Venture News

Welcome Back!
We are beginning our third week of school and it is great to see the students after summer break. Summer provides students and their families an opportunity to explore the world outside of school and many of our students took advantage of their summer. They had varied and exciting opportunities from travel, to jobs, internships, summer camps, and family time.

Elective Classes
Sign-ups for elective classes will begin September 8 and classes will start the week of September 21 and end November 20. Students signing up for the Walk N Talk class will have a permission slip that will need to be signed prior to their participation in the class. Permission slips will be available during sign-ups. Please consider which classes your student will be able to attend regularly. Due to budget considerations, we have reduced the number of classes and shortened the length of each session. If your student does not attend regularly, they may be dropped from the class to accommodate any student that may be on the waiting list.

Math and English Classes
Once again we are offering math and English classes as well as math lab. Students who are struggling with writing or math or whose STAR test scores were below proficient may be required to attend the writing or math classes. Both of these classes have started. If you wish to enroll in these classes, please see your teacher or add your name to the sign in list posted i

Math lab is primarily for students enrolled in Algebra and above. It is a drop in lab open four days a week. We have two math classes, Standards Algebra and Basic Math. These classes meet two times a week and are supplemented with homework assignments.

There are several English courses for middle and high school students that help students develop written language skills. The classes are designed to enhance writing skills. Student may opt to take the classes as enrichment. Students that are struggling in this area may be required to take these classes to increase skills.

H1N1
H1N1 Flu Information for Parents
Below is the information posted on SRVUSD web site regarding H1N1. If your child has been diagnosed with H1N1 please call Venture at 479-1200 so that we can help the District track this virus.

As children return to school and spend less time outdoors and more time in confined spaces, such as classrooms, we expect to see more illness caused by H1N1 flu.
H1N1 flu is assumed to be present throughout Contra Costa County. Students in Contra Costa County will not be dismissed for cases of H1N1 influenza, unless there is a large number of students or faculty who are ill which interferes with the school's ability to function. Contra Costa Health Services will consider school and childcare dismissal on an individual basis, taking into consideration health information available at the time.

Please Follow These Prevention Tips:
• Wash Your Hands The Right Way
• Washing your hands is simple and it's the best way to prevent infection and illness. Teach your children to wash their hands the right way!
• When washing hands with soap and water:
• Wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.
• Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub all surfaces.
• Continue rubbing hands for 15-20 seconds. Need a timer? Imagine singing "Happy Birthday" twice through to a friend.
• Rinse hands well under running water.
• Dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer.
• If possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet.
• Always use soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.
• If soap and clean water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub to clean your hands. Alcohol-based hand rubs significantly reduce the number of germs on skin and are fast-acting.
When using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:
• Apply hand rub to the palm of one hand
• Rub hands together
• Rub the product over all surfaces of hands and fingers until hands are dry
• Listen to CDC's Kidtastic Radio teach kids how to wash their hands the right way.

Avoid Contact with Sick People
Try to avoid close contact (within six feet) with anyone who is sick with the flu. People of any age with chronic medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease), pregnant women, young children and people 65 years and older should be especially careful. Infants should not be cared for by sick family members.

Stay Home if Sick
If your child is sick, keep him/her home for seven days, even if they feel better earlier. To keep sick children from infecting others, they should not return to school until they have had no fever for 24 hours. A doctor's note is not necessary to return to school.
View our daily questionnaire to see if your child is sick and should stay home from school.

Cover Coughs and Sneezes
H1N1 spreads from person to person in the same way as seasonal flu: through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. The influenza virus is put into the air and inhaled by those nearby or picked up from surfaces where the virus might have landed.

Teach children to cover their nose and mouth with a tissue when they cough or sneeze. Make sure they throw the tissue in the trash after they've used it and wash their hands the right way.

If tissue is not available, teach children the "Dracula cough," cough or sneeze into their inner elbow or upper arm like Dracula hides his face.

Get Vaccinated
Although we don't know when H1N1 flu vaccine will be available, there will be seasonal flu vaccine available in the fall. Seasonal flu vaccine doesn't protect against H1N1 flu, but it does protect you from seasonal influenza viruses. Every year, 36,000 people die from illness related to seasonal flu in the United States.

The seasonal flu vaccine is recommended for all children ages 6 months to 19 years. This is because, as we learned with H1N1 flu, children often get the flu at school, and then can bring it home to the family. We especially want to protect younger siblings and older relatives with weaker immune systems who can have serious complications from the flu. Flu vaccine keeps children healthy and prevents them from spreading the flu to others.

Seasonal flu vaccine is also recommended for almost everyone else in our community—especially pregnant women, those who are 50 years and older, health care workers, those who care for children under 5 years old, and everyone who has a chronic illness, such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease.

To find out where to get seasonal flu vaccine for you and your family, contact your health care provider or health plan. You can also call the Public Health Flu Hotline at 925-313-6469 or visit www.flucliniclocator.org.

Additional Resources:
Back to School Podcast from Dr. Willliam Walker http://www.cchealth.org/topics/podcast/2009_08_transcript_backtoschool.php

Prevention Materials: Factsheets, Videos, posters can be found here:
http://www.cchealth.org/topics/swine_flu/materials.php


Pictures
We will be taking school pictures and issuing ID cards this year. You can pick up picture packets in the front office. Seniors who are interested in Senior Portraits can find picture information in the front office.

We have two dates set for pictures:
Tuesday, September 22
9:00 – 11:00
or
Wednesday, September 23
1:00 – 3:00

Skills Tutor
Once again we will be offering the online Skills Tutor program. Students who scored below proficient may be required to access this program either at Venture or at home. Your teacher can give you more information on these classes.

Website
Stay tuned, we are in the process of changing our website. The new one will be up and running in October. Please be patient with us as we struggle to improve our site.

Community News
During the year, I will try to make available sites that offer community opportunities for your student: dance classes, music classes, sports activities, etc. We will also have a bulletin board where we can post interesting activities. We can only post activities that are sponsored by non-profit organizations and meet district criteria. If you have flyers you would like to post, please bring them to Venture or email them to: jterran@srvusd.net

Community Resources
The following is information from the San Ramon Valley Coalition for Youth Safety and Development regarding Peter Benson’s presentation to PTSA’s and the community on September 23.

The SRV Coalition for Youth Safety and Development and
SRVHS EPIC Healthy Choices
proudly present
Dr. Peter Benson
President and CEO, The Search Institute
“All Kids are Our Kids”

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 7PM
San Ramon Valley High School PAC/Commons

Dr. Benson, author of “All Kids are Our Kids,” will present the 40 Developmental Assets, a framework of building blocks that empower our students’ development as people of confidence, character, and compassion.

His presentation will encourage parents, educators and community members to partner together helping students recognize and develop their personal “sparks,” the strengths with which every student in our community is uniquely gifted that enables him or her to thrive.

Dr. Benson will provide insights into how we as a community can be more intentional about parenting, mentoring, employing, coaching, teaching and engaging our students in ways that will enhance their personal potential based on utilizing the assets in their lives.

Parents and Students are encouraged to join us for an informative and enlightening evening, including QA and discussion time with Dr. Benson and other community partners as we look at how to become a community that is proactive in embracing
“All Kids are Our Kids!”

A $5 donation will be accepted at the door
Please Pre-register at rsvp4srvhs@sbcglobal.net

Questions? Contact Alyson Colton, alyson@coltonfamily4.org
or Robin Kelley, kelleyview@msn.com


These sites offer a variety of classes for students of all ages:

City of San Ramon: http://www.ci.san-ramon.ca.us/Parks/default.htm
Town of Danville: http://www.ci.danville.ca.us/default.asp?serviceID1=440Frame=L1
Contra Costa Library: http://ccclib.org/programs