Silver Gate Elementary
Week of 8/30/21
WELCOME BACK!
I want to thank you all for your patience, understanding, and flexibility as we open this week. Guidance changes by the day. I am just so excited that we get to do this all in person! I anticipate having to make adjustments as the week goes on and we see how things go with drop-off, pick-up, lunch, etc. We had great practice and learned many lessons in the Spring, so we are prepared to fine tune as needed. I am always open to feedback, so please never hesitate to reach out.
WITH MUCH APPRECIATION!
I want to send a big thank you to all the parents who dedicated their time to ensure we have a great reopening for our Fall 2021 school year. I am so appreciative of your continued hard work, and selflessness as you help prepare for tomorrow’s big day.
I especially want to thank Cameron Lilley, FSG President, for working behind the scenes making lunch for the teachers and doing special things to make everyone feel so important. We could not do this without you.
A big thank you to Kristen Peelle for managing the budget, monitoring every last dime to ensure that, despite not having any fundraising last year, we can keep this ship afloat and continue to successfully sail through our school year . Thank you to Mary Ramenosfsky and Jen Barr for being part of the board and stepping into any role needing to be filled. I genuinely appreciate your willingness to always help.
Have you seen our beautiful garden? I am so excited for you to see what is happening with it. Renee Branski’s family and Kaitlin Mitchell’s family have been working since covid to upgrade our Kinder and upper grade garden area. We have updated our irrigation system as well as our planter boxes. Most notably, when we return to school, we have plans to include every grade level in the planting process so they have an invested, hands-on experience with the growth of everything growing in our garden. We are excited to recruit two volunteers per classroom in this work. I am excited to share that Renee wrote a grant, and it was accepted! This is an invaluable resource for our school and we are so grateful for her time and effort getting this done.
A very special thank you to Jen Wilbur who, despite having had a student who promoted last year, volunteered to help us transition all of our communication apps like Konstella, Facebook and Instagram to our new volunteers who will take over the duties to keep us updated on social media.
A big thank you to Elisa Ingrassia for continuing to run our tile program- thank you for coming in a couple of times a month to add tiles to our front entrance.
Last, but certainly not least, a special thanks to Chuck Cardwel, our garden volunteer, Sharon our BSS, and Ruben our Custodian, who help keep our school grounds impeccable.
If I missed anyone it was certainly unintentional, but this is the first of many shout outs to the wonderful people of our community who help make our school such a great success and a wonderful place to be each day.
These are examples of the power of a community that continues to want the best for our kids. Please, come be part of our Foundation, we need you to help us continue to grow this very special place.
Garden Before
Garden After
Renee Branski and Kaitlin Mitchell
Renee and her mom
WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL LUNCH!
This Week's Top Three Asked Questions
1. Will there be Running Club?
Yes, just not right away. Our priority is to get our students onto campus and keep them safe, healthy, and in school using the structures and protocols we have in place. I am currently working with Coach Topliff to establish the best way to phase Running Club. I will provide updated information as we get closer.
2. When does school lunch begin and what do I need to do if my child wants school lunch?
School lunch begins Monday, August 30th. Lunch is free for every child again this year. Our cafeteria orders enough for all students to receive a lunch, so you do not need to notify the school. If you are interested in receiving the free go home meal, please contact Mrs. Fatima @ silvcafe@sandi.net
3. Will there be Monday Morning Assemblies? We are coming up with a plan of when we will start Monday Assemblies. At this time Monday Assemblies will be restricted for only students and staff.
INFORMATION FOR ALL STUDENTS
Updated Mask and COVID Test Information from SDUSD
Below is updated information from SDUSD that went to families last week.
Good Evening San Diego Unified School Community,
San Diego Unified is making two important policy changes today to help protect our students, staff, and families from the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Taken together, we believe these changes will help keep more students in school, even as our community continues to face this public health emergency.
Masks required:
Masks will now be required on campus both indoors and outdoors. Certain exceptions for some activities - eating, athletics, physical education, and performing arts events - will apply. Also, students will be able to take mask breaks multiple times throughout the day. For more details, please see our updated FAQs on our district website.
Test in school to stay in school:
All families are now required to make a choice on Covid testing at the start of the new school year. Every family must complete the below form and submit their response online at this time. Free Covid testing in school not only helps prevent the spread of the virus, but it also helps more students stay in school and continue their education.
Covid-19 Testing Acknowledgement Form
(Note: A PowerSchool Username and Password will be required to complete this form. If you do not have the Access ID and Password for your student, please contact your school site’s office following the first day of school on August 30th.)
Instructions on how to submit the form click below:
Voluntary Testing Days: For students who are opting-in to testing, Silver Gate will be testing students every Wednesday from 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Background:
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) now allows students to stay in school in many cases, even when they’ve been in close contact with a classmate who has tested positive for Covid-19. Previously, all students in close contact with a positive case were required to quarantine at home for 14 days. Now, in most cases, students can remain in school so long as they take part in regular testing and so long as they were wearing a mask at the time of possible exposure. In other words, testing and wearing a mask, even outdoors, will allow more students to stay in school to continue learning.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation with these new procedures.
Sincerely,
San Diego Unified
BEFORE SCHOOL
1st-4th grade students may arrive any time after 7:30. a.m. unless they are participating in the morning YMCA program.
Individual Teachers will send specific information about where to line up prior to the first day of school. Most teachers have their students line up by outside of their classroom door. Parents of students in 1st-4th grade, please plan to say your goodbyes at the door. We must continue to limit the number of people on campus, we would appreciate if you could drop your student at their classroom door or at the gate once they feel comfortable being dropped off alone.
Play Structures: We ask that children and their siblings not play on playground equipment in the morning before school begins. When students arrive they are to go to their line-up location and take a sit on the blacktop.
AFTER SCHOOL
TK Pick up - 12:05 on Venice Street/Front of School
Kindergarten Pick Up 12:35 the first week of school - Venice Street/Front of Schoo
NO DRIVING THRU THE ALLEY- ONLY WALKING TRAFFIC-
TEACHERS WILL WALK THEIR CLASSROOM TO THE APPROPRIATE GATE. NO PARENTS WILL BE ALLOWED ON CAMPUS AFTER SCHOOL.
Ahlstrom, Brown, LaBarre, Lewis-Martin, Crossland Pick up in the alley. Walking traffic only. -Cars will not be allowed to drive down the alley.
Koehler, Templin, Klueber, Russell - Venice Street/Front of School
Fairtbanks, Tillson, Donnelly, Johnson, Virissimo - Catalina Blvd Gate
IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR CHILD TO MEET YOU AT A DIFFERENT GATE PLEASE LET YOUR TEACHER AND YOUR STUDENT KNOW WHICH GATE YOU PREFER!
**** I understand it will be a little crazy at first, but please arrive with a good attitude and with lots of patience. We will adjust things throughout the week as we see fit.
VIRTUAL Back to School Night
Thursday, September 2, 2021
All teachers will conduct a live Zoom Back to School Night. If you cannot attend, do not worry. All teachers are going to record their back to school night and send it out to their class. Each teacher will send out their individual ZOOM link.
TK-Kinder: 5:00 - 5:25
First Grade: 5:30 - 5:55
Second Grade: 6:00 - 6:25
Third Grade: 6: 30 - 6:55
Fourth Grade 7:00- 7:25
LCFF
Your child’s school needs this information to help ensure it receives all the state funding to which it is entitled. It will not affect your child receiving free meals at this school as all children will have free access to meals this school year.
The LCFF online form is available on the Parent Portal, and NOT on the student’s portal. To create a Parent Portal account, you will need:
A valid email address
Access ID and Password from your student's school
If you do not have the Access ID and Password for your student, please contact the school to make the request. You will need an Access ID and Password for each student you wish to link to your account.
Click here to access the Parent Portal
Click here to sign into the PowerSchool Parent Portal
How To:
Attendance
Please do not send your child to school when they are sick.
When your child must be absent for any reason, please call the office at 858-988-2200 by 9:00 a.m. every day of non-attendance, giving the exact reason for the absence. You can also email Renee Erickson at rerickson@sandi.net
Any child arriving after 7:50 a.m. must stop in the office and pick up a tardy slip. This is disruptive to your child and the entire class. Let's set good habits early in the school year to arrive on time.
VOLUNTEERS
While we are so excited to welcome out families back to campus, we are still limited in the number of volunteers we can allow onsite. I anticipate this changing as the year continues and guidelines are updated.
Please take a look at the district guidelines for volunteer requirements.
https://sandiegounified.org/a-to-_z_index/volunteer_opportunities
Here are the biggest changes to the guidelines and requirements.
School visitors/ volunteers must follow the school’s health and safety procedures such as signing-in, daily health check procedures and wearing the Visitor/ Volunteer badge at all times while on campus.
Essential volunteers who are fully vaccinated do not have to test weekly. Those not vaccinated do have to have a weekly covid test.
Visitors who are unable to wear a face mask must arrange for an alternate family member to conduct business on their behalf; volunteers must comply with the mask requirements.
Families can sign up online at: https://www.ymcasd.org/character-builders-registration
More information at: https://www.ymcasd.org/programs/child-care/before-and-after-school
Contact Person -Sydney Lara
Child and Youth Development Director
RYAN FAMILY YMCA (Formerly Peninsula Family YMCA)
Address: 4390 Valeta Street, San Diego CA 92107
(P) 619 226 8888 (F) 619 226 1675
(E) sklara@ymcasd.org (W) www.ymcasd.org/ryan
The Y: We're for youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility.
FOOD SERVICES!
Parking
IMPORTANT LINKS!
Stay Connected!!
https://www.sandiegounified.org/schools/silver-gate
PEACHJAR
We are trying to "Go Green" by limiting our flier distribution. Peachjar is an online forum where we will post school information and fliers from our vendors.This will significantly reduce paper waste while also making the information easier to access. Additionally, this will be a big time saver for teachers and parent volunteers. Please register to receive all flyers through Peachjar.
Silver Gate Website!!
I also encourage you to use our school website to learn about all school events, calendars, and school contact information. We are working on updating all the information on the website. Silver Gate Elementary Website.
School Messenger!!
You will receive school wide emails if you wrote and address on your enrollment packet, you may also receive text if you register with us to receive text messages follow the link and sign up https://www.sandiegounified.org/schoolmessenger-and-classroom-messaging
You may also be interested in joining the Friends of Silver Gate Facebook page:
EBLAST
To receive weekly information please sign up for the Silver Gate Eblast Eblast. Our webmaster sends updates every Sunday.
I'm Glad You're Here!
Silver Gate Elementary
Email: mvidal-fowler@sandi.net
Website: https://silvergate.sandiegounified.org/
Location: 1499 Venice Street, San Diego, CA, USA
Phone: 858-988-2200
Twitter: @SilvergateGator