Welcome Back!
Dear Santiago Families,
Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year. We are very excited to have you join us for our second year as Santiago STEAM Magnet! Our teachers and staff have been working extremely hard preparing for this year. Through the Choice Window and all summer, we have had many new families join us. We hope you enjoy Santiago and participate in everything we have to offer.
We will be kicking off the year with our PTA Ice Cream Social this Friday at 4:00pm. In year’s past we would hand out your class placement at the event. Due to changes, all families will need to log-in to the Family Portal at www.svusd.org and see who your child’s teacher will be for this school year. Classrooms will not be open at the Ice Cream Social as some rooms are still being finished. Many of our teachers will be there strolling around, so if you see yours, please say, “Hi!”
Here are the room numbers for all our teachers:
Kindergarten
Ms. Von Luft - K1
Ms. Lebus - K2
Ms. Markowitz - Room 14
First Grade
Ms. Scanlon - Room 10
Ms. Reiss - Room 9
Ms. Duran - Room 13
Second Grade
Ms. Fudge - Room 6
Ms. Escutia - Room 12
Ms. Nichols - Room 11
Third Grade
Ms. Menke - Room 20
Ms. Anand - Room 18
Fourth Grade
Ms. Higgins - Room 7
Ms. Burdette - Room 6
Fifth Grade
Ms. McKenna - Room 4
Ms. Vu - Room 3
Ms. Larkins (4/5 Combo) - Room 6
Sixth Grade
Ms. Nelson - Room 1
Ms. Brown - Room 2
Please know, we are doing everything we can to have everyone place appropriately for Day One. Having said that, there is always the possibility that class changes can happen within the first two weeks based on enrollment numbers. We do our best to balance all our classes based on the needs of our students. While I know that many of you may want to request a teacher, changes are only made in extreme cases and taking all other issues into consideration, as well.
Monday, August 26th is our first day of school. It’s a very exciting day and we know that many parents want to participate. With our enrollment increasing, parking may be an issue. All parking spaces in the school lot are for staff employees. If you would like to walk your child in, please park on the street. For the safety of all students and parents, please follow all rules while driving on Rivendell. I would suggest arriving a little bit early on Monday to navigate any congestion on the roads. The campus typically opens for students at 8:00am and students should be in line waiting for their teacher by 8:10am. Instruction begins at 8:15. We will forgo tardy slips for the first few days as everyone gets accustomed their surroundings. Beginning, Thursday, we will honor our start time.
If you do not have access to the Family Portal, we will have a table outside to the left of the main office on Monday where you can find out your class placement.
When you arrive on campus, if you are in Grades 1-6 or Ms. Markowitz’s class, please walk to the back of the school. Lower grade students will line up on the lower level by their class number. Upper grade classes will line up near the handball courts by class number, as well. Ms. Lebus and Ms. Von Luft’s class will line up in the kinder playground area. Teachers will come to the line to pick up their classes around 8:10am. If your class has already made their way to class, please walk directly to class.
Dismissal time for all students is 2:10pm. Please, make every effort to be on time to pick up your child. This is especially important to our new kindergarteners and students new to our school. This is a new environment for them and they are very much looking for you at the end of the day to feel safe in knowing you are there for them.
We have specific rules if you choose to use our Pick-Up and Drop-Off before or after school. Please go to our website and watch our little informative video showing you how to navigate our parking lot. With the increase in enrollment, there will be an increase in cars. If everyone follows the rules and is patient, things will run smoothly.
https://www.svusd.org/schools/elementary-m-z/santiago/resources/drop-off-pick-up
I look forward to seeing everyone at our PTA Ice Cream Social this Friday at 4:00pm.
Thank you and, as always, have a safe and fun week!
Mr. Johnston
Principal, Santiago STEAM Magnet.