The voice of California’s charter school parents Apr 15, 2015 ¿Prefiere recibir este boletín en español? Haga clic aquí. Dear OTA Parents We need your help. State lawmakers are considering new legislation that will have a big impact on charter schools across California, including YOUR charter school. Some of these laws will help support and grow high-performing charter schools. But others are designed to attack charter schools and hinder the independence and flexibility that enable our schools to thrive. Can you take just a couple of minutes today and share your voice on these critical issues? Send an email to lawmakers TODAY urging their NO VOTE on 2 anti-charter bills – SB 322 (Leno) related to charter school expulsion, suspension and admission policies and SB 329 (Mendoza) which will allow school authorizers to deny charter petitions if they might have a negative financial impact on the school district. Send an email to lawmakers TODAY urging their AYE VOTE on CCSA’s 3 sponsored bills – AB 1198 (Dababneh) which will allow charter schools to save money on facilities financing costs, AB 1344 (Jones) which will help charter schools better navigate the zoning waiver request process, and AB 1426 (Levine) which creates flexibility for site based blended learning programs. Please take action now. This legislation will be heard on Wednesday, April 22. Your voice will make a difference! Thank you for your partnership, Jed Wallace President and CEO California Charter Schools Association CCSA Families 250 E. 1st St., Suite 1000 Los Angeles, California 90012 www.ccsafamilies.org This email was sent to tom@otacharter.org. If you no longer wish to receive these emails you may unsubscribe at any time.

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Students who have after-school classes should stay.

• Zumba children can join Sports or Super Soccer Stars.

*** 2015 Wine & Dine • Purchase Tickets Now to help us hit our goal! —the OTA Foundation *** Sunday Funday, Wall of Wine, this Sunday April 12 *** 

• Music Academy of San Diego classes have started again. Classes will meet Monday and Friday and the program is world-class. …(Walk-ins welcome today–ages K-8. Learn more here:
  •  Violins, Violas, Cello Instruction, Mon/ Friday • Scholarships are available
  • Registration & Pay Online: Q4 Classes start Friday, April 10
• Lottery was held March 8 and all Seat Offers & Waitlist emails have been sent. The wait list stands at 460 for 2015-2016; so if you received a number higher than 20 for Kindergarten or higher than 5 for grades 1-8, you should not look at OTA as a realistic option for next year. Thrive Charter School (a new charter with a great leadership team and program is still taking applications for 2015-2016.
• 3 Half Days: in this year’s new calendar teachers lost 5 planning days. After consulting with the OTA Parent Foundation we are going to try to help them make some of that planning time up by adding three working half-days to the schedule:
• • Wednesday, April 15;
  • Wednesday, May 6;
  • Friday, May 22 (day before Memorial Day Weekend
• YMCA K-5 OTA Soccer Teams– please turn in by Tuesday! if possible
• Come root for OTA Students at the Track n Field Meet Sunday.
  • See Highlights from last year’s track meet.
  • See slideshow Track and Field Season is here!
• Remember, Grandparents Day is April 24 (The Day Before the Wine & Dine.; please encourage your children’s grandparents to attend! Children may bring a family friend if a grandparent is not available.

Dear Prospective OTA Families, Admissions Offers were sent out over Spring Break. If you received an offer email like the one below, we need your reply by Noon, this Friday.

• We have long waitlists for all grades; we need to hear back from you so we can contact the next family if you are not planning to accept your admissions offer.

Thank you

—The OTA Admissions Team

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