Dear San Elijo Middle School Families,

We had an excellent first week with our students. As I walked around classrooms, I saw so many engaging activities to welcome students back in to the routine of school. We value this first week as a way to build community and relationships with our students. This upcoming week, Teachers will begin to focus more on instruction. On that note, we have our first delivery of Chromebooks! 8th grade students will bring home their Chromebooks on Monday and 7th grade students will bring home their Chromebooks on Tuesday. I highly recommend purchasing the Chromebook insurance as accidents happen, and this may save your family hundreds of dollars. As soon as we have our next shipment of Chromebooks, 6th graders will receive theirs. We are hopeful for this to be next week as well. The 6th graders will be getting all brand new Chromebooks as they will have them the longest in our school.

We look forward to welcoming you on campus on Thursday, August 29th for Back to School Night! Your child will complete their schedule and bring it home to you this week.

-Tricia Storey

If you child is participating in tryouts, you must turn in a Physical Exam form and a signed student handbook form.

• Find these documents on SEMS website, on the Athletics Documents tab
• Return your required documents to our Athletic Director, Mr. Gilpin, in room 251.

PE Clothes ($20/set) and Yearbook (earlybird price of $55) are available for purchase on the SEMS Webstore (select “San Elijo Middle School ASB” from the dropdown menu). Students can pick up PE Clothes during their lunch period starting Wednesday.

ID Cards and photoproofs will be distributed to students in their 1st period class during homeroom time on Tuesday, August 27th. The ID cards include students' homeroom teacher's name. Some schedule changes happened after these were printed. If the teacher's name is NOT correct, please do not worry. We will NOT be reprinting ID cards to make this correction. IF you child's name or grade is incorrect, please have them visit the AP office.

Make-up school photos will be on Friday, September 6th.

Our drive through drop off and pick up went very smoothly this week! If you have been picking up your child on San Elijo or Elfin Forest Road, I strongly encourage you to use our pick up line instead. Often, that was cleared out before students had been able to walk off campus. In addition, when we have a high volume of pick ups in the community, it increases the number of students using cross walks and it can become a safety concern. Please use our drive through if at all possible. I promise it moves quickly!

In addition, we are making one small adjustment to help with the egress of students. Starting on Monday, students may continue to enter through the 300 gate either on foot or on bike. However, in the afternoon, ONLY bikers will use the 300 gate to exit campus. Walkers will use the 200 gate to leave. There are just too many students trying to leave out of one small gate and it's causing a back up and a safety concern.

Health Office - Safety is always our number one priority. If your child comes to the health office and is not feeling well and needs to go home, we ask that a parent comes to pick their child up. We will not be sending home students unaccompanied on either bikes or walking home in the middle of the school day.

Front Check In/Out

• Early pick-up - If you need to pick your child up early for a pre-planned appointment, please call 760-290-2830 or email semsattendance@smusd.org ahead of time and we will have a pass ready for them upon your arrival. We prefer that students do NOT miss any instructional time for appointments, but we also recognize sometimes it can be hard to schedule outside of school hours.
• No drop-offs: Please note that you may not drop off food, electronics, Chromebooks, or PE clothes for your student. If your child leaves items at home, we have options for them here (no-cost lunch, loaner CBs in the classrooms, loaner PE clothes) and it's a good lesson for them to remember to be responsible for all their school supplies. Don't let them make you have to change your day around to bring in those supplies. We've got them covered here!

We will be doing our Homeroom Contest again shortly after Labor Day...but please know any donations you make now, will go towards your child's homeroom class. The class in each grade level that has the highest donation amounts, will earn lunch and Kona Ice at the fountain! We rely so much on your generous donations to support our after school tutoring opportunities, celebrations for both students and teachers, and departmental funds that supply materials for the classroom.

Parents are welcome to sign up to be added to the SEMS parent volunteer list. There will be a few opportunities to help on campus this year and we always need parent support! Sign up lists for those events are sent to those on this list. Please don't let the new volunteer process deter you...it's actually quite simple and we have until October to enforce the clearance...so you have time:-)

If your child is new to our school or new to riding a bike to our school, they will need to participate in our bike permit system. In order to be able to park their bike on campus, each student is required to have a permit sticker on their bike.

The San Marcos Sherriffs Department has updated their Bike Policies and will be enforcing the rules of the road. Please review the updated policies if you haven't already.

In collaboration with the District Nurse, we will be implementing a one-hour sexual health education lesson for our 6th-grade students. This lesson will be integrated into their Physical Education (PE) classes and will cover essential topics related to sexual health, including puberty, reproductive anatomy, hygiene, and healthy relationships.

The sexual health curriculum will be taught by the District Nurse and will be conducted with sensitivity and professionalism, ensuring that all students feel comfortable and supported throughout the lesson.

We understand that discussions around sexual health can be sensitive and personal, which is why we are committed to transparency and providing families with the opportunity to review the curriculum in advance. Therefore, we will notify parents/guardians two weeks before the scheduled lesson. At that time, you will have the option to opt your student out of the lesson if you deem it necessary.

Additionally, the sexual health curriculum will be made available online for parents/guardians to preview before making a decision regarding participation. This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the content and address any questions or concerns you may have.

We believe that providing comprehensive sexual health education is essential in promoting the well-being and safety of our students. If you have any questions or require further information about the curriculum or the opt-out process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Did you know that chronic absenteeism means a student has missed 10% of school? Studies show that absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year.

• Students who missed 2-4 days in Sept. were 5x more likely than those who missed fewer than 2 days to be chronically absent for the year.
• 49.5% of students missing 2-4 days in Sept. went on to become chronically absent.

A member of the admin team will reach out to your family to discuss absences if we begin to see a pattern and discuss ways to improve their student’s attendance to avoid or prepare for district letters or SART in the future.

When is 'sick' too sick for school?

• Send me to school if…
• I have a runny nose or just a little cough, but no other symptoms.
• I haven’t taken any fever reducing medicine for 24 hours and I haven’t had a fever during that time.
• I haven’t thrown up or had any diarrhea for 24 hours.
• Keep me at home if…
• I have a temperature higher than 100 degrees even after taking medicine.
• I’m throwing up or have diarrhea.
• My eyes are pink and crusty.
• I will need a doctor’s note if…
• I keep my child home for an illness lasting 5 or more days consecutively or within a short time period.

Chromebook Insurance

San Marcos Unified School District is offering an optional Mobile Device Insurance Plan for school-issued mobile devices given to students. This plan will protect the device against accidental damage, theft, fire, flood, natural disasters, and power surges. This plan will provide full replacement cost coverage and protect the item on and off school grounds.

The Mobile Device Insurance Plan costs $25.00 and covers up to two incidents between August 20, 2024, and August 19, 2025. The plan is available for purchase through October 31, 2024.

To purchase insurance online with a credit card, please click here.

For details, or more information, please click here.

Visita nuestro sitio web para más información.

ParentSquare App & Notification Settings

ParentSquare is the primary communication platform for all school communication throughout SMUSD, utilizing email, text, and app notifications. We encourage parents to download the free mobile app and view their Notifications settings on when and how they are notified.

For a quick Parent 101 ParentSquare video overview, please click here.

New Volunteer Clearance Process

We take the safety of our students and staff seriously, and a part of this is ensuring everyone who is on a school campus is cleared and approved to be present. As a result, there is a new volunteer clearance process with different requirements for different types of school or classroom volunteer commitments. We have outlined each of these volunteer levels with their requirements, please click here for more information or see the flyer here.

Student Accident Insurance

Did you know the average cost of an ambulance ride in CA is $549? This is why SMUSD has partnered with a third-party to provide optional student accident insurance, for as little as $14 for the year. Voluntary student accident insurance is highly-beneficial if an accident was to occur while attending or participating in school-sponsored activities. For details and more information, see the flyer here or visit www.studentinsuranceusa.com.

Want to keep up to date on all the happenings on campus?

Check out our Instagram page sems_golden_eagles (scan the qr code).

For more updates, please also follow our PTO on social media (Instagram, Facebook) or through PTO linktree website or SEMS PTO website. The PTO's Instagram page gives a weekly look at all the upcoming happenings on campus!

Exploration, Discovery, and Growth through Connections, Complexity, Collaboration, and Character

Email: patricia.storey@smusd.org
Website: https://sanelijomiddle.smusd.org/
Location: 1600 Schoolhouse Way, San Marcos, CA. 92078
Phone: 760-290-2800