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IN THIS ISSUE
- Principal’s Message: Absences, Tardies, Acceptable Symptoms, School Events, Crossing Guard Appreciation Week, Parent Survey
- PTA Board Openings and Nominees
- Staff Appreciation Lunch
- Multicultural Family Night RSVP + Volunteer Sign-up
- Volunteer for Stampede & Soar
- Yearbook Ordering
- DEIB: Nowruz and Women’s History Month
- Plus SCEF, District, and Community News
IMPORTANT DATES
Mon 3/27: SCSD Community Meeting for input on facilities planning, 5:30 p.m. via Zoom
Mon 4/10-Fri 4/14: Spring Break
Wed 4/19: PTA meeting via Zoom, 7 p.m.
Wed 4/26: SCSD Community Meeting for input on facilities planning, 5:30 p.m.
As you review your child’s 2nd Trimester report card, please take note of the number of absences and tardies listed. Attendance is an essential component to keeping every child engaged and thriving in their learning. We want families to continue to prioritize health by keeping students home when they are too sick to attend school, whether for COVID or any other illness. Students should stay home if they have a fever, vomiting, diarrhea, or symptoms that make them feel sick enough to stay home. If a student is generally feeling okay but has a sniffle or similar mild symptom, it is no longer necessary for them to stay home, although we do highly recommend taking a COVID test and wearing a mask to limit the spread to others. With that being said, while absences due to illness are excused, they still affect a students’ access to instruction.
Beyond this, students who are well should be in school. We know that families are still catching up with family visits that were postponed during COVID, however, leisure travel is not an excused absence, and every effort should be made to schedule trips during school breaks. If travel during school days is absolutely unavoidable, please work with your child’s teacher in advance of your trip and allow them enough time to gather work or an independent study for your child.
Being on time to school is also important. Being even a few minutes late might mean missing vital instructions and can also create anxiety for students that leaves them feeling distracted for much more than a few minutes.
We are working to improve our monitoring of absences this year as we emerge from the pandemic and may be contacting families with excessive absences or tardies. Currently 66% of our students have missed 3 or more days of school, and about 10% have missed 10 or more days, both excused and unexcused. The state considers any student who has missed at least 10% of the school year for any reason (excused or unexcused) to be chronically absent.
Please know that our goal is to ensure your child attends school regularly and to partner with you when issues arise. Working together, we can improve attendance and ensure that all students thrive. If you need support with attendance, don’t feel you need to wait for us to reach out. Feel free to email me, and we can work together to brainstorm ways to ensure your child has the support they need.
I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming community-building events. I hope you’ll join us for one or both of them. More information can be found in the PTA section below.
I also hope you’ll participate in the SCEF virtual gala TONIGHT, and bid in the online silent auction (open through Tuesday, March 21). You can find more information about both here.
This week is Crossing Guard Appreciation Week. We are very fortunate to have crossing guards at some of our high-traffic intersections. If your child crosses with any of them, please encourage them to extend a special thanks this week with words of appreciation, cards, treats, etc.
Finally, if you haven’t already done so, please take a bit of time to complete our Arroyo parent survey. (Thank you to those families who have!) The anonymous survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete, and your input is incredibly valuable in helping us serve our students and families in the best ways possible.
Warmly,
Mindy Shelton
Principal
[email protected]
PTA Board Positions Open:
We Need You!
The Central-Arroyo PTA’s Executive Board positions will be voted on at our April PTA meeting. You can get involved in many ways in addition to Exec Board roles — a few minutes per week, month or year!
Please contact Maria Shih to learn more. Find out about all our volunteer roles on the PTA Job Descriptions document. Here is the slate so far:
March 22: Staff Appreciation Lunch
Our March Staff Appreciation Lunch is this Wednesday, March 22. Please sign up to bring something to help our staff kick off spring! Drop all items in the Arroyo office no later than 11 a.m. the day of the lunch. Thank you!
Multicultural Family Night:
RSVP + Volunteer Sign-up
Wednesday, March 29 • 6-8 p.m. • Mustang Hall
Eagle families, we are excited to announce Arroyo’s first Multicultural Family Night on March 29! We will celebrate with amazing food, games, arts and crafts, fashion, and performances from around the world. Expect a fun Bollywood performance, a Polynesian dance lesson, fantastic food trucks, and more.
Eagle Council will be holding a fundraiser for those affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Cultural dress is encouraged! Please RSVP to attend.
To make it a memorable night, we need your help! Please sign up to bring a dish or volunteer if you can. Opportunities include:
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Providing a favorite cultural appetizer or dessert (store-bought or homemade)
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Hosting a craft station with a cultural craft of your choice or helping students make flags. Central students are welcome to volunteer at a craft table!
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Playing a musical instrument from another country and allowing attendees to try it
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Sharing a cultural outfit for a fashion display (If you have a dress form we can borrow, please let us know!)
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Emceeing the evening!
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Teaching mahjong, lotería, or another cultural game
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Creating a cozy book nook with the help of our librarian
Stampede & Soar Color Run Volunteers Needed
Sunday, April 2 • 9-11 a.m.
Stampede & Soar is coming up in a few short weeks, and we need YOU to volunteer! Volunteering is a fun way to cheer on our runners while making sure everyone is safe and has a great time! There are so many ways to help out, and the shifts are short and easy! Please check out the various roles and sign up, or “voluntell” another member of your family. 😉
Our registration deadline has passed for a guaranteed T-shirt, but you can still register to run! A limited stock of tees will be available on a first come, first served basis on the day of the event. Remember: Anyone who wants to run — including students, parents, and siblings age 6 and older with a parent chaperone — is invited to register! No registration is necessary for the on-campus afterparty. Can’t wait to see you there!
Thank you to SCEF for helping to keep our registration cost low and making the PTA’s community-building events possible.
Share Photos to the Yearbook + Order Your Child’s Copy
Be part of creating a memorable Arroyo yearbook for our kids by sharing your photos! Upload images of your child or shots you have taken during school events into TreeRing’s shared photo folders (First Glow Party, Day of School, Art in Action, ROPES/STEAM projects, Spirit Days, Student Clubs, Field Trips, classroom photos, etc.). Follow these instructions to share.
Order and personalize your child’s yearbook for $17.26 (plus tax) through April 12. Arroyo is using San Mateo-based company TreeRing, which allows you to add two free pages that you can personalize. Get started by creating your free account! If you already have a TreeRing account, buy via this link (Arroyo code is 1014628525232886.).
Online Silent Auction: Still Time to Win!
Bidding closes Tuesday, March 21, at 9 p.m. Log in to browse and bid on:
- Taylor Swift tickets
- BottleRock tickets
- Lake Wildwood vacation home: 5-night stay (sleeps 10)
- Harley Farms goat dairy tour: goat, cheese, and wine tour for 10
- SF Giants: exclusive Gotham Club passes and lower box seats for 4
- Stan Lee autographed Marvel Comics photo
- An estate plan from San Carlos estate planning law firm Falk, Barrot & Associates LLP
- Holistic health and Life coaching
- Hayloft dinner at Harley Farms: 2 tickets
- Black Panther poster autographed by Chadwick Boseman and Stan Lee
Fund-the-Future 2023: Support STEM Education in Our Schools
Do you want to invest in STEM education? Watch our video to learn about how the schools are working to integrate STEM into the school day. Your donations will help make this a reality! Donate to support this important effort today at scefkids.org/ftf2023.
Focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
March 20 Is Nowruz, Persian New Year
Nowruz (Persian: نوروز, pronounced [nowˈɾuːz], literally “new day”) is the Persian term for the day of the Iranian New Year, also known as the Persian New Year. It begins on the spring equinox and is celebrated worldwide by more than 300 million people from various ethnolinguistic groups. The 3,000-year-old tradition is popular in the Middle East, the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, Central Asia and beyond. Hundreds of U.S. communities celebrate Nowruz, too. Los Angeles, home to one of the largest Persian populations outside Iran, hosts the biggest Nowruz festival in the country.
Nowruz is a largely secular holiday, meant to wish people prosperity for the new year and welcome in the future while shedding the past. Some families deep-clean their homes and closets and buy fresh clothing. It’s a month-long celebration filled with parties, craft making, street performances, and public rituals. To learn more about this holiday, check out these kids’ books:
You could also share a read-aloud of Seven Special Somethings: A Nowruz Story along with this video about a Haftseen (which means “the seven S’s”), a traditional table of symbolic items. Eid e shoma mobarak!
March Is Women’s History Month
Women’s History Month is a time to honor women’s contributions in American History. It grew out of a one-week celebration started in 1978 by the school district of Sonoma, California, and slowly spread across the country. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 8 as Women’s History Week, and in 1987 it was expanded to a month. Find more information here. Ideas for diving a little deeper into women’s history with your family:
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Explore Women’s History on BrainPOP, which offers free movies, texts, games and lessons on famous women in history.
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Visit the National Women’s History Museum website.
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Share a book about one of many amazing women from history and today.
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Learn about Sally Ride and make an astronaut helmet out of recycled materials.
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Read Hidden Figures and create your own mini stomp rocket out of a juice pouch.
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Do your kids know the story behind Rosie the Riveter? Learn more about how the women of World War II changed the landscape of the American workforce forever.
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Read one of Andrea Beaty’s books: Rosie Revere, Engineer, Ada Twist, Scientist, and Sofia Valdez, Future Prez. Ada and her pals even have a chapter book series and their own show on Netflix.
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Go beyond U.S. history and explore women in global and modern history such as Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg, Michelle Obama, Simone Biles, Sonia Sotomayor, and Maya Angelou.
San Carlos School District News
Facilities Master Plan Community Meetings
Monday, March 27 • Wednesday, April 26
Our current Facilities Master Plan (FMP), dated 2013, detailed the modernization in our upper elementary and middle schools using Measure H bond funds. Our elementary schools now need attention, and all of our schools will need upgrades to be climate-ready and resilient. For that reason, the Board of Trustees approved PBK, a full-service architecture firm, to assess all of our facilities. They will also help us complete an inclusive and transparent process to develop a 10- to 15-year plan to create schools and schoolyards that meet the needs of our children, staff, and community. This will involve both on-site structural reviews and engagement with principals, staff, students, and the community.
Our process has begun with the development of an Facilities Master Plan Visioning Committee, composed of community and staff, who have met twice to discuss our facilities and envision collaborative and climate-ready school spaces. See the slide deck from our January visioning session.
We are now offering stakeholder meetings for the greater community. Your input will be invaluable to co-create a resulting roadmap to inform the next steps for our facilities. We want to hear from you! Share your input by participating in a Facilities Master Planning Community Meeting: March 27 via Zoom or in-person on April 26. To learn more about the process and receive an update on recently collected input, join us for real-time brainstorming as we think together about future opportunities for SCSD and our learning spaces.
RSVP on Eventbrite for:
- Monday, March 27, 5:30-7 p.m. via Zoom
- Wednesday, April 26, 5:30-7 p.m. at the San Carlos School District Office, 1200 Industrial Rd., Unit 9
Read more about our Facilities Master Plan update process and our Strategic Plan refresh process. Questions? Email Veronica Rickson or call 650-580-7333.
Safe Routes to School Parent/Caregiver Survey
Open until April 15: Please take a few minutes to share how your student/s travel to school! The Safe Routes to School Parent/Caregiver Survey provides valuable feedback on what programs and infrastructure projects are needed to encourage students and families to use active transportation to and from school. Access the English survey (also en español and Chinese).
Your feedback allows us to adjust Safe Routes to School (SRTS) education and encouragement program features to best meet the needs of each individual school. Your feedback will also be shared with decision-makers throughout the county who can address infrastructure issues regarding safe walking and biking, as well as with decision-makers in your school community. This survey will take about 4 minutes to complete.
San Carlos Library After School
San Carlos Library is your free and easy place to hang out after school! Come to do homework, use our laptops, play board games, or take a study break with our activities.
🎨 Crafty Club: Drop in every Tuesday 3:30-4:30 p.m. for a snack and the chance to relax with art supplies.
🐛 Science Action Club: This bug-themed workshop teaches something new every Thursday 3:30-4:30 p.m. For middle school and upper elementary students.
💚 Special event this month! Wednesday, March 22, 3-4 p.m.: Ending the Silence conversation on mental health for middle schoolers. Open discussion with a teen volunteer and led by NAMI.
Camp Galileo at Arundel: June 19-Aug. 4
Looking for an exceptional, affordable camp option? Camp Galileo is returning to Arundel Elementary this summer. At Camp Galileo, K-10th graders enjoy creative STEAM-inspired projects and get active outside. Camp runs Monday through Friday, June 19-Aug. 4.
There is a special LIMITED TIME DISCOUNT for San Carlos Camp Galileo only! Use code SANCARLOSLL23 for $50 each week of camp! Valid through March 26.
Inspired by popular demand, this summer we’re offering:
- 6 unique weeks of camp for K-4th graders
- 4 unique weeks for 5th-8th graders, so they have a summer full of experiences
Easy payments: Use our Pay Over Time option to split your $1,200 camp purchase over three monthly payments with 0% interest for low-stress budgeting. Enrollment for our scholarship program is now open.
Register now to avoid the waitlist. Spots are filling up fast!
Parent Education Opportunities
Special event! We are proud to partner with nonprofit Caminar, Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Neha Chaudhary, and Caminar CEO Mark Cloutier to present The Future of Youth Mental Health: Building Resilience in a Connected World (March 22, online).
MANY WAYS TO VOLUNTEER AT ARROYO
SHARE YOUR STUDENT’S ACHIEVEMENTS
We want to honor students who are doing great things outside of school and have two ways parents can help.
SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE
As part of our Arroyo School program, we offer assistance to families as needed. The support can be a yearbook, grocery gift cards, or scholarships for school trips and PTA events. The recipients are kept confidential, and the principal is the only one who will know. Please complete this form to make a request.
REWARDS PROGRAM
Participate in our eScrip rewards program and a percentage of your purchases will automatically be donated to the Central Arroyo PTA — at no cost to you!
FOLLOW @ARROYOSCHOOL
Follow us on Facebook for up-to-date info on events and issues.
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