Greeting SJLES Families,
We would like to thank our staff, students, and families for navigating a change in schedule during yesterday’s early dismissal. We are grateful all 645 students got home safely yesterday! We appreciate everyone’s patience, support, and grace as we establish our typical beginning of year routines with some additional and more textured ones to start this year. Our staff has been simply awesome doing anything and everything needed to support our students and ensure the first week of school is a great one both in and out of the classroom.
An unexpected early dismissal this soon in the school year will provide lessons learned for everyone involved. Family File is extremely important and the early dismissal is an example of why we uplift this tool over and over again to start the year. We still have incomplete Family FIles for 13% of our students. Family File includes an emergency card section for you to tell us how you’d like for your child to go home in emergency situations. We follow these instructions! Please double-check to ensure that this is completed and that you review this plan with your child so they know what to do on early dismissal days.
HCPSS & SJLES often communicate important information that we need parents to know immediately via text messages. If you receive our texts, then you do not need to do anything else! If you do not, we highly recommend that you opt-in. Here are the instructions on how to opt-in to text messaging...
Text the word “YES” to 67587 from the wireless device you wish to receive texts on.
You will receive an "opt in" message from HCPSS sent from SchoolMessenger.
Text Y and hit send.
You will now begin receiving text alerts from SJLES and HCPSS.
Feel free to have a close relative or family friend who supports your family sign up for HCPSSNews alerts. This is a helpful safeguard on days like yesterday. Community members or any non-HCPSS parent must sign up to receive email and/or text messages from the district and/or specific schools. To receive messages please visit the sign-up page.
In closing, our Jaguars are just so happy to be back at school, there are smiles everywhere, and life is just really good at The Lane! Thanks for your continued partnership, encouragement, and support as we do all all we can to ensure the best school year ever for your children! #JaguarPride
Sincerely,
Dan Notari
SJLES Principal
NEW NEWS
Lunch Seating Request Update
At this time, we are requesting our families make a commitment to their child’s seating for daily lunch - outdoor or indoor. Elementary school students have assigned cafeteria seating to allow for additional safety precautions related to COVID-19 transmission including the facilitation of close contact identification, if necessary.
If you have already completed our survey or been in contact with Ms. Coleman there is nothing more you need to do. If you need to make a change in preference we are asking that you do so no later than this Friday, 9/3 by 12:00 PM by emailing Ms. Coleman at erin_coleman@hcpss.org. All change requests made between the time of this message and 12:00 PM on 9/3 will go into effect when we return on 9/8. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Families do not need to contact the school to change their child’s outdoor lunch preference based upon weather forecasts. Our administrative team will make determinations to begin each day and then assess throughout each shift whether or not weather and staffing permits us to offer outdoor lunch, in the same way we make decisions regarding indoor or outdoor recess daily. Thank you for helping us to establish student routines and maintain consistent seating charts across both lunch settings.
No School on Monday & Tuesday!
Just a reminder that HCPSS schools & offices are closed Monday, 9/6 & Tuesday, 9/7.
Back to School Nights 9/13 & 9/14
Our Back to School Nights are scheduled for Monday, 9/13 & Tuesday, 9/14. This year will be facilitating concurrent Back to School Night Presentations so parents have the option of attending the presentations in-person or virtually via Google Meet. More details to follow. We hope to see everyone at our PTA Back to School Night Picnic on Friday 9/10 from 6:00-8:00 here at SJLES. Please note the dates, times, and Google Meet naming conventions below.
9/10 @ 6:00-8:00 - PTA Back to School Picnic
9/13 @ 6:00-7:30 - Primary (K-2) Back to School Night
6:00-6:30 - Administration & PTA Welcome & Overview
Google Meet Code: SJLESwelcome
6:30-7:30 - Staff Presentations
Google Meet Code: SJLES(teacher last name)
Ex: Mrs. Shoff: SJLESshoff / Mrs. McWatters: SJLESmcwatters
9/14 @ 5:30-6:00 - GT Back To School Night
Google Meet Code: SJLESgt
9/14 @ 6:00-7:30 - Intermediate (3-5) Back To School Night
6:00-6:30 - Administration & PTA Welcome & Overview
Google Meet Code: SJLESwelcome
6:30-7:30 - Staff Presentations
Google Meet Code: SJLES(teacher last name)
Ex: Mrs. Coffey: SJLEScoffey / Ms. King: SJLESking
Umbrellas / Dress For the Weather / Dismissal Impact
Thanks for always sending your child dressed for the day’s weather conditions. When students have umbrellas and clothes to keep dry in the rain it expedites our entire dismissal process. Our goal this year is for students to dress appropriately for the weather and use their umbrellas to stay dry while waiting outside for cars, vans, and buses. Depending on the severity of the weather, we may have to dismiss student by student in the car loop, which creates a potential for additional long delays. This is only a last resort if the weather is unsafe due to the impact it has on St. John’s Lane in both directions.
Quarantining Students
If your child is asked to quarantine, Math and ELA teachers will contact you with information about instructional synchronous support time during this time away from the building.
PLEASE Label Your Students Items
Please consider labeling your child’s lunch box, water bottle, sweatshirts, etc. We are already finding all kinds of treasures throughout the building and labeling your child’s items gives us a chance to return it to the rightful owner. Our lost and found is located outside of the cafeteria.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Access our SJLES Public Calendar at https://sjles.hcpss.org/calendar
9/3 Spirit Day- #JaguarPride: Wear your SJLES Spirit Wear or blue & yellow
9/6 - All HCPSS Schools & Offices are Closed
9/7 - All HCPSS Schools & Offices are Closed
9/10 - Spirit Day: Summer Lovin! Grab your sunglasses, Hawaiian shirt, lei or shirt from your favorite vacation & let's say goodbye to summer in style!
9/10 @ 6:00-8:00 - PTA Back to School Picnic
9/13 @ 6:00-7:30 - Primary Back to School Night
6:00-6:30 - Administration & PTA Welcome & Overview
Google Meet Code: SJLESwelcome
6:30-7:30 - Staff Presentations
Google Meet Code: SJLES(teacher last name)
9/14 @ 5:30-6:00 - GT Back To School Night
Google Meet Code: SJLESgt
9/14 @ 6:00-7:30 - Intermediate Back To School Night
6:00-6:30 - Administration & PTA Welcome & Overview
Google Meet Code: SJLESwelcome
6:30-7:30 - Staff Presentations
Google Meet Code: SJLES(teacher last name)
9/16 - Schools and Offices are Closed
9/17 - Spirit Day: Favorite Sport! Grab your jersey, t-shirt, medal, or trophy to show us your favorite sport.
9/21, 9/22, & 9/23 - PTA Paint Nights
9/24 - Spirit Day: Superhero Day! Dress up as your favorite superhero to celebrate our super first month of school at SJLES!
10/1 - Spirit Day- #JaguarPride: Wear your SJLES Spirit Wear or blue & yellow
REPEATED NEWS
Join the PTA
Becoming a member of the PTA does not mean you need to volunteer! It simply means that you are donating to help enhance the school experience for all of the students. The PTA funds school-wide presentations, family fun events, teacher appreciation activities, and items needed by the teachers for their lessons and classrooms. It is $30 for two-parent households and $12 for one-parent households for the 2021-2022 school year. (Or you can choose to donate more and receive a car magnet as a thank you.) Visit our online Membership site to make your tax deductible donation. Thank you for supporting SJLES and be sure to celebrate your school spirit with Spirit Wear! Prices are...
T-shirt (adult and child) - $10
Hoodies (adult and child) - $22
Sweatpants (child sizes only) - $22
You can now order directly from our Online Store or at in-person events. The items will be sent home with your child. Go Jaguars!
New Student Orientation
It was wonderful meeting so many of our new students and families at New Student Orientation. Please click here to access the presentation shared by Mr. Notari and Ms. Coleman.
Kindergarten Orientation
Based upon Friday, it looks like our kindergarten Jaguars are ready and excited to begin the school year. Please click here to access the Kindergarten Orientation presentation.
Car Loop Update
Thank you all for learning and following our car loop procedures which can be found on our SJLES Website. One major way you can help is by staying in your car in the car loop and having your child enter and exit from the passenger side of your car. Exceptions will be made for parents of children who are using 5-point harness car seats and cannot yet operate the harness clip independently. Those parents should quickly exit their car to secure their child.
Students in Kindergarten and 1st
At the start of the school year, students in kindergarten and first grade will have access to Chromebooks at school when needed for instruction. These devices will not be assigned to individual students. Students at these grade levels who currently have HCPSS-issued Chromebooks assigned to them will be asked to return them on the first day of school.
We Need You!
SJLES is still in need of a Lunch/Recess monitor and a Close Adult Support position. Please email Erin Coleman (erin_coleman@hcpss.org) if you are interested in joining our outstanding staff!
Water Bottles
Students are encouraged to bring a water bottle to use throughout the day, these can be refilled at any water fountain. Water fountains will be accessible by all students this year.
Breakfast & Lunch
All students will receive daily breakfast and lunch free of charge. Students can pack their own lunch daily and are not required to eat breakfast at school.
Community News and Programs
Please visit the Community News and Programs page at http://www.hcpss.org/community-news-and-programs/ for announcements of upcoming events and programs sponsored by non-profit organizations.