Panther Parent Update
September 18, 2022
Our School Vision
De Portola welcomes individuality by empowering and developing students’ communication, curiosity, and critical thinking skills through a growth mindset. We are Panthers! Rooooaaaarrrrrrrr!!
School Phone Number 619-605-4800
Important Dates
09/30 SSC
10/04 DP Foundation Mtg @ 6:00
10/05 Kona Ice at Lunch
10/06 Minimum Day 2:00 Dismissal
10/19 Make-up Picture Day
10/21 SGT @ 8:00am
10/28 Haunted House
Back To School Night
Thank you to all the families that were able to attend Back To School Night. Mr. Kenyon, our new head custodian, was very impressed with your parking skills as we had to open up the back to park on the dirt. We hope that the brief classroom visits provided you with enough information to get the year off to a strong start. There is a movement across the district to shift to Standards Based Grading and almost all of our teachers spent a few minutes explaining the 4 point scale. It is very much aligned to the elementary grading scale. Also, as you look on PowerSchool to review grades, disregard the percentage so you can focus on the actual grade and the 1-4 score that your student receives on assignments and assessments. Please feel free to reach out to any of your students' teachers if you could not make it last week or have any questions. We appreciate your commitment to your student's grades.
School Site Council
We had two vacancies and two parents/community members volunteer to serve on our School Site Council. Please approve the members by clicking on this google form here. The form is in English and Spanish and will take about 15 seconds to complete. Thank you for helping us finalize our SSC members.
Student Store
The student store opens on Wednesday 9/28. We will be open Wednesdays and Fridays to start and will add Monday in November. And all of our activities like Chills, buckets, celebrating birthdays, etc. will begin in October. ASB Store only accepts cash.
8th graders!
Well 8th grade parents, we are holding an information meeting for this year's East Coast trip. Dates are June 16 through June 21, 2023. The meeting will be held on ZOOM on September 26th from 5pm to 6pm. Those that have already signed up, you do not need to attend as this is the same information from the Spring, but you are always welcome! Flyers were sent home with students with the information.
Meeting ID: 814 4280 4040
Password: DePortola
8th grade Students that are signed up for the East Coast Trip have a meeting this Friday in room 706.
Late Activity Bus
The late bus will be available for students beginning Monday, September 26. The late bus is offered on Mondays and Wednesdays for students. Students who choose to stay must make arrangements with a staff member for a club or tutoring. Students must present their Z Pass to ride the bus home.
Lunch Volunteers
The Parents At Lunch with Students PALS program is a great way to get involved in our school with only a little time investment. We have 630 students on campus, and our staff needs help supervising them during lunch. This year, PALs will support an equipment check out program during lunch providing our students with all they need to be active between 1:00-1:30 everyday.
Please complete this form at your earliest convenience or contact Kristin Wedge with questions kristinwedge@gmail.com.
We set up a monthly calendar so the De Portola staff has an idea of how much lunchtime help they can expect on any given day. Consider your own schedule and let us know the best days and weeks you would be able to volunteer on a regular basis. You will need to complete a volunteer form at the front office and provide a picture ID. The nurse is onsite Monday, Wednesday, and Friday if you need TB clearance.
Parent Portal NOW OPEN
It is critical that everyone updates their information in the Parent Portal AND completes the LCFF information also located in the Parent Portal. Completing these two tasks should take no longer than 2 minutes and secures critical funding for our schools.
Updates can only be made on a desktop and NOT mobile devices.
If you need help accessing the Parent Portal, please email Mr. Hamilton at ehamiltonjr@sandi.net or stop by the office and he can assist.
Reporting absences
Absences outside of illness such as death in the family, military deployment leaves, injuries, regular appointments such as doctor, dentist, and orthodontist are excused. Absences outside of the above listed examples should be reported as "personal reasons, non-Covid related". Thank you for your honesty with reporting absences. We are far more concerned about the health and safety of our students and staff than we are with unexcused absences.
Please call the office at 619-605-4800 and press 3 or email Miss Dora at dbriggs@sandi.net for all absences.
No Food Deliveries
We do not allow fast food deliveries at De Portola. If you want to bring food from any fast food restaurant, we ask that you stay and have lunch with child. Thank you.