Tag Archives: Lancaster charter school

Studio

Multipurpose Family Income Forms Due by December 1

If you haven’t had a chance yet, please read on. Thank you for your time!

The start of school means getting to know new friends, facilitators, and routines, adjusting to a new way of learning, and, of course, filling out lots of paperwork!

One form that is especially important for schools to receive from families is called the Multipurpose Family Income Form. This form needs to be filled out for every learner and submitted each year. The deadline has been extended to December 1. It can be submitted in a variety of ways. You can fill it out via a fillable PDF (attached) and email it to betty.lara@ileadav.org, fill out a paper form (attached in English, attached in Spanish) and drop it off at the front office, or — in our newest, completely digital way — you can complete it via the My Mealtime online platform. This new option ensures the confidentiality of your form and can be done from home. Please see the attached instructions (here and here) on how to access this option. Please email all forms (by December 1) and any questions to betty.lara@ileadav.org.

Some people have heard that it is necessary to fill out this form only if you want your child to qualify for free or reduced-price school breakfast and/or lunch. The truth is that it is important for EVERY family to fill out this form because doing so helps bring much-needed additional money and services directly to our school!

Our school receives funding from the state and federal governments to support the needs of low-income learners. For each learner who qualifies for free or reduced price breakfast/lunch, our school receives thousands of additional dollars in funding. Studies show that many eligible students, in particular middle school and high school students, do not complete this form each year, leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for our school on the table. Even a small increase in eligible forms collected results in significantly more money to support our learners and school.

What is the Multipurpose Family Income Form?

This form collects basic information about your learner so our school can determine their eligibility for free or reduced-price breakfast/lunch, and also so that our school can qualify to receive extra money and programs. You may have heard this form referred to in the past as the School Meal Application Form or School Lunch Form. The name has changed because it is really about more than school breakfast/lunch.

What if my child doesn’t want to eat school breakfast/lunch? Why should I fill out the form?
Even if your child chooses to bring their own breakfast/lunch or snack or if they eat lunch at home, filling out the form is very important! It ensures that our school gets all of the funding and benefits available to support facilitators and learners.

How does filling out the Multipurpose Family Income Form help our school?

Schools get more money in their budgets to support learners. Our school qualifies to receive more money per learner from the state and federal government, which they can pass on to our school.

Help! The form is confusing!

Income information: Some parents have asked whether they need to provide this information if they know that they are not eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The form does require that families enter income. This information is not shared and is required for those seeking free or reduced-price meal eligibility. However, a family that does not wish to be considered for eligibility may fill out a form, complete learner information in step 1, write “do not qualify” in the first box in step 3, and then complete the name, signature, and date lines in step 4.

Last 4 digits of Social Security Number: If you don’t have a social security number or don’t want to submit the last 4 digits of your social, you can check the box that says “don’t have one” and still be eligible for free or reduced-price breakfast/lunch.

Is the Information I submit confidential?

The information you submit on the Multipurpose Family Income Form cannot be shared by our school.

Personal information submitted on the form is not shared with the state or federal government; only the number of learners who qualify for free or reduced breakfast/lunch is shared.

Facilitators are not told which learners qualify for free or reduced breakfast/lunch benefits.
Our school does not share information with other organizations that provide benefits. But if your child does qualify for free or reduced-price breakfast/lunch, you may use the eligibility form provided by our school to qualify for other benefits through providers.

If your child qualifies and chooses to eat breakfast/lunch at school, the process is the same as it is for a learner who is paying full price.

Why is the payment system different?

Our school allows families to deposit funds and fill out applications online via My Mealtime. If you don’t already have an account, please visit https://ileadav.org/school-lunch-program/mealtime-parent-directions for directions.

What if I still have questions?

If you run into any problems, you can always contact the staff at our school for individual assistance. You can reach them by calling (661) 494-7442 or emailing betty.lara@ileadav.org.

We thank you for your continued support of iLEAD Antelope Valley!

Dawn Roberson
Director

Helpful Links
Online application for Free/Reduced Meals
Parent Guide to MealTime Apply Online
Fillable PDF Application for Free/Reduced Meals
Printable Application for Free/Reduced Meals (English)
Printable Application for Free/Reduced Meals (Spanish)
iLEAD Antelope Valley Meal Charge Policy
Letter to Households (English and Spanish)

Studio

Reminders: Fall 2020 Distance Learning Instructions

Below you will find information about tech tools necessary for this year: Student Email, PowerSchool, and Zoom. If you need any support, please submit a Tech Ticket.

1. Student Email

If you are a returning learner, your school email and password from last year has not changed, and you can log into your email at https://mail.google.com/.

If you are a new learner, your facilitator will be able to provide you with your new email address, or you may submit a Tech Ticket and our technology team can assist you.

An email is not required to log into Zoom.

2. PowerSchool Account Instructions

Click HERE for PowerSchool learner and family training.

You should now have access to your courses. Your facilitator will contact you through PowerSchool with a welcome announcement and instructions on how to get started.

  • Your courses are located here: ilead online.learning.powerschool.com.
  • Please bookmark this page on your child’s browser. You can access PowerSchool Learning on a desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone. To download the learning app for Apple, click HERE.
  • Please log into your new account and bookmark this domain to access your courses.

Your username:  Firstname.Lastname or firstname.lastname

Your temporary password: changeme (for new learners only)

Note: if you are a returning learner, your password has not changed.

If you need any assistance logging in, please submit a Tech Ticket.

Do not use the Google log-in option. Scroll down to see the example below.
. 

3. Zoom
Zoom Cheat-Sheet for Parents and Caregivers
Zoom Camera Tips for Learners

Please click HERE to visit our Knowledge Base of tips and tutorials.

Please click HERE for technical support.

Culture and Curriculum, Studio

iLEAD Antelope Valley Culture: Components of Social-Emotional Learning — Optimism

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is one of the core elements of the iLEAD Antelope Valley approach to education. Through social-emotional learning, learners understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. 

Academic achievement is only one aspect of a learner’s education at iLEAD Antelope Valley. We also deeply value learners’ development of emotional intelligence, life skills, and community engagement, and we support these through the development of character strengths, as defined by Character Lab. Social-emotional learning develops strengths of heart, mind, and will.

Today, we want to discuss a character strength of will: optimism. Optimism is being hopeful about future outcomes combined with the agency to shape that future.

When we embody the character strength of optimism, the following things are true about us:

  1. We attribute problems to temporary, changeable causes rather than explaining them in terms that author Martin Seligman calls “the three Ps” – permanent, personal, and pervasive.
  2. We expect good things from others, the world, and the future.
  3. We can overcome obstacles to reach goals.

We can help learners build healthy optimism in the following ways:

  • Create a positive, stable, caring environment. We can create positive, stable environments where kids feel known and cared for.
  • Help learners develop more positive thinking patterns. For example, if a learner gets stuck and says, “I’m not good at this,” we encourage them to reposition the statement like this: “I need more practice or a new perspective to master this concept.” This takes consistent practice.
  • Give learners opportunities to learn from their mistakes. If learners experience failure and learn from that failure, they will develop resiliency when obstacles occur. 

Character Lab CEO Angela Duckworth has said, “It stands to reason that even in our darkest moments, there will always be hope for humankind.”

That thought likely rings true for many of us as we survey a world gripped by multiple ongoing crises. We all need optimism, and we have a responsibility to help kids develop a healthy strength of optimism that will help them face the world. 

Studio

Webinars: Virtual Safety During Distance Learning

Now more than ever learners are at home alone for hours on end working tirelessly behind a screen. During this time, they have unlimited access to the internet. Even with safety controls being implemented, parents have reached out on multiple occasions only after discovering that their child is engaging in sexting, sharing nude photos, accessing pornography, communicating with strangers, partaking in or being a victim of cyberbullying etc. Parents are also reporting an increase in anxiety and depression in their children at an alarming rate. iLEAD’s Student Support Counselors have created guidance lessons geared toward elementary, middle, and high schoolers. Included are discussion and reflection questions that can help facilitate meaningful conversations.

A parent/facilitator-geared virtual safety presentation was provided during this year’s Student Support Symposium on October 13. We’ve included the webinars here for you.

Studio

Join Us for Lunch Bunch!

The Counseling Team is excited to host Lunch Bunch. Learners are invited to bring their lunch or snacks every week and meet with friends and socialize while developing positive and healthy relationships and building social skills. Please check ParentSquare for the Zoom info to join! The schedule is as follows:

Grades K-2: Wednesdays, 9:00-9:30 AM
Grades 3-5: Wednesdays, 9:30-10:00 AM
Grades 6-8: Wednesdays, 10:00-10:30 AM

Kristina Lobato heads up iLEAD AV’s Lunch Bunch. If you have any questions, please email her at kristina.lobato@ileadschools.org.

Lunch, Studio

Free Breakfast and Lunch for All Children

We are excited to provide free meals through the Summer Seamless Program. We are providing meals for all children up to 18 years of age at no charge. You do not need to be an enrolled learner in order to receive free meals. Each child will receive one grab-and-go breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday except on school holidays. Good news! Each Friday we also serve free grab-and-go meals to take home for Saturday and Sunday as well. Children need not be present to pick up.

While our site is closed, school meals are grab-and-go with minimal contact and may not be consumed on-site. Breakfast and lunch are served together at the front gate (2110 W. Avenue K, Lancaster, CA) Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 11:00 AM. For your protection and ours, please wear a cloth face covering when picking up meals.

Please make sure to continue to fill out the Multipurpose Income Form, as this will help to establish your eligibility for when this program stops, and will also help our school in many other ways. This form needs to be filled out for every learner and submitted each year. The deadline has been extended to December 1. It can be submitted in a variety of ways. You can fill it out via a fillable PDF (attached) and email it to betty.lara@ileadav.org, fill out a paper form (attached in English, attached in Spanish) and drop it off at the front office, or — in our newest, completely digital way — you can complete it via the My Mealtime online platform. This new option ensures the confidentiality of your form and can be done from home. Please see the attached instructions (here and here) on how to access this option. Please email all forms (by December 1) and any questions to betty.lara@ileadav.org.