Panther Parent Update

De Portola is a welcoming diverse learning community. We foster individuality by empowering and developing students’ communication, curiosity, and critical thinking skills through a growth mindset. We are Panthers! Rooooaaaarrrrrrrr!!

08/29 MINIMUM DAY with a 1:00pm Dismissal (EVERY THURSDAY)

08/29 Club Expo (During Lunch)

08/30 Panther Parent Lunch

09/02 Labor Day (NO SCHOOL)

09/03 DP Foundation Meeting 6:00pm

09/05 Back to School Night 5:00-7:00

09/11 SSC Meeting 2:45pm

09/18 SGT Meeting 2:45pm

We will have our Honor Roll Lunch this Friday, August 30. On this day, all families are invited to bring lunch and enjoy it with your student (honor roll or not). All 7th and 8th graders who made Honor Roll (3.5 or higher, with no Us in citizenship) during the second semester of the 2023-24 school year will receive an ice cream sandwich as well as an ice cream sandwich for their parent. We will have the west gate open for parents to sign in. We will then direct families out to the lunch area to find your student and enjoy lunch together. Be sure to plan ahead. Last year, several of the local drive thru lines got backed up on this day.

7th and 8th Grade Honor Roll Parents please RSVP here. This helps us determine how much ice cream is needed.

Boys and Girls Basketball Rosters will be available Monday 8/26. Track & Field will continue try outs on 8/26 and 8/28 with rosters being post on Friday 8/30. You may find rosters here. All sports practice throughout the year will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:45 - 4:30 with games on Saturdays. Students can only participate in one sport per season. Please review the Middle School Athletics page for more information. Also, email Mr. Steven at sfong@sandi.net for any questions.

Fall Sports: Basketball and Track & Field

Winter: Soccer and Volleyball

Spring: Flag Football, Cheer, and Wrestling

We are excited to welcome parents to Back to School Night next Thursday, September 5th, 2024, from 5:00-7:00pm. Our Back to School Night is an Adult Only Event. Once the main parking lots fill up, please follow the signs and staff directions to park on the dirt field. We will start in Weiner Hall at 5:00pm with whole staff introductions. Classroom visits will begin at 5:30 with your student's first period class. There will be a five-minute passing period between each 10-minute class period. Miss Cindee will be hosting the Book Fair in the library open from 4:30 - 7:00. We are ready to provide you the full student experience while on campus. See you September 5th!

Schedule of Activities

4:30-7:00 p.m. Book Fair in the Media Center

5:00-5:15 p.m. Welcome with Principal Jaramillo in Weiner Hall

5:15-5:25 p.m. DP Foundation Introductions in Weiner Hall

5:30-6:55 p.m. Classroom Visitations

Your student will go home with the attached Back to School Class Schedule form on Friday 8/30.

Our first DP Foundation meeting is Tuesday, September 3rd at 6:00pm. Please enter at the east side of the office at the pedestrian gate. The door to the lounge will be open.

We have only raised about $5K with our Back to School donations. The DP Foundation runs on $40K operating budget. This works out to about $60 per student. Please consider donating today to ensure the DP Foundation can continue to support our programs. Thank you!

The De Portola Foundation is a wonderful group of parents who raise money to support all types of events at school. The DP Foundation has two major fundraisers a year. The first is simply a Back to School donation and the second is our Panther Pride Run. We have raised $20k at our Panther Pride Run for the last two years. Our goal for our Back to School donation is $15K. Please consider donating any amount that is reasonable for your family. Click here to donate now.

Big cost items are assemblies ($2K - 4K each assembly), field trips ($5K per grade level), teacher grants, the school garden, and staff wellness. Your time, talents, and money are needed to keep our programs running. Jordan Waggoner is entering her sixth fabulous year as DP Foundation President. She is AMAZING and has five children who have attended elementary, middle, and high school in Tierrasanta. She leads a fun, light hearted group of parents who rally together to support our school. We would love for you to join us on the first Tuesday of the month from 6:00pm - 7:00pm.

We had a few families age out and need to fill some vacancies:

Vice President: Be a thought partner and support to the president. Run meetings if President is not available.

*Treasurer: Monitor budget, run monthly reports, and write checks

Hospitality: Organize food for staff for Welcome Back Luncheon, Back to School Night, Holiday Breakfast, and Staff Appreciation Week

*We currently have a Treasurer, but she works in healthcare and does not have a finance background. We would love to bring someone in that enjoys working with spreadsheets and managing money.

Please reach out to Jordan Waggoner at deportolafoundation1@gmail.com or me at jjaramillo@sandi.net with any questions.

School Site Council

SSC meets on the second Wednesday of the month in person at 2:45pm. SSC oversees our Title 1 funding and reviews the School Plan for Student Achievement SPSA. The SPSA governs how we spend our Title 1 funding and is closely monitored by SDUSD finance department and is reviewed by the School Board. We have two members who have served on the committee for the last two years and are interested in remaining on SSC. Per SSC rues, they must be re-elected. Sheila Weiner is a retired De Portola teacher, auditorium namesake, and a community resident. Michael Burns has two daughters that attend De Portola in 6th and 8th grade.

School Governance Team

SGT meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 2:45pm. We discuss school policies and programs. This committee is comprised of parents, students, and school staff. We have two parents who will be entering their second year of commitment. Mr. Willis, Associate Principal of Canyon Hills High School just completed his two year commitment. Mr. Liew, Associate Principal of Canyon Hills High School is interested in serving on this committee.

Both of these meetings are public meetings and anyone in the community is welcome to come. Only rostered members have voting rights. Agenda and Minutes will be posted to our website. If you are interested in nominating yourself to either of these committee as a voting member, please submit your name to Tabatha Rodriguez at trodriguez1@sandi.net. Nominations are due by September 3, 2024.

SSC September 11th @ 2:45PM in Executive Conference Room of Front Office

SGT September 18th @ 2:45PM In Executive Conference Room of Front Office

Repeated info from last week

School dismisses at 2:30. We only allow early release at 2:00pm or earlier. If you child has an appointment and needs to leave, please email Ms. Charisma at cjohnson7@sandi.net or leave her a message her at 619-605-4800 and press 3. She will send a pass and have your student waiting in the office at the expected departure time. This is not a perfect system, but we do our best to accommodate everyone. If your child has PE at your time of departure and you have not given us prior notice, it can take up to 20 minutes to locate your child, send them to locker room, and head up to office. Planning ahead makes this a very easy process.

Full day absences need to be reported to Charisma Johnson at cjohnson7@sandi.net. Please include your student's full name, DOB, reason for illness and the day or dates they are absent.

We do not accept food deliveries for students from outside vendors. Additionally, parents cannot drop off fast food for their student (Subway Included). If a student forgets their lunch, we offer free lunch everyday. If a parent drops off a student's lunch bag, we will have the student come up to office at 12:00pm. If a parent brings lunch from Cotijas (or anywhere else), we ask that you stay and enjoy it with your student.

For the 2024-25 school year, De Portola Middle School will provide both BREAKFAST and LUNCH for all students. Breakfast will be served in the lunch arbor from 7:30 - 7:50 AM. Students just need to input their six digit student ID number and make their food selection.