Deer Canyon Echoes

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Deer Canyon Families!

It's still sinking in for me that we've started the 2024 calendar year! I’m wishing each of you minimal inaccurate dating of documents (I’ve already rewritten one check, retitled three documents, and scratched out numerous 2023s on personal notes). I hope your family has been blessed with a fulfilling two weeks together, doing whatever brings you joy: traveling, resting, spending time with loved ones, exploring San Diego’s offerings, and/or just taking things slowly at home.

When we return to school on Monday, we will pick right up where we left off in our learning, school routines, and fun! Westview students will be visiting 2nd-4th grade classrooms to read our students books they wrote this school year. We will close out our final week studying the Filipino culture through our Global Languages Program and begin to engage in learning another language and culture. Additionally, Associate Superintendent of Student Support Services Greg Mizel will be visiting DCES classrooms, staff, and students. We look forward to all of the fun that January will bring!

January Save the Dates:

• PUSD will observe Martin Luther King Jr Day on Monday, January 15 (NO SCHOOL)

• PUSD will participate in a staff Professional Growth Day on Monday, January 29 (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS).

• Join us for a Family Picnic on Friday, January 26:

• Parents/Guardians, if you plan to purchase food alongside your student, please bring a check for $6.25 per adult meal. No cash is accepted.

• More detailed information to come in our next edition of Echoes

January-March 2024 Parent Education Courses (ENROLL HERE):

• "Are you Tired of your Child Saying 'No'?" – TK-5th Grade

• "Help Your Children Manage Stress and Anxiety: Build Their Emotional Intelligence" – TK-5th Grade

Families of students served through Special Education: Deer Canyon’s Parent Ambassador(s)

In PUSD, we offer a wonderful resource for families of students served through Special Education: the PUSD Parent Ambassadors program. At Deer Canyon, parent volunteers with child(ren) who access special education services through PUSD are available as mentors to guide and support parents of children with IEPs or those exploring special education options. Drawing from their own experiences, they offer invaluable insights and advice to encourage collaboration among parents and school staff on behalf of students.

Community is important to us here at Deer Canyon and our parent ambassadors want to connect with you on whatever level you need: general camaraderie, answering questions, or sharing their own experiences. Sometimes, simply connecting with another person through a shared experience can be powerful. Please do not hesitate to reach out to the PUSD parent ambassadors with students at Deer Canyon — Michael Matsuda and Stacy Zhang — using THIS FORM.

Positive Attendance Incentives
We appreciate everyone’s efforts to ensure their student attends school each day when we return from break on Monday. As long as your child is healthy, please encourage and emphasize the importance of positive attendance while school is in session. Every day of school is an important opportunity for students to learn as well as connect to peers and teachers. The student experience in the classroom cannot be replicated and is vital to student progress and development (both academically and social-emotionally).

Starting on Monday, Deer Canyon will be participating in a site-based, schoolwide attendance incentive plan alongside all PUSD schools. We will be looking at our current schoolwide positive attendance rate and chronic absenteeism rates in comparison to last year’s rates, during three date ranges established by PUSD leadership (see table below).

Each week, Deer Canyon office staff will run an attendance report for Friday-Thursday of that week. If, as a school, we have met or exceeded our positive attendance rate from last year and remained below our chronic absenteeism rate from last school year, we will have music at lunch! Each week, I will update families on our attendance rates. If we have met or exceeded our rates at the end of each established date range, we will have a special schoolwide celebration.

Our attendance rates from last year are as follows: