ICS PTSA NEWSLETTER

March 19th, 2023

See the ICS Calendar for more upcoming event dates.

Focus Week Volunteer Opportunity



Parent Focus Week Leaders Needed!!!

Focus Week planning is in full swing, and the Focus Week Teacher Committee is working hard to offer engaging activities for our students. In addition to the teacher-led Focus Week activities, the Teacher Committee needs THREE parent volunteers (or groups of volunteers) to each plan and lead a parent-led Focus Week activity.

What you need to know:

• The activity has to take place entirely on school grounds.
• The activity must be free of charge to student.
• There is money available to cover reasonable cost of materials.
• If being led by a group – each lead should take 1 or more of the 5 time “units” – Weds, Thurs am, Thurs pm, Fri am, Fri pm.
• If you have an idea that is less than 5 units, send it to us with the days and times you can lead and we’ll see if we can combine it with other ideas to make a full track.

Some possible ideas include, but are not limited, to: 

• Culture tracks – these are great for a group led track – units can include language, food, indoor games, playground games, key holidays and more
• Photography-amendable to a group if you each take a different theme
• Sewing
• Knitting/crocheting/fiber arts
• Money Management
• Filmmaking
• Board Games-amendable to a group
• Calligraphy – any language or multiple
• Conversational travel language skills in a language (keep crazy Americans from saying good naked “nackt” when they mean good night “nacht” in German and similar faux pax preventatives)

Our goal is to try to fill with volunteer led tracks. Leading a track will be 18 hours for delivery of a full track plus prep hours so a great way to get your 30 hours.

For context and inspiration, here is a list of currently planned teacher-led activities: Hiking/trail work, Biking, Science in movies, Ancient Games, Film Festival, Shakespeare—read watch, perform, Cooking, Storyboarding and Animation, Endurance Fitness, Coding, United States Model UN, Social Justice

Please reach out by March 24 to focusweek@icsptsa.org and vcastaneda@lwsd.org if you would like to volunteer or have any questions.

International Food Night



We are honored and excited to announce that we will be hosting an International Food Night in the ICS Lyceum on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at 6:30 pm. Everyone is invited to participate and share food representing their cultures and heritage. More details will be announced later, but to express your interest in participating in this event, please complete this form. Please reach out to Tarek Azoz at tazoz@icsptsa.org.

Reflections 2022-23 Update



We are proud to announce that there are 3 students from ICS who have won an Award of Merit at the Washington State level of the competition. Congratulations to the winners!

From the DEI Committee

Welcome to the Diversity, Equity & Inclusive (DEI) part of the newsletter brought to you by the DEI Committee! Periodically, we’d like to highlight local DEI events as well as feature different cultural holidays and traditions celebrated around the world and in our very own ICS community. In March we would like to highlight Nowruz. 

Every year, millions celebrate Persian New Year, or Nowruz (prounced “no-rooz”). In Iran, the new year begins with the advent of spring, and most everyone in the country — not to mention the millions of Iranians and non-Iranians who celebrate the holiday elsewhere around the world — observe it by doing a deep clean of their homes, celebrating a season of new life, and wishing for good luck in the year ahead. 

Nowruz is a festival based on the Iranian Solar Hijri calendar, on the spring equinox. It is on or around 21 March on the Gregorian calendar. Nowruz marks the end of the old year and the beginning of a new one, and it occurs on the day of the vernal equinox. 

The word Nowruz (Novruz, Navruz, Nooruz, Nevruz, Nauryz), means new day; its spelling and pronunciation may vary by country. It is celebrated as the beginning of the new year by more than 300 million people all around the world and has been celebrated for over 3,000 years in the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and other regions. In these same weeks leading up to the actual day, families also set aside a space for a “haft-seen,” or a collection of items that symbolize a different hope for the new year. 

On the actual day of Nowruz, you can expect to see a couple of dishes that are specific to the holiday, often centering on greens and herbs to represent its themes of — say it with me now — freshness and renewal. 

But Nowruz is less about a single day than a general celebration of being able to wipe away the dust, grime, and sadness of the old in order to start anew. It’s about closing the door on one chapter and turning the page to the next one with excitement instead of trepidation. It’s about the endless possibilities that come with a blank slate. 

REPEATED ARTICLES

ICS College Round Table Event

The ICS College Round Table Even is on March 23rd at 6:30 PM till 8 PM via Teams. This Teams link will take you to the meeting. It is an opportunity to hear presentations from Lis Christiansen, ICS High School Comprehensive Counselor, Laila Hilfinger, Medina College Counselor, and Mary Pat O’Neil, True Fit College Counseling, in preparation for the college application process. We anticipate the event to last ~90 minutes to 2 hours. There will be a planned question and answer session following the presentation.

Volunteer Hours

ICS Interior Cleaning Event

Let’s make ICS clean, shine and healthy.

ICS Interior Cleaning Event on Wednesday March 29th 2023, 5 - 8pm

Cleaning supplies provided

Food and Drinks provided

We will do wipes desk and chairs, vacuum and sweep class room and hallway, wipes windows and doors.

Earn you volunteer hours with immediate family and kids. Please no kids under grade 6. If you need more volunteer hours, please email me to help me prepare.

Please bring vacuum cleaner, if you can.

RSVP at msuklan@icsptsa.org

From the Principal: Purpose of Focus Week

 Focus Week is a longstanding tradition at International Community School to provide students with unique learning experiences. Students leave the confines of their daily classrooms to expand their knowledge, build relationships with teachers, test and apply learning, and foster new peer relationships. Teachers design programs that enhance and expand classroom learning.  

Focus Week 2023 will be May 31 - June 2 

We are planning local and school-based activities for all students in grades 6-11. Sessions are being developed by teachers. Students will receive a survey to complete and submit with their choices. Seniors will attend a Farewell Expedition on the Olympic Peninsula and Olympic National Park.  

Focus Week 2024 and Beyond  

We are in the process of reimagining Focus Week – which hasn’t been reviewed and updated in many years. Historically, students had international trips within their menu of selections. During Covid travel wasn’t an option. This year, all travel restrictions have been lifted, except international travel. Our teachers are working on a Focus Week program that will include on-campus events, local experiences, and regional and domestic travel. We will continue the tradition of teachers designing and delivering Focus Week programs, while increasing our attention to predictability, sustainability, and access for all students. Watch for updates here and in the Principal’s Update.  

Parent Focus Week Committee

An update from the parent Focus Week committee (PFWC):

The State of Our Work

The PFWC is proposing an ongoing off-campus learning PTSA committee that will coordinate jointly with the school and teachers in future years on Focus Week development and planning. We are awaiting input from the teachers and school on that proposal. The refined proposal will be to the PTSA board for adoption. The teacher committee has been working independent of the parent committee on this year’s Focus Week.

GOOD NEWS for our SENIORS: The teachers are exploring a domestic travel option for them this year during Focus Week. Be sure to check your email and respond to the survey!

What You Need to Know About International Travel

One of our chartered tasks was to get clarity for our PTSA on district-level policies that influence the path forward. We had a great meeting with the district this week that gave us that clarity.

In the past, school-sponsored international travel was part of Focus Week at ICS and similar weeks at other schools. With COVID all activities were shut down. This year saw a resumption of most activities, including school-sponsored domestic travel. We learned that from the district’s perspective, Focus Week can include affordable and curricular-related overnight domestic travel. Teachers who want to offer a travel option can do so within those guidelines.

The district has not resumed and does not plan to resume international travel. This is not a school-level decision. Considerations taken into account included: (a) issues of different legal rules in different countries, (b) the ability of the district to mitigate risks to students and teachers, and (c) the ability of the district to insure against risks (spoiler – insurance is a significant problem). The district does not anticipate a return to international travel for the foreseeable future. We have followed district policy and shared the community’s feedback through the proper internal chain of command. At this time if parents have concerns with this district policy decision, the correct place to voice your concerns would be to the School Board. The PFWC will be focusing on working with the teachers and on a plan that includes robust and relevant domestic travel options.

The district remains supportive of non-school sponsored international travel during school breaks. The key being that those are not district or school sponsored trips. The committee has only recently learned the operating parameters and does not have a recommendation for the PTSA Board on this topic at this time. A recommendation will be developed.

Scholarship Opportunity

The ICS PTSA is awarding 7 scholarships worth $1,500 each to graduating seniors who show exceptional dedication to community work, volunteer efforts, extracurricular activities, and determination for self-improvement.

The applicant must be a graduating ICS senior and plan on continuing their education at an institution of higher learning (4-year College or University, Community College, or Vocational Technical Institute) in fall 2023. To apply students will need to answer essay questions and provide a letter of recommendation. Scholarship applications will be accepted from March 13^th until April 24^th. See link for the form.

ICS FBLA

ICS FBLA is looking for two parents (at least one female) to help chaperone the club (30+ students) at the State Business Leadership Conference from April 19-22. This is an overnight trip to Spokane, WA for 3 days, 4 nights. All costs besides meals and pocket money will be covered. Please email icsfbla@outlook.com if interested.

From the DEI Committee

We are launching Volume II of our ICS International Cookbook and we need your recipes. You can view last year volume here 

Everyone knows a foodie in their house, and/or someone who cooks amazing food and loves to share it. In many cultures food is more than just sustenance for the body. Food is seen as something that ties people together through fellowship, love/care, and good times. With COVID being something that has shaken up everyone’s lives, we have not been able to share meals with our loved ones, friends, and/or coworkers. However, through sharing recipes we can have a little of that feeling back, even if it is by making the recipe ourselves.  

We are fortunate to have families from across the world so we would like to give everyone an opportunity to contribute. Please fill out the ICS International Cookbook form and be a part of this initiative, Buon Appetite!

Questions? Email Tarek Azoz at tazoz@icsptsa.org