Jaguar Journal

Dear Jepson Families,

We are off to a great start at Willis Jepson Middle School! It is wonderful seeing our students building positive relationships, catching up with good friends, and making new ones. Our teachers devoted the first two weeks to fostering a welcoming and caring environment for our kids. As we visit classes we are very pleased to see teachers and students building community and connecting with one another in a variety of fun and creative ways. Jaguar Spirit is very high!

Thank you to everyone for making this year’s Back to School Night a big success. We hope you gained a better understanding of your child’s daily experiences at Jepson and what makes our school special. Kudos go to our wonderful Leadership students for guiding our guests throughout the evening.

We want all of our students to get involved in campus life at Jepson and grow academically. We hope this message and future ones will inform you of exciting opportunities for your child including our Welcome Back Dance on Friday, September 8. If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s academic progress, please reach out to their teacher. We are ready to partner with you.

Our doors are always open to you. We hope your child will have enriching and rewarding experiences at Jepson this year.

Go Jags!

Tom McHale, Principal

Randy Henry, Substitute Assistant Principal

Joe Cooney, Assistant Principal

Jackie Carmona, Dean of Learning Support

Si necesita esta boletine informativo traducido en Español, por favor, haga cliq en la palabra a la derecha que dice "Translate" y escoja "Spanish".

• 9/4: Labor Day (No School)
  
• 9/6: Athletic Physicals in the Library after school
• 9/8: Color Battle AND Back to School Dance
• 9/13: Make-Up Picture Day (NOT RETAKES)
• 9/28: Parent Teacher Conferences & Minimum Day
• 10/13: Picture RETAKE Day

Every September, Attendance Awareness Month takes place to spread awareness regarding WHY maintaining attendance in school and college is essential for academic success.

Missing classes can affect student learning, assignments, and assessments. While taking a few days off in times of need is acceptable, skipping school for fun or to avoid certain assignments is harmful in the long run. Missing school = missing out!

If your student is unable to attend school due to illness (or other reasons), please call (707) 453-6284 or email our attendance secretary Gail Fay at GailF@vacavilleusd.org to report the absence. Please be sure to include your student's name and the reason they are out.

What do each of the codes in the attendance mean?

E = Excused Absence
U = Unexcused Absence
A = Unverified Absence
T = Tardy (Late to Class)

We are excited to host the APEX Color Games again at Jepson. Sponsored by Jepson Leadership and our Parent Teacher Committee (PTC), this is our major fundraiser of the school year.

Every day, APEX coordinators are hosting fun games for students on the Quad during our lunches. Students are collecting donations they can use toward winning prizes and participating in our big “Color Battle” scheduled for after school on Friday, September 8.

We will use the money we raise to support a variety of Jepson activities and athletics.

Our BACK TO SCHOOL DANCE is Friday, September 8th from 5:30 - 8 PM! Come join the fun! We will have a DJ, dancing, and a full snack bar.

Cost: $5, plus extra $$ for the snack bar

Note: Students must be cleared of any debts with the library and have less than 10 demerits in order to attend. The event is only for Jepson students.

Try-out Information:

• Volleyball try-outs will begin Tuesday, 9/5
• Cross Country begins Tuesday, 9/5
• Flag football try-outs will begin Monday, 9/11

Students should meet in the locker room after school for tryouts.

The Fall Season goes until the end of October. The following Season will have Boys and Girls basketball and wrestling!

Athletic Physicals @ Jepson: We will be hosting another Athletic Physicals on September 6th after school in the Library. Please bring $15 cash and the parent-signed physical form. You can find this form on our website or pick one up in the front office.

If you are thinking about participating in any sports at Jepson this year you will need a physical.

In order to participate in any sports, including tryouts, and preseason conditioning/training programs, ALL athletes must be cleared. A completed Physical - must be dated after May 1, 2023 and turned into the school for the athlete to be cleared to participate.

Physical Education Reminder:

Please remember to get your names written on the Physical Education clothing if you haven’t already.

Welcome to the Counseling Corner! We will be utilizing this space to share Counseling Department updates. We would like to introduce our Counseling Team:

• Anita Kelly, Counseling Secretary, anitak@vacavilleusd.org
• Cindy Ayala, 7th Grade Counselor, cayala@vacavilleusd.org
• Angi Roe, 8th Grade Counselor, aroe@vacavilleusd.org
• Chabeli Lopez, 7th and 8th Grade Counselor, aclopez@vacavilleusd.org

Students can access counseling services through their Counseling Department Google Classroom. Let's have a great school year!

Kind regards,

Counseling Department

Attendance is governed by the Rule of 90. This rule requires students to be in class 90% of the time. School related activities such as field trips and sports excusals are not included in the calculation. All other absences whether excused, unexcused, unverified or truant are a part of the calculation. Students who fall below the 90% threshold are ineligible to participate in activities, including athletics, until they reach the 90% attendance mark. We will determine eligibility under the Rule of 90 at each grade reporting period. Students may attend Saturday School* to improve their attendance rate. For the Rule of 90 there may be very limited opportunities for appeal based on significant and extraordinary circumstances.

A warning list will be run for our first progress report (September 15th) for any student with more than 2 days of absences. This is just a warning and will NOT impact eligibility.

*We will have two Saturday School dates in September: 9/9 AND 9/23. Students may sign-up in the front office to attend.

See our Rule of 90 Cheat Sheet for the exact dates and number of absences allowed for eligibility.

Interested in joining the Teen Program for the Boys and Girls Club? Check out the flyer below.

The Boys and Girls Club is also accepting High School students.

• 1st Offense: PED is confiscated by staff and taken to the front office. An electronics violation is logged into the student discipline record and no demerit is assigned. The PED is returned to the student at the end of the day.

• 2nd Offense: PED is confiscated by staff and taken to the front office. An electronics violation is logged into student discipline record, 1 demerit assigned, and the PED is returned to student at the end of the day. Warning/Parent notification is given.

• 3rd and Subsequent Offenses: Parent/guardian is contacted and parent/guardian must come to pick up the PED from the front office. An electronics violation is logged into the student discipline record. The student is assigned 1 lunch detention and 1 demerit.
  
  

If a parent needs to contact a student during the school day, they may call the main school number (707) 453-6280 to have a message delivered to the student. If a student needs to make a call during the school day, they may come into the school office and ask permission to use an office phone.

All students in VUSD have Google logins to create and store documents in Google Drive. These documents are “in the cloud” so they can be edited from any computer on the internet, at home or school, using a PC, Mac or Chromebook.

To log in from home:

1. Go to http://drive.google.com

2. Enter the email below:
   _____________________@vacavilleusd.org

3. Password is their birthday with the slashes and leading zeros if needed.
   ____/____/____ ie: (09/02/xxxx) OR they created a new password.

Students will be able to share their documents with teachers and others. The login also gives each student access to a limited version of G-Mail that can send and receive mail with “vacavilleusd.org” Google accounts.

Your student’s Google account is to be used for educational purposes only, and students are expected to abide by the Internet Use Agreement signed at the beginning of the year. Contents of a student’s Google Drive are part of the Vacaville Unified domain and can be accessed by me and VUSD administrators. Abuse of the technology can result in suspension of the student’s account.

Parents/Guardians, would you like to be alerted when your student has a missing assignment, or when they earn a grade below the standard? Parent Square is able to send notifications based upon specific settings that you can set up in the Parent Portal. See the video for more details.