourages reflection on how to move forward during this time of change. Please see the attached flier. Manifest Youth Conference: This conference, open to 12-17 year-olds throughout San Mateo County, provides information about mental health and substance abuse.This conference is sponsored in part by the Daly City Youth Health Center and Pacifica Prevention Partnership. Please see the attached flier. Care Solace Mental Health resource: Please see the attached flyer with details. This is an online resource available to all families, staff and students in our school district. Care Solace matches families with mental health professionals that accept their insurance plans or that have sliding scale fees for families without insurance. See the attached flier for more information. Talent Show information: The OSS talent show is an annual favorite tradition for our school community and we are pleased to announce we will be hosting an OSS 2021 Virtual Talent Show Extravaganza! This year's show will be viewable on Friday June 4th. Sign-ups will be open through Monday May 31st. You can mark your spot by filling out the following Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXWDvDeZ7IQA49PQjmoTEwoIcWL8lfLonUzIWmoBK1VrkqrA/viewform?usp=sf_link We will collect all video submissions via FlipGrid, like we did last year. Once you sign up via the Google Form above you will be sent the FlipGrid code to submit your video act. Get as creative as you want! We are so excited to see what you come up with this year! Reminder that all posts are moderated for a K-8 audience before final posting in the show. Please keep all acts under 3 minutes. If you are new to FlipGrid, have any questions, or need any help getting ready for your act please reach out to us....we are here for you every step of the way! Your awesome talent show crew can be reached anytime at: [email protected]. Recess/Snack time: Please make sure that your child can open the snack that you are sending and has any utensils needed to eat. This was a concern before the pandemic, and now that we aren't supposed to touch children's food or offer any snacks or utensils, it's very important that your child have a healthy snack that they can eat without assistance. Thank you! CAASPP testing: 3rd through 8th graders will be tested. The testing schedules will vary depending on the grade level, and the teachers should be sharing those schedules with you shortly. Ocean Shore's testing window is May 17th through June 10th. Please email your child's teacher with any questions. 7th grade fundraiser: Come join us at the May 22 Arts & Crafts PopUp from 12-4pm at the Intertwine Cafe. Several of our own 7th grade parents and additional OSS supporters will be selling their arts and crafts, Cristin will be hosting a music class, and P-Town Birrias will be dishing up some amazing food. All vendors that day will be donating a portion of their proceeds to the 7th grade class fund to help send the 7th graders on their 8th grade field trip, have an amazing graduation, and fun skip day. Use the QR code in the flyer to sign up for your music class spot with Cristin. We hope to see you all there! Flier attached. Art-a-thon video: A video of the art created by our students will be shown at the beginning of the PSD school board meeting on May 19th. It should be wonderful! Please see the attached flier. Other events/Information: Please see the additional attached fliers for: Spindrift Summer Programs, CalFresh food program, Smile California, and ThinkBridge Summer Program. Link to the Daily Health Screening Form: OSS Daily Health Screening ![]()
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Jeanne BellingerPrincipal of Ocean Shore. Check back here for weekly updates and messages from the principal. Archives
June 2022
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Location |
Ocean Shore School
411 Oceana Blvd Pacifica, CA 94044 Main office: 650-738-6650 |
For enrollment questions, please contact our front office. Our PTO does not have control over cumulative records.
School secretary - Patricia Buddington |