Sayéik: GastiNEWS

Hello SGCS families,

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We have lots of information in this newsletter - from an awesome project for our 4th-6th graders to ways to get involved in our school and our school designation, please read all the information provided!

Next week is a short one, here is the schedule:

Thursday, November 28: Thanksgiving, no school

Friday, November 29: no school

Cheers to a month full of gratitude!

In partnership,

Stacy Diouf

SGCS Principal

907-796-5075

It's the time of year when it's dark and roads can be very slippery! Please do not drop off students on I street. Traffic gets backed up all the way to the intersection and it is unsafe for our students and staff. It also makes it difficult for kids to cross in the crosswalk.

We have added a sign in the crosswalk to remind drivers to SLOW down and be aware of staff helping students cross the road.

Ocean Guardians and the School Garden:

Intermediate classes are working with Joel Bos to get our beautiful school garden ready for winter. Classes weeded the beds, amended the soil, covered everything with plastic and then they started on phase II. Students and adult volunteers put cardboard down as a weed blocker and then shoveled washed rock as a base to build 10 more raised beds. Yes! We are "growing" our garden for next spring so we'll have 23 beds to grow veggies and flowers.

If you have an interest in helping with the garden, please reach out. We would love to have more of our school community involved!

We could use help with:

• building a small structure out of old pallets for yard waste.
• building a shed for the storage of gardening tools. - (This will be an early spring project but I would like to get it organized soon.)
• finding or building seating options for students while they're in the garden. (benches, tables, etc)
• finding businesses or people who would be willing to donate stepping stones for the garden.
• a few more volunteers for a garden club (starting in December).
• finding plastic planting trays and 4 inch containers. If you have any or know of anyone willing to donate these, please send them my way. We will be planting microgreens starting in January and it would be great to use recycled materials.
• a donation of 6 inch wide long cedar boards as a wind blocker for the garden.
• making signs for the raised beds. We have the wood but are in need of a router and someone who has experience engraving letters.

monika.haygood@juneauschools.org

Our monthly Site Council meeting is this Wednesday, November 20, 5:00-6:00 in the SGCS Library. Please join us!

Draft Agenda, 11/20/2024

• Call to Order
• Introductions
• Public comment
• Approval of Minutes of the 10/16 meeting (found here)
• Presentation on "add back" funds by Kristin Gadot (confirmed)
• Principal's Report
• Presentation by Suzanne Morris on her role (not yet confirmed)
• Report out on 11/14/2024 Super Site Council Meeting
• Other items as requested
• Adjourn

Dear families--

For decades, student enrichment opportunities, teacher activity budgets, supplies, and other important needs at our school have been supported by a non-profit parent/community group, long known as Friends of Gastineau School (FOGS). FOGS traditionally hosted many fun, community-building events over the course of a school year, with the twin goals of building community through our school and raising funds to support our students. In some years the group was able to contribute as much as $15,000 to school student activities and school needs. This money has been sorely missed, especially in the current funding environment in the school district.

This community support group went dormant for several years following the pandemic. A small group of parents and grandparents restarted it late last school year. All of the paperwork and formal processes for building this group back are now taken care of. Now we need your help!

Our community group now needs caring community members -- parents, grandparents, other Douglas neighbors -- to help us raise funds for our school. In the past fundraisers included events like included Cocoa and Books nights, science nights, bake sales, art fundraisers, and other community activities. If you love our school, have a flare for events or organizing, love building community, or just simply are a great volunteer, please reach out to the current board chair, Erin Harrington, at erinfish@gmail.com. And please attend the next Friends of Sayeik Gastineau School meeting on Wednesday, November 20th, at 5:45pm in the school library.

Thanks -- Erin Harrington, Kristin Peterson and Mark Johnson, board members

Often, when school buildings are closed, the district will still operate via remote learning. Remote instruction information is available on the district website.

Remote instruction days will be clearly communicated to staff and families. You will receive additional information from your child's teacher(s) and/or school about what to do. Middle and High School students should check Canvas for their coursework. Elementary students will hear from their teacher.

If your student needs a district Chromebook for winter use, just use this form to request a device.

If you need help with a district device or with logging into an online learning platform, please contact the JSD Help Desk at 907-796-5899 or email IT@juneauschools.org

The System for School Success is Alaska’s accountability system designed to celebrate success in our schools and identify areas we can focus on to help provide additional support. This accountability system fulfills the requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to regularly evaluate school efficacy and close gaps in student achievement.

Accountability systems are not meant to be punitive. State standards and assessments are set as expectations for what students should know and be able to do. Accountability systems help to set the expectations for school performance and effectiveness and are one of the ways we can identify what is working well and what we need to improve. A brief overview of Alaska’s accountability system can be found at: education.alaska.gov/akaccountability/schoolsuccess/accountabilitysystems.pdf.

Alaska’s accountability system allows us to:

• Articulate goals for student achievement, growth, and success

• Collect, analyze, and report on school performance

• Recognize high-performing schools and provide additional support to schools when needed

School report cards can be found on the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development’s website under System for School Success.

Sayéik: Gastineau Community School) received a school designation of Comprehensive Support and Improvement-Targeted Support and Improvement (CSI-TSI). This means that one (or more) subgroups of students at a Title I school performed below the performance threshold for three years in a row. A component of this designation provides our school with additional state support and the opportunity to closely look at data, current student performance, and current practices. After looking at our data, we can implement a plan developed with stakeholder input and approval to determine what we can do to support this group of students. The CSI-TSI designation is not meant to be negative; it is a chance for us to provide targeted support to our school and students. You can find more information from the state about this designation here: Comprehensive Support and Improvement – Targeted Support

Please contact me if you have any questions or if you wish to review or become involved with updating our improvement plan.

Stacy Diouf

Principal

​Sayéik: Gastineau Community School

Report cards are in the mail! Below is a Key to help you understand our standards-based report card. if you have questions about your child(ren)'s report card, please reach out to their teacher.