BACK-TO-SCHOOL

Welcome back to school for the 2024-2025 school year!

For returning families, I look forward to serving you, your children, and the entire Jack London Community. For families new to Jack London, I am excited to meet you and your child. We are all here to support your child transitioning to our fantastic school. Our staff and school community are committed to providing the best educational experience possible for your child here at Jack London. Please let us know how we can help.

Here are a few quick announcements to inform you of what's to come as we prepare for the first days of school:

Classroom Assignments

Please keep an eye out for all upcoming information via ParentSquare. We will be posting the classes on our website. You will receive a welcome email from your child's teacher. Please make sure that you have updated your Parent Portal information in Aeries and make sure your ParentSquare.is up to date. For those families who like lists, we will use each student's ID number to let you know their new classroom for the new school year. You can find the list in the front office.The list will be posted August 9th, at 5:00PM.

TK/Kinder Assessments

We are excited to have your little ones join our school. We will have our TK/Kinder Teacher Team assess our students before the first day of school. We will notify you via ParentSquare to make your appointment. Each assessment will take approximately 15- 20 minutes.

TK/KINDER JACK LONDON STUDENT ASSESSMENT SIGN-UPS 8/2024

We will also have our TK/K Parent Orientation in the Jack London Library on Wednesday, August 14th, on the first day of school.

We can't wait to meet your family!

I will continue to keep you updated via ParentSquare. Feel free to send me a message via ParentSquare.

Welcome!

Principal Venegas

Thank you, Jack London Families! Many families have already updated the Emergency Contact Information via our Parent Portal!! You may use this link to complete your mandatory emergency information: https://pinerolivet.aeries.net/student/LoginParent.aspx

Two forms must be printed, signed, and submitted to our Office Manager. If you need us to print them, please get in touch with our Office Manager, Ana Cruz. You can then make an appointment to sign them. These two forms are located on the Parent Portal in Aeries:

1) Know Your Rights

2) Emergency Card

Please have your two forms submitted by Friday, August 16th, to your classroom teacher or the office, or drop them in the dropbox at the front of the school.

* Due to the importance of these documents and for your child's safety, your child will only be allowed to attend school field trips if your child's enrollment documents are completed in the Aeries Portal.

Welcome, 2024/2025 TK/KINDER Families!

Thank you to those who signed up for your Kindergartener's Assessment!

And thank you for tuning in to ParentSquare for school information!

TK/KINDER ASSESSMENTS

One of our TK/ Kindergarten teachers will assess our NEW Incoming TK/ Kindergarten students on Wednesday, August 7th, Thursday, August 8th, and Friday, August 9th. Our sign-up is coming soon. Please check back here for the link. Each appointment will take approximately 15 minutes. This process will help us place our students appropriately. Thank you for taking the time to have us meet with your child.

TK/KINDER JACK LONDON STUDENT ASSESSMENT SIGN-UPS 8/2024

We will hold a Kindergarten Orientation in your child's classroom on the first day of school, August 14th, at 8:20 AM. The first day of school will be a minimum day; the hours will be as follows: 8:20 AM to 11:20 AM.

TK/K ORIENTATION SCHEDULE FOR AUGUST 14TH:

8:20 Classroom Orientation: Join your child in their new classroom for a welcome from your child's teacher, a welcome story, and an introduction to learning centers.

9:00 Principal Orientation: Parents join the principal in the Jack London Library for an orientation about Jack London Elementary School while your child stays in their new classroom.

9:30 Teacher Orientation: Parents return to their child's classroom to have an orientation with their teacher while their students play in the Kindergarten playground.

10:00 Centers: Parents and students stay in the classroom and explore the various learning centers in the classroom.

11:00 Orientation Ends

11:20 Dismissal

We are so excited to meet all of you!

Funding for our school is generated through the Free & Reduced Lunch Application. Please make it a priority to fill out the form; your application may be the one that makes a difference in what our funding will be. Even if you don't believe you will qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch, every application counts towards our eligibility for more funding. The lunch application will be posted in ParentSquare, and you can also click on the link here:

THE NEW 2024/2025 LUNCH APPLICATION LINK IS COMING SOON!

Thank you for taking the time to support our students.

SCHOOL LUNCH-

• ​Each school in the Piner-Olivet Union School District will offer hot meals to students on-campus five days a week.
• ALL students will eat for FREE for the 2024-2025 school year.
• Monthly menus are posted on your School website each month beginning in early August.
• As meals are FREE again this year, we ask that you complete the Free/Reduced Lunch Application to help support our school funding!

THE NEW 2024/2025 LUNCH APPLICATION LINK IS COMING SOON!

Please stay tuned to ParentSquare for the link to the application. It will only take 5 minutes to improve our funding with your application.

Thank you!

At this time, our Jack London community does not have before-school supervision before 8:05 AM. For safety reasons please do NOT drop off your children at school before 8:05 AM. Please see your options below if you require onsite supervision for your child prior to 8:05 AM. If you have any other concerns, please send the principal a message via ParentSquare.

Y.M.C.A.- We have before-school and after-school care. Tifani, our coordinator, is amazing! Here is the link to the Y.M.C.A. website so you can register for the program. https://www.scfymca.org/

HOMEWORK CLUB- Before School- Our Paraprofessionals are in our library each morning to support students with their homework. The club opens at 8:05 AM and continues until the bell rings at 8:20 AM. Please make sure that you sign the permission slip for your child. You may pick one up at the Front Office.

SIBLING CARE- For our families' convenience, we have after-school supervision in the library at 2:40 PM for our elementary students who need to wait for their P.O.C.S. siblings. At 3:20 PM, our P.O.C.S. students must pick up their brothers and/or sisters in the library. ALL students attending Sibling Care in the afternoon must sign in when they arrive. All P.O.C.S. Middle School siblings must sign their elementary brothers and sisters in on the sign-out log. Our staff must know how our students are getting home. If our Middle school Siblings are unwilling to come into the room and sign their siblings out, they may no longer participate in the program.

This is a free service for Jack London students with siblings attending P.O.C.S.

Our driveway is a one-way zone and is a single lane. Every student is safer and everything runs smoothly and quickly when traffic flows in the same, single direction, and students are dropped off and picked up in the designated passenger loading zone only. Parking in driveways, unmarked spaces, or “Red Zones” creates blind spots. Student safety is compromised because even though students may be accompanied by adults, students are difficult to see.

For all first through sixth graders, traffic flows in the same, single direction and all students are picked up in the same place you dropped them off in the morning, on the west side of campus. ONLY Kindergarten parents are allowed to drive through the front of the school in the morning to drop off their Kinder student and their siblings. ALL Kinder parents must utilize a yellow parking tag with their Kindergartener’s name on it. For afternoon Kindergarten pickup, please park in a designated parking space and walk to the Kindergarten release area, or Kinder parents may drive through the front of the school in line with the other cars, making sure that you are displaying your yellow tag.

In order to maintain traffic safety, all drivers need to follow the established student drop-off/pick-up procedures:

• Kindergarten ONLY- You must have a yellow tag displayed, and drop off & pick up students in front of school. This area is shared with buses and school business ONLY.

• Please enter the WEST (second) driveway, driving to the designated student drop off area marked with a yellow curb on the west side of the campus.

• Please pull as far forward as possible so that all drivers are able to drop off their children in the loading zone.)

• Please instruct students to exit on the curb side of the car whenever possible. If the student must exit on the driveway side, please remind them to look for cars before exiting the vehicle.

• Jack London students wait in designated grade-level zones, with younger siblings waiting with older siblings. Adults will direct students to your car, regardless of where you pull up. You don’t need to stop in front of your child’s grade-level zone.

• After dropping students off or picking students up, please exit the school through the EAST driveway while watching for pedestrians.

• Do not stop or park in a “Red Zone” or other areas that are not designated parking places.

• If you plan to walk your child to class, speak with your child’s teacher, or visit the office, please park in a designated visitor parking space in front of the school.

• Please do not park and let your child cross at random points in the parking lot. Students and adults must use crosswalks.

• To ensure the safety of students, all students must walk with an adult if they are crossing or walking in a driveway or parking area.

• Do not drop off or pick up students at the dead-end on the west side of campus behind the gate. This is not a safe or designated school zone and drivers do not notice pedestrians in this area.

If you want to report an absence, please call our hotline. Remember to state the reason why your child will be absent.

Resources

Absent HOTLINE- (707)522-8917 Press 5

This year, we will again be implementing our building-wide policy regarding birthday celebrations. Our Health Policy limits what types of food we can bring to school, moving away from edible treats for birthdays and replacing them with Food Free celebrations.

• Link to FOOD-FREE Celebration ideas. We have included a link to give you some sample ideas. We thank you for your contribution to the health of our students.

Safety: With 1 in 13 children having at least one food allergy, anyone serving food to children needs to be aware of food allergies and the potential for a life-threatening allergic reaction. More than 15% of school-aged children with food allergies have had an allergic reaction at school. These reactions range from mild to severe and even fatal. The safety of all students is one of Jack London's top priorities.

• We also will be holding any deliveries, such as flowers, balloons, etc., in the front office until dismissal. After careful consideration and gathering feedback from various parties, we have determined this to be necessary for the safety of all our students.

Welcome back from Summer Break!

Please stop by room A4, located in the main office and say hello to Nurse April.

A couple of reminders:

• Student medication must come with written orders. You are welcome to come by, and we will make sure we have everything logged in.
• Immunization records need to be updated.

Nurse April must have your child's updated medical information so we may properly serve your child's health needs while on campus and on field trips.

Welcome Back, Families!

The PTO is excited to meet all of the Kindergarten families at the Principal's Kindergarten Orientation on the first day of school, August 14th, at 9:00 AM. We can't wait to tell you all about our organization!

• Our first Jack London Families PTO meeting will be on Tuesday, August 20th, at 6:30 PM, both in person and via Zoom. We will meet in Room D4. The Zoom link will be posted in ParentSquare.
• Join us for our first event, the Welcome Back Ice Cream Social, on Friday, August 23rd, from 5:30 to 6:45 PM outside at the green tables.

We are grateful and pleased to have Kat Hess as our PTO President this year! You may reach her at jacklondonfamily@gmail.com.

Welcome Back!

• If you would like to wear a mask and are in need of one, we have them available in the office.
• Volunteers on campus, please come by the office to check-in. We will give you an office visitors pass. Once you are finished volunteering, we request that you return to the office to turn in your visitor pass. In an emergency, we want to ensure that our volunteers are accounted for. Thank you for volunteering!
• If you are picking your child up early, please give us a call ahead of time, and we will call them up to the office to meet you when you arrive.
• All tardy students must check into the office first. We will issue them a slip to give to their classroom teacher. Tardy means arriving at school after the bell has rung at 8:20 AM.
• Independent Contracts- If your family is going on vacation for five days or more, please check in with the office at least a week before you are scheduled to leave so the office can submit an Independent Contract to your child's teacher.
• Friendly reminder- 3 or more unexcused absences will be recorded as a truancy.
• For your convenience, we have added a locked drop box at the front of the school for you to drop off any hard copy documents that you have for the front office, the school nurse, or your child's teacher.

Don't hesitate to get in touch with me, Ana Cruz acruz@pousd.org

Thank you for keeping the office informed!

Email: jacklondon@pousd.org
Website: http://www.jacklondon.pousd.org/
Location: 2707 Francisco Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA, USA
Phone: (707)522-3030
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JLWolves/
Twitter: @JLWolves