From the Assistant Principal
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School Safety
This important topic has been on our radar this past month. We will continue to practice our Safety Drills on campus and work closely with both Las Lomitas Elementary School and our local police departments on refining our practices.
Parent Education Opportunity
Parents are invited to come to a Parent Safety Education Evening, Tuesday - February 12, 2013 @ 7pm in the MUR with one of Menlo Park's finest, Sergeant Kevin Paugh. Sergeant Paugh will share with us his extensive experience in preventative safety measures, as well as answer questions related to school safety situations.
Some new measures you may notice at school, as a result of our work to refine our school safety features, include:
- Except for our front office door, all doors will remain locked during the school day. Please note that this is a preventative measure intended to provide a secure environment and not one to discourage parent volunteers in our classrooms. All teachers have methods provided to them to make their rooms accessible without needing to keep the room unlocked.
- Visitor's Passes have a new look! Whenever an adult, who is not a staff member, comes onto the campus, they are required to come FIRST to the front office and sign in. A neon-colored Visitor's Pass is then provided to them for the duration of their visit. These passes are then to be returned to the front office upon exiting the campus. NEW PROCEDURES: Visitors are now being asked to drop by the front office when leaving to return their Visitor's Pass.
- All adults on campus continue to be required to sign in at the front office and procure a Visitor's Pass before proceeding further on campus. Parents looking to pick up their 4th or 5th grader from the classroom will also be required to have a Visitor's Pass prominently displayed. We want all adults on campus accounted for.
- All Yard Duty, as well as our PE teachers who work outside, will now carry walkie talkies for better communication.
- La Entrada teachers and staff will not hesitate to walk up to an adult on campus without a Visitor's Pass and ask them what they are doing on campus, as well as require them that to report to the front office for a Visitor's Pass. Let's appreciate that your child's safety is behind all these new measures and understand that staff questioning who you may be and why you are on campus is a good thing.
Drop off and Pick Up Safety Reminders: It is always a good idea to remind ourselves that during the high-traffic periods of Drop-off and Pick-up, students are everyone on campus. Students are not always keenly aware of their environment when they are crossing a street or running out of their parent's car on their way into school. Please drive slowly and caution your child(ren) to look carefully before exiting your car in the morning or meeting up with you in the afternoon.
Drivers are to turn right only when exiting the school's parking lot in order to support a steady traffic flow.
Drivers are not to make a U-Turn in the middle of the crosswalks by Sharon Road and Eastridge Ave. Too many students are crossing and too many cars are trying to get to work for this to be safe.
Drivers are to be mindful of Altschul Ave. being a busy busy street filled with pedestrians, bike riders and students being dropped off on the curb.
We are all very busy but if parents could build in 5 minutes into their Drop-off and Pick-up times, our students would be safer!
Bus Transportation
If your child(ren) take a bus to school, please take time at dinner tonight to discuss the importance of students remaining seated during their bus ride and talking quietly. We are so fortunate to have excellent bus services for our La Entrada students and together we can work to help keep the bus rides safe and relaxing for all.
Helmets, Helmets and Helmets!
If your child is biking, skating or riding scooter to school, they must have a helmet on.
PARENT VOLUNTEER NEEDS:
If you would like to volunteer to help with our morning and afternoon parking lot monitoring or work with our Yard Duty Supervisors in monitoring our playground, blacktop and field, I would like to speak with you. I am also interested in supporting our Brunch Snack Shack program with more supervision. Please email me at sdineen@llesd.org.
I have a Masters Degree in "Crossing Guard Procedures" and several thousands of hours of experience in playground support skills that I would love to share with any willing parent volunteer. Bring a friend along with you and the volunteering just became fun!
Regards,
Sonya Dineen
Assistant Principal
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| PTA NEWS |
District Directory Corrections and Additions
The Las Lomitas and La Entrada PTA are in the process of publishing a district directory addendum. If your info is either missing or incorrect in the district directory please follow these steps to have it corrected/added:- Stop at the school office to check that the school has your correct records;
As a reminder, a student directory is provided for all Las Lomitas Elementary School District families by the PTAs and the cost is $7.50 per directory. If you have not done so already, please join the PTA to support this and many other programs.
4TH AND 5TH GRADE LATIN CLUB
Even if you have not already signed up, please feel free to join us at lunch period in MUR for our next meetings on February 14th, March , April 18th.
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| School News |
Reducing the spread of illness at school
Dear Parents,
Respiratory viruses are widely circulating in our county now, with both children and adults being affected.To minimize the spread of illness, please keep sick children home from school and encourage the practice of frequent hand washing and respiratory etiquette.
The CDC recommends the following with regard to exclusion of ill persons in school settings: "Those who get flu-like symptoms at school should go home and stay home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs of a fever without the use of fever-reducing medicine."
Thank you for your assistance with minimizing the spread of illness. For further information about when to keep children home from school and for managing flu, please see:
Kelly Muenzen, School Nurse
The Bus Stop
Why does a different bus or different driver come to the bus stop some days?
There are several circumstances that will result in a different bus or a different driver coming to pick up students on any given day. Here's why that happens:
- In addition to a 30-minute inspection done every morning, each bus is required by California law to have an inspection and service done every 45 days. Every 6 weeks our 5 buses have this mandated service (Bus 1 on Monday, Bus 2 on Tuesday, etc.). Each day a bus is dropped off at Sequoia Union High School District's bus yard about 9:15 and picked up about 1:15. For Buses 1, 3, and 4, who have a LL 2nd session pick-up route, those drivers will use either Bus 2 or Bus 5 when their bus is in for service. And, when Bus 3 is at Sequoia for this service, Mr. Fernando uses another bus to take the Kindergartners home at noon.
- This same situation occurs when we have a bus that has unexpected mechanical problems. We will often switch buses around to cover a route when a bus needs to go to Sequoia for repairs or adjustments.
- Sometimes we find that the mechanical problems cannot be completed quickly enough for our bus to be back in service when we need it. In those cases, we borrow a bus from Redwood City School District to keep our normal scheduling in place. When you see us in a Redwood City bus that means that driver's normal bus is at Sequoia for repairs of some kind.
- Sometimes what you see is a different driver. When your driver is ill or needs to be away from school for some time period, you will see Neimias Moran, our substitute driver, or one of our other drivers covering a route that they do not normally drive.
- Sometimes Mr. Moran is unable to drive for us, so we are short a driver for the day. When that happens, we modify the routes at La Entrada to bring everyone in on 3 buses and cover the Las Lomitas routes with others, so some of you see a different driver.
Our objective, always, is to provide safe transportation for all our students. I know that for many of you, your bus driver is someone you know and trust. I can assure you that you can have the same level of trust in all our drivers, as we are all committed to safe transportation for students. Being on schedule is also important and we make every effort to keep things normal for you-sometimes that means a different bus or a different driver. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments we welcome your input. Please feel free to call me at any time.
Joyce Massaro, Transportation Supervisor, 854-6311 x30
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| From the Foundation |
Fundraising Update
Our fundraising campaign has been successful so far-let's keep the momentum going! Donate here.
Through January 28th Goal
Contributions $2,615,000 $3,000,000
Upcoming Events (For event descriptions, pricing and to buy tickets now go here.)
- Chinese New Year Party in Old Shanghai (for parents) - Friday, February 8
- Ice Skating Family Fun - Sunday, February 10
- La Entrada Kids Care at San Francisco City Academy -Take Two - Wednesday, March 13
SAVE THE DATE for the 2013 Spring Auction on Saturday, May 18th at Portola Farms in Woodside.
Mark your calendar today for this fabulous event. We hope you will join us for dinner, dancing, silent and live auctions benefitting the children in the Las Lomitas District.
Buying Valentine's Day cards, flowers, or gifts? Visit LLEFShopping first!
Whether you're making cards, ordering flowers, or choosing just the right presents for your loved ones, remember to start your online Valentine's Day shopping here. A portion of every purchase turns into a donation for our schools! Participating vendors include Tiny Prints, Minted, 1800flowers, Amazon, Red Envelope, and many more. Happy Valentine's Day from the Las Lomitas Education Foundation!
Thank you to our donors the week of 1/22/2013 - 1/29/2013:
Ehud Zohary and Rachel Ben-Eliyaha, Judy and Gary Carey (G), Jim and Diane Chesler (G), John Chou and Melody Sales, Christophe and Amelie Dargnies, Joi Deaser, Mark and Nalin Decker, Jerry and Barbara Gould (G), Tonie Hardin (G), Michael and Sook Jung, Jeff and Nicole Kangas, Larry and Danielle Kelmar, Stephan and Mondonna Kennedy, Azad Khodai and Mojgan Yeganian, Ashley Banks and Douglas Laird, Wendy and Michael Malecek, Michael and Melissa Malloy, Mark and Denise Danielson, Robert and Gretchen Mathews, Joe and Krista Merlino, Michael and Amy Molitz, Thembile Mtwa and Nia Fong, Jean-Marc Olivot and Anne-Sofhie Beraud, Soltana Shukurova and Ismayil Orujov, Joseph and Sandra Patane, Bob and Diane Peterson, Heather Peterson, Kyoko Robinson (C), Joseph and Adriana Ross, Jean Shen, John Solano and Toni Ouradnik, Richard and Eliene Sung, Rochelle Tilmans and Denise Dowsett, Otto and Idell Weiss (G), Eric Weiss
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Las Lomitas League News
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Classes start this week!
By now, you have probably received a welcome letter from instructors requesting dismissal plans for your children. You can find all class information, including contact information for instructors and League policies under the "Classes" tab at the Las Lomitas League website or by following this link: http://laslomitasleague.com/templates/LECLASS.html
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| Sequoia Union High School District News |
Menlo-Atherton High School Fashion Show
SAVE THE DATE! The Menlo-Atherton High School Fashion Show is coming! Please join us for this year's fashion show - "iM-Agine...A Bright Future" on Saturday, February 23, featuring our senior class. This show is a great community event and fun for all ages. The show has an upbeat techno theme with bright lights to honor our senior class as they prepare to embark on their new journeys. There will be a luncheon at 11:30 a.m., followed by the 1 p.m., 4 p.m., and 7:30 evening show in the Performing Arts Center. We will highlight fashions from local stores and the seniors will model and dance! More information regarding ticket sales/prices will be available soon! We hope to see you and your families there! Come witness the great school spirit at M-A!
Donate Old Computers, Printers, Digital Cameras, Flash Drives to M-A Students
WANTED: Old computers or parts, working or not, for M-A High School PTA computer donation program. Your old computer equipment will be securely erased, refurbished, and sent home with a needy, hard-working student. Our goal is for every student at M-A High School to have a working computer at home to assist them with their homework. We welcome donations from individuals or corporate donations from companies that are upgrading their equipment. Donations are tax-deductible. We also need other types of electronic gear, such as USB flash drives and digital cameras (include manual, battery charger and memory card if you have them). For more detailed information, visit www.suekayton.com/MAHigh/computerdonations.htm or contact Sue Kayton at (650) 853-1711 or kayton@alum.mit.edu.
Summit and Everest Open House
Summit Preparatory Charter High School (one of Newsweek's"Ten Miracle High Schools" in the country) and Everest Public High School are public, tuition-free, charter high schools in Redwood City. Our schools strive to provide students with a small and personalized educational experience with guaranteed college preparation in a physically and emotionally safe environment. Summit and Everest would like to invite parents and students to learn more about their schools and the admission process at their upcoming Open Houses:
Saturday, February 9th, 2013 at 10:00 AM
All open houses will be at Summit, 890 Broadway, Redwood City.
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| Community News |
These programs are not supported by or affiliated with the La Entrada School or the La Entrada PTA.
Help East Palo Alto 3rd Graders with Reading
Please join All Sudents Matter volunteers "adopt" third grade students who desperately need help reading. If you are interested, we will start February 4th. We will commit one to two days a week (Tuesdays and/or Thursdays) from 12:40-2:00 pm at Brentwood Academy. The third grade teachers will welcome us and guide us through this focused effort. The program will last 10 weeks and will allow you to develop strong ties with third grade studentsstruggling with reading. To volunteer, call or email Carolyn Blatman at cblatman@AOL.com or (650)269-5354. All Students Matter's web site is allstudentsmatter.org.
Youth Soccer Programs for Ages 3-7Alpine Strikers FC offers three fun programs for your youngest soccer players in the family. If your child would like to try soccer or improve his/her skills, check out the opportunities available for preschool, kindergarten and early elementary school kids. Go to www.alpinestrikers.org to find out more!
AMA Girls Softball
AMA Girls Softball registration is open and seeking players ages 5-12, as well as their parent volunteers. This is a fun, instructional league with practices and games primarily in Menlo Park and Portola Valley. Registration is closing soon, so get your friends together and sign up now! For information and a link to registration, please visit the AMA website: http://www.eteamz.com/amasoftball/
School Supplies Needed for Elementary Schools in East Palo Alto
Interested in helping East Palo Alto elementary schools with needed supplies such as paper, pencils, pencil sharpeners and Kleenex? Our parent volunteer group makes it easy through our Giving Tree program. Just give us your email address and every quarter you will receive a "wish list" message. From the wish list, you can purchase a small item or two and drop off supplies at a specified home in Menlo Park or Palo Alto. There are no meetings, only quarterly emails. It's easy! Sign up by contacting Linda Knoll at
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From the Editors
| The Leopard's Spot is published by the La Entrada PTA as a service to the La Entrada families and community. Before submitting an article, please read our newsletter policies.
To submit an item, email it to the editors at leopardsspot@llesd.org by 12 noon
on the Wednesday prior to the Monday publication date.
Submission Requirements:
- In the subject line of the email, please include the section in which you wish your item to be placed (see our newsletter policies for the list of our regular sections); for example, the subject may read "PTA News" for any item related to PTA programs;
- DO NOT send the article as an attachment but in the body of the email: submission sent as Word doc will be rejected;
- Clearly indicate the title of your submission;
- DO NOT send flyers but provide a link to them;
- DO NOT send pictures but provide a link to them;
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