Arroyo Eagle Eye - June 4, 2023

June 4, 2023

Principal’s Message

Dear Arroyo families,

There is a lot to share this week as we wind down into our last two weeks of school. I hope you’ll stick with me and read to the end to catch all of the news, recognitions, and introductions.

We are very excited to host one of our favorite events of the year this Friday morning: our 7th annual Arroyo Talent Show. This year the event is entirely run by a group of dedicated student leaders who have been hard at work putting together over 20 student acts. Only parents of performers are invited to come watch from 10:30-noon on Wednesday in Mustang Hall. We will be recording the talent show so that anyone who misses the live show can watch it later.   

We are also looking forward to our Field Day on Monday, June 12. Volunteers are still needed to make this a great day for our kids. Please click here if you can help. Eagle Council has also planned a fun Spirit Week for our last week of school.

• Monday, June 12: Tropical Beach Day

• Tuesday, June 13: Pajama Day

• Wednesday, June 14: Fancy Dress-up Day

• Thursday, June 15: Arroyo Spirit Day

Please be sure to look around your house for any school or classroom library books your child may have borrowed this year, along with other materials that were sent home. Teachers have been (or will be) communicating about classroom materials that need to be returned to school before the end of the year. Please also stop by school to look through our Lost and Found for any jackets, sweatshirts, water bottles, etc., that your child may have left at school. All items remaining on June 16 will be donated.  

I want to take time to thank all of the parents for your support this year. So many of you stepped up to volunteer, and every hour you gave made our school a better place.  While there are too many people to list everyone by name, I do want to call out a few specific people and volunteer roles that were absolutely essential to all that we did this year.

• Thank you to Trinity Murphy and Kirsten Kell, our PTA presidents this year, who worked tirelessly to make sure our kids had the richest experience possible and supported Arroyo in too many ways to count. Thanks to our entire PTA board and committee chairs for all of the events and programs provided this year, and especially to Diana Herman and Bethany Mateosian, our PTA treasurers; Angie Wu, our communications coordinator; and Esther Wang, our chair of events, who went above and beyond in supporting our multicultural celebrations throughout the year.  

• Thank you to the volunteers who came every week throughout the year to help before and after school and during lunch. Thank you to everyone who served hot lunch, supervised our student-led clubs and talent show rehearsals, and helped keep our drop-off and pick-up safe.  

• Thank you to our room parents (and our room parent coordinator, Hilary Briant) for helping with communication throughout the year and for working with teachers to coordinate classroom celebrations and community building.  

• Thank you to everyone involved in Art in Action, especially our grade-level leads Christen Hanson (5th grade) and Rasa Virbicke (4th grade), who have volunteered countless hours to order and organize materials, train and communicate with docents, and help make Art in Action run smoothly and seamlessly. Thanks to everyone who served as a docent or volunteer in the classroom. Our students have a richer educational experience because of your time and dedication!

• Thank you to our Healthy Cities Tutoring volunteers for selflessly giving their time to tutor and mentor our students.

• Thank you to our SCEF volunteers and donors, especially our SCEF liaisons Jennie Romeo and Katy Mossawir. Arroyo would not be the same without SCEF. In addition to the crucial programs SCEF funds district-wide, Arroyo specifically benefited from funding to provide additional classroom library books, supplemental instructional materials, new outdoor tables for our center hallway to give students more flexible outdoor learning space next year, as well as funding to provide high-quality professional education in project-based learning for our staff.

I want to acknowledge our student leaders as well. Our Eagle Council really highlights all that 4th and 5th graders are capable of and put together some great programs for Arroyo this year. Our Talent Show and Club Leaders also did an outstanding job. Finally, I want to acknowledge our Arroyo Ambassadors who led our 3rd grade parent tours and showed incoming families all that is great about Arroyo. Working with all of these student leadership groups is always a highlight of my year. 

Finally, I would like to extend another huge thank you to our staff. As we have emerged from the pandemic, our teachers have been the front line for addressing the social-emotional and academic repercussions for children, adding challenges to a job that is already demanding. Despite this, our teachers have gone above and beyond this year to deepen their instructional skills and create rich new experiences for students at Arroyo. This included new project-based learning units that engaged students in critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration skills, as well as focusing on creating a strong community, which helped to strengthen a sense of belonging for our students, something that was a priority focus for us this year. Our classified staff provide critical support to help Arroyo in countless ways, and we are also fortunate to have the support from our partners at ACE, not only for our aftercare program, but also as lunchtime campus supervisors. Thank you to Kayleigh, Ryan, Tony, and Andrew for spending lunches with us all year. Our teachers, specialists, and classified staff are a phenomenal team, and I couldn’t be prouder to work with all of them. 

I have a few staffing updates to share as we wrap up this year and prepare for the next. 4th grade teacher Nicole Murray, Education Specialist Jenny Brady, and longtime paraeducator Rosa Molero will be moving on to other positions this year. We will miss these talented teachers and staff members greatly! I hope you’ll join me in wishing them the best with their next adventures! I also want to welcome and introduce our new staff. Our small school, tight-knit team of staff, competitive pay/benefits, and supportive parent community all helped us to attract some highly qualified applicants this spring for our open positions. I couldn’t be more thrilled about the new team we’ve assembled! Samantha Erickson will be joining us in 4th grade. Ms. Erickson joins us from Madison, Wisconsin, and comes with the highest of recommendations from those who have experienced her teaching. Next year we will be supported by two Education Specialists, Brandi Blucher and Tatiana Martino. Ms. Martino has been at Central for the past four years and will be sharing her talents with Central and Arroyo next year. Ms. Blucher has been a part of our district for several years and recently completed a fellowship program through the San Mateo County Office of Education. All three of these teachers will be outstanding additions to the Arroyo team. We’ll be adding their bios to our website soon, and I can’t wait to introduce them to you in person in August!

Enjoy the rest of this beautiful weekend and our final weeks of the school year.  

Warmly,
Mindy Shelton
Principal
[email protected]

PTA News

Arroyo & Central Living Campus

Our fruit and vegetable garden is growing quickly — and your kids have several opportunities to help maintain and beautify it!

Gardening Wednesdays Through June 14
We’ll continue to staff the garden on Wednesday mornings through June 14. Arroyo and Central students are welcome to come by during recess!

Can’t make it out this month? Mark your calendar for a future work day, including two Saturdays this summer: July 8, Aug. 12

SCEF News

Focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

June Is PRIDE Month

Pride Month occurs in June in the United States to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising in New York City, which occurred in June 1969 in response to police raids on gay and lesbian bars. The uprising inspired a generation of activists and helped form a civil rights movement to fight homophobia. Pride events are held during this month to recognize the impact of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) community. Pride Month was federally recognized by President Bill Clinton in 1999. President Joe Biden declared June LGBTQ+ Pride Month in 2021. 
 
Pride events can range from solemn to carnivalesque: Parades, street festivals, poetry readings, public speaking, and educational sessions. A common symbol of Pride is the rainbow flag, devised by artist Gilbert Baker to represent the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community. The progress pride flag, created in 2018 by artist Daniel Quasar, adds white, pink, light blue, brown, and black to recognize transgender people and people of color.

Below are some books as well as links to articles, art projects, and local Pride events.

Books

• Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders
• Grandad’s Pride by Harry Woodgate
• Hoʻonani: Hula Warrior by Heather Gale
• Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution. by Rob Sanders

Community News

Parent Education Opportunities

MANY WAYS TO VOLUNTEER AT ARROYO