January 30th, Fred T. Korematsu’s birthday, was officially designated by the California government as “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution”. This Wednesday, on February 2nd, our school is celebrating this event at our annual Korematsu Social Justice Day. Our school is holding multiple events to commemorate this important day in California’s history.

On Wednesday morning, each child and staff member at our school will be given one of the special commemorative T-Shirts which they will be able to wear for the rest of the day while we honor the namesake of our school. The daytime school program will include two assemblies, one for the primary grades and one for the intermediate grades.

In the evening, the KPTO is hosting a special evening program which is divided into two separate parts. From 6:00PM to 6:30PM there will be a formal assembly in the Multi-Purpose Room, during which invited guest speakers will speak about Mr. Korematsu, and the passage of Assembly Bill 1775. Afterward children from the D-wing will recite a poem, and the entire assembly will be led in singing “What can one little person do?” After the assembly, children will be invited to participate in the “Social Justice Passport Program” from 6:30PM to 8:00PM where they can visit 8 activity stations around campus and collect stamps in a passport book. After completing the first 7 activities, they will receive their final stamp and a souvenir.

Please join us for a wonderful evening celebrating the life and social justice victories of Fred Korematsu. For more information about this event, please consult our event web page.

If you live in the neighborhood, please consider walking or riding bicycles to school as we expect this to be a busy event with multiple dignitaries visiting our campus from out of town to watch our children perform. Additionally, if you are willing to volunteer some of your time to help children with the passport activities at the 8 stations or help clean-up after 8:00PM please contact me as we need some additional volunteers to help make the evening a success.

Thank you,
Wes Hardaker
2010/2011 KPTO President

We did it! Our special commemorative t-shirts for California’s first Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution have been ordered and are expected to arrive on January 31st. In just the last two weeks we received the donations needed to provide a commemorative t-shirt to every student and staff member at our school. Students will receive their t-shirts on February 2nd, the day our school is publicly recognizing this significant event. We will be asking students to wear their t-shirts during the school day and to the evening family event from 6:00-8:00 pm. We would like to thank and recognize our own school community for their generous donations, A Change of Pace Foundation for their assistance with designing the t-shirts and providing the shirts to us at cost, and to the following sponsors external to our school: Mariko Yamada, Jerry and Teresa Kaneko, Jim Provenza, Sheila Allen, Richard Harris and Susan Lovenburg. For questions contact Lisa Roberts-Arvin at larvin @ djusd.k12.ca.us or in Room H-53 at school.

¡Lo hicimos! Nuestras conmemorativas camisetas especiales para el primer Día de California Fred Korematsu de Libertades Civiles y la Constitución han sido ordenadas y se espera que lleguen el 31 de enero. En apenas dos semanas hemos recibido las donaciones necesarias para proporcionar una camiseta conmemorativa a todos los estudiantes y miembros personales de nuestra escuela. Los estudiantes recibirán sus camisetas el 2 de febrero, día en que nuestra escuela va a reconocer públicamente este importante evento. Vamos a pedir que los estudiantes usen sus camisetas durante el día escolar y el evento en la noche que empieza a las 6:00 y termina a las 8:00 PM. Nos gustaría dar las gracias y reconocer nuestra propia comunidad de la escuela por sus generosas donaciones, a Change of Pace Foundation por su ayuda con el diseño de las camisetas y las camisas proporcionar a nosotros en el costo, y para los siguientes patrocinadores: Mariko Yamada, Jerry y Teresa Kaneko, Jim Provenza, Sheila Allen, Richard Harris y Susan Lovenburg. Para contactar con Lisa Roberts-Arvin preguntas en larvin @ djusd.k12.ca.us o en la Sala H-53 en la escuela.

The Davis Parent University free lecture series is presenting “An morning with Ashley Merryman, JD” on February 12th, from 9am-12pm at the Brunelle Theater at the Davis High School (314 W. 14th St.). Ms. Merryman co-authored “NutureShock“. For more information about this event, please see the Parent University 2011 flyer.

Reminder: The first lecture of this series, as previously announced, is tomorrow night (the 28th) at 7PM in Freeborn Hall.