As I reflect on this week, I am thankful for all of the work that went into making it a success. Our custodial staff made our floors shine, our secretaries put in long hours this week to get us organized, and our staff came together early to make sure they are ready to support our students next week.

It was great to see our students and families come through our doors at open house this week (pictures below). We had a great turnout and for those that were not able to make it, no worries. Our staff are all ready to support students on their first day with us at Port Susan.

In addition, our partnership with families is so important for the success of our student learning. I want to thank our PTO for their support to start this year. If you were not able to stop by their table at open house, but you'd like to volunteer or work with our group, please reach out to them at portsusanpto@gmail.com - they are wonderful!!

-Cherae Almanza

If you are providing transportation for your student in the morning, please take a look at the image below. We should be able to get 5-6 cars to drop off at once, which will help all students get to first period on time & save you some time as well. If you're the first car in line, please pull forward to the first cone/curb area and the next 4-5 cars can follow behind. All students can then exit the vehicle and walk into the building.

If your student will be absent due to illness or family business, please call the school at 360.629.1366 or send email to skline@stanwood.wednet.edu to excuse the absence prior or the morning of to avoid an email or phone call. All absences must be excused within 72 hours of a student returning to school.

As a staff, we have really make it a point to keep our building secure throughout the school day and into the afternoon/evening for after school events as much as possible. One thing that we are fortunate to have is all classrooms are in one building so we can lock and secure the building throughout the day. We always have an adult at the front door in the morning to greet all students as they enter and that is the only entrance open to the school. Once they come in at 7:40am to start the day, that front door gets locked and closed and it remains that way until 2pm when the buses arrive to pick up students.

If a parent or visitor comes to the school or you drop off your student after the day has started, they have to ring the doorbell for us to verify and actually go open the door for them because it is locked. In addition, we have cameras and a monitor in the main office to also verify who they are from the office prior to going to the door.

As you can see below, on regular schedule (Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri), class begins at 7:40 a.m. and on Wednesdays (late start throughout the district), secondary classes begin at 9:00 a.m.

Throughout the year, we will have our morning announcements live on a google meet and move into our time together with advisory lessons for regular schedule days. We have adjust our bell schedules to have advisory after 2nd period Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri. There will not be advisory on Wednesdays and morning announcements will be at 9 a.m. that day.

Our new athletic sign up can be found here: Final Forms

It is not too late to sign up if you're interested!

The breakfast and lunch menu for September is available on our Food Services webpage and via the Menu button at the school website.

We strongly encourage ALL families to submit a Free and Reduced Meal application. We recommend applications be completed online via Skyward Family Access by clicking the Food Service tab and then Applications to begin.

For more information, please visit our Food Services website.

With our 50 big yellow school buses returning to the roads this week, we urge you to help keep everyone safe by brushing up on the rules when it comes to school buses loading or unloading students.

• You must ALWAYS stop if you are traveling in the same direction as the school bus.

• On a two-lane road, traffic in both directions needs to stop.

• If there are three or more lanes, or a divided roadway, you are not required to stop if you’re traveling in the opposite direction of the bus.

• Please keep in mind that even if you are not required to stop, you need to proceed with caution.

• Failure to stop for a school bus can run you a $500 ticket.

Remember that 20 mph school zones are active again — so please drive cautiously near our schools and crosswalks!

Check out your student's route and bus stop information for the 2023-24 school year now at our Bus Route Information webpage, which includes instructions on how to use Versatrans eLink.

• Sign up to volunteer in our schools HERE
• Learn about school supplies HERE
• Steps on how to complete Free & Reduced Meal applications are HERE
• Find the calendars for the school year HERE
• Sign up for our new weekly Spartan Sports Report newsletter HERE

Cherae Almanza, Principal

Crysty Auckland, Assistant Principal