Wednesday, November 16 at 7:00 pm, LWHS Library

Wondering how you might support your student and school? Curious where your donations go? It’s all at the next LWHS PTSA General Membership Meeting! In addition, Perry Sampley, LWHS Guidance Counselor, will be joined by his son, Gabrielle Sampley, 2020 LWHS graduate, to discuss how to teach and empower our students to be self advocates. We will also elect our new PTSA President and Executive Vice President together with some key committee chairs.

The next "Coffee with Christine" will be in-person November 17 at 8:30 am in the LWHS Career Center. Come join other LWHS parents and community members for an open Q&A discussion with LWHS Principal Christine Bell. School counselors will join Principal Bell and her administration team to answer questions about Xello, high school and beyond planning, and grad pathways. Come join this super informational session! This meeting will last about an hour.

Please be sure to read Principal Bell's letter in the "School" section below.

LWHS PTSA is an active part of the Kang community. We spend nearly $20,000 each year to support our students, teachers/staff, and community in various ways – and we are behind our fundraising levels from last year! We can’t do it without you! 

Annual memberships and donations are our main source of funding and our “Pass the Pouch” request for donations is our only fundraiser of the year. Anyone – parents, grandparents, students, teachers – can join and donate. To become a member, go to the “Join PTSA/Donate” page on our website. To contribute donations, continue to Step 3, “Pass the Pouch”.

The PTSA budget supports:

• Students: Over $14,000 in grants for classroom and club activities, enrichment programs (such as College Prep workshops, College Application support, practice SAT and ACT tests), scholarships and classroom grants requested by teachers
• Teachers/Staff: Nearly $3,000 in teaching staff appreciation events
• And so much more!!

Thank you for your support!

Thank you to everyone who donated delicious items to show our appreciation during Halloween for our staff! 

Bea Joe, LWHS PTSA Staff Appreciation Chair

Dear Kang Families, 

We are into the month of November already and soon it will be the end of the first quarter. As a learning community, we have three student goals for the year. I want to share them with you so that you are aware of the work we are doing to close the small, yet inequitable, opportunity and achievement gap in our school. 

Goal #1: Focus on the success of our Multi-Lingual (ML) Learners in the area of mathematics

Analysis of student grade data from Semester 1 of the 2021-2022 school year shows that ML students have a higher percentage of incomplete grades and courses in Math compared to their non-ML peers. The non-ML population fail rate is 6% compared to the ML population fail rate of 17%, a difference of nearly 11%. 

Goal #2: Focus on the success of targeted intervention programs

Based on our 2022 data (spring SBA/WCAS), we can identify that 19% of students did not meet standard in English Language Arts, and 45% of students did not meet standard in Math. This year, our goal is to reduce the number of students not meeting the standard to 15% in ELA and 30% in Math. We will measure this growth through our SBA scores in the spring of 2023.

Goal #3: Focus on course success rates for students who identify as Black/African American or Hispanic/Latino

Our goal is to reduce the number of failing grades (D/N/F grades) among our Students of Color to show a more equitable outcome at the end of the semester/year. The focus this year is on students who identify as Black/African American or Hispanic/Latino. Our goal is to reduce the failure rate for these subsets of our student population to less than 5%. Currently, our failure/D rate is at 12.8% on average.  

I share these goals so that you know that our focus is on improvement. As our motto says, we are Always Rising. Thank you for your support, and Go Kangs!

Christine Bell  

LWHS Principal

It has been a busy fall! We had a successful College Fair as well as many successful college visits. Many students have stopped by the College and Career Center to work on applications and financial aid forms. Students are welcome anytime and are encouraged to sign up on the College and Career Center website.

Upcoming College Visits:

Today, 11/8 3:00 pm: Carroll College

Wed, 11/9 1:00 pm: Grand Canyon University

Tues, 11/15 3:00 pm: George Washington University

Wed, 11/16 1:00 pm: Hawaii Pacific University

Fri, 11/18 Roo B: University of Alaska Fairbanks

Sign up to attend: https://forms.office.com/r/GjJaK8yT6r

Financial Aid Information:

In September, the College & Career center hosted a Financial Aid evening. The event was recorded and is available to watch on the LWSD College & Career Readiness site. Watch for additional financial aid events coming soon!

Watch for upcoming Running Start sessions as well as career-centered presentations by Lake Washington Institute of Technology.

Questions? Contact Nichole Swanger, LWHS College and Career Specialist

We are excited to invite all Kang families to join us for the first LWHS Multicultural Family Night November 19 from 4:00-6:00 pm in the LWHS Commons. Organized by school culture clubs, the event will offer music, culture, food and fun. We hope you can come celebrate the cultures and diversity that make LWHS a great learning community!

We need your input to make this event the best it can be. What resources would you like to see? What services can we provide to make the experience the most pleasant for you? What are some ways you would like to participate in the event? Please complete this short survey to provide your input.

Tick Tock! UW deadline is 11/15 and we added Zoom sessions to support your student!

New: 30-minute zoom sessions available on Thursday, 11/10 and Monday, 11/14. Have your student reserve their spot through Signup Genius.

As always, we have drop-in and and reserved time slots available on Wednesdays after school.

Encourage your senior to drop by. A fresh pair of eyes is helpful with brainstorming and when wrapping things up!

In-person, outside the College and Career Center:

• Wednesday at 12:55 pm, drop in and reserved times available.
• Select Fridays for ROO periods A & B. These are reservation only.

Zoom sessions:

• Friday, 11/10 and Monday, 11/14

Questions? Email collegeapp@lwhsptsa.org

Election day is today, Tuesday, November 8, and ballot boxes are open until 8:00 pm. Election information and ballot box locations can be found here: Elections & Voting - WA Secretary of State

In-Person and Virtual Event on November 8: Supporting a Grieving Teen

Explaining loss and grief can be overwhelming to parents who just want to know, "How can I help?" On November 8 at 6:00 pm, Kristie Neklason, MS, MGP, SUDP, and Sonja Whitaker, MS, LMFT, will discuss what grief looks like for teens, how to talk about loss, and how to support a teen as they grieve. Questions are welcomed.

Register at tinyurl.com/GrievingTeen for the event, both in-person at 16250 NE 74th Street, Redmond, WA 98052 or virtual via Zoom.

The event is organized by Balance In Mind, a program of Lake Washington Schools Foundation.

Parent Chat Webinar on November 16: Stress and Student-Athletes

Having a child in competitive sports, or other competitive interests, has its own unique stresses. At the next Parent Chat on November 16, former Seahawk, D'Anthony Smith shares what supports your child needs and how to offer them in a positive manner. Register for the Fall Parent Chat series at www.lwsf.org/parentchat  

The event is organized by Balance In Mind, a program of Lake Washington Schools Foundation.

Pantry Packs Fall Food Drive 

The Pantry Packs Program is hosting its annual Fall Food Drive! You can help feed hungry students in our community through one of two ways: 

• Donate food directly through our Amazon Wish List. 
• Drop off your food donations on November 16 or 19, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, at our Pantry Packs warehouse located at 14816 NE 95th St - Bldg 6, Redmond, WA. 

Pantry Packs is a program of Lake Washington Schools Foundation.

November 17 and 18, 7:00 pm in the KiMS Commons

Please join us for the KiMS Panther Playhouse production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. While Beatrice and Benedick preach their disgust of one another, the young Claudio and Hero pledge their love to each other and decide to be married. To pass the time in the week before the wedding, the lovers and their friends successfully trick Beatrice and Benedick to fall in love while a more sinister mind plots to destroy the reputation of Claudio and Hero on their wedding day. This is Shakespeare’s classic story about what happens when good and bad intentions collide and is noted as the original romantic comedy.

Tickets are a $10 suggested donation for adults. Youth can attend for free! Find out more information and purchase tickets at https://www.pantherplayhouse.org/.