Hey LASA families—it’s getting real! We are halfway through April and the year will be over before you know it! For Senior families, it’s almost time to get your hankies out and smart phones ready to capture those moments in pictures! For the rest, hang in there! You are heading for the home stretch of school year 22-23!
AP Exams
May is an intense month at LASA and the first two weeks are heavily affected by AP exams. This year, LASA will administer 30 different exams to more than 1,000 students. Many students take multiple exams during this period and many take two on the same day. Hundreds of students are testing on most days, with the highest volume day this year being May 11th, when almost 700 exams will be given between the morning and afternoon sessions!
The entire testing endeavor, which is managed and supervised by Assistant Principal San Czaplinski, requires lots of planning and logistics. For instance, test administration affects the use of space within the school, as Ms. Czaplinski may need to utilize the gym, library, and various conference rooms for testing. At the same time, while many students are testing, many more are going about their normal class routines.
Parent volunteers are also key to the success of this effort, as they serve as monitors during the testing sessions. Dozens of parent volunteers will be needed over the 2-week period. In addition, PFLASA organizes and serves snacks for students in the morning and midday, to help them keep their energy and brain power flowing! If you would like to help with monitoring or with the food, be looking for sign-up sheets here. Need information about the schedule of exams? Check out this link for that info and more.
Finally, I should not leave this subject without saying that PFLASA has provided a substantial subsidy this year (more than in prior years) to make the costs of these exams more reasonable for LASA families. At approximately $100 per exam, and with many students having 4 or more AP classes in any given year, the fees add up fast, which can be a lot for any family’s budget. As we prepare our budget for next year, we will be considering how much PFLASA can contribute to this program for school year 23-24.
Celebrations
We mark the end of all this hard work with Coffeehouse, a beloved LASA tradition, on the evening of Friday, May 12. Our amazing parent volunteer—Kristy Kelly—is running the event again this year. We are so thankful for her leadership. Coffeehouse is a special night that showcases the many talents of our students and kicks off a period of celebrations which will culminate for graduating Seniors in Senior Salute (May 31) and Project Graduation (June 1). Of course, there are still final exams to get through (given over a period of half days from May 22-25) and final projects, etc. for students to submit. But just about everyone is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel by the time Coffeehouse rolls around!
Appreciations
PFLASA is hosting a Teacher Appreciation lunch in May as well. Nicole Truelock, our current PFLASA VP and incoming President for 23-24, is organizing this event. Stay tuned for more details on how you can help. May is also the month in which we appreciate and recognize our School Nurse.
Wellness
I would like to take one more opportunity to congratulate Nina Miller and her team on the Wellness Committee for the many wonderful opportunities they have presented to our LASA families this year. A recorded version of the presentation on nutrition, held at the school on March 2, is now available through April 25, here.
There will be a viewing of “Screenagers: Next Chapter” at a parent’s home on April 16 (already full) and a presentation on “Strategies for Building Life Skills in Teens” on April 27 at 7 pm at the school. Sign up here to rsvp for the Life Skills presentation.
PFLASA Budget
As I alluded to above, the PFLASA board is in the process of reviewing expenditures for this year and working on proposing a new budget for school year 23-24. We have tentatively scheduled a meeting to take comments and questions about our draft proposed budget on May 2, at 8:15, at LASA. We plan to present and call for approval of the new budget at our final meeting of the year on May 19. Anyone with an interest in learning more about the budget for next year should plan to attend on May 2 if possible. We will publicize the details of this meeting in the usual places when the place and time have been confirmed.
New PFLASA Board Members, Committee Chairs, and Volunteers
We are also excited to share that we have two fabulous folks who have stepped up to fill our vacant board positions. Stay tuned for a formal announcement after we elect them at our April 28 PLFASA meeting.
Many of our committees have great leadership and continuity already built in, with folks who are shadowing this year and can take over next year. One exception is our tutoring/study groups program. I have been filling in for the spring semester, but we would love a chair or 2 co-chairs to volunteer to take it on for next year. Contact me at president at pflasa dot org if you would like to learn more.
In addition, if you like numbers and financial records, we will need 3 volunteers over the summer to review our “books”. This is a yearly requirement for us a non-profit. Reach out to me if you are interested in learning more. We would prefer to have our volunteers lined up before the last school bell rings!
There will be plenty of other ways to volunteer and contribute – please make sure you are subscribed to the Parent Class/Grade Level Google Groups for your student(s), the Lots of LASA Newsletter, the PFLASA Facebook Group and continue to check out the Volunteer SignUps page on the main LASA website (under Quick Links) to stay informed!
Enjoy this beautiful Spring weather!