Dear Garfield Families,
What a fantastic and busy first week back! It has been a true joy to welcome our students into the building. We are so excited to start the school year and are looking forward to making it a wonderful and successful one for everyone.
Dismissal Plans
Students are doing a great job of getting to where they need to be upon dismissal. If you have students who are dismissed from different parts of the school, I encourage you to talk to them about finding one another and meeting you in one of the dismissal areas. We want to help get students to their families quickly and safely after school and I know it is challenging when you have students being dismissed from opposite sides of the building.
Lost and Found
Last year we donated an immense amount of clothing from the lost and found to local charities and we’re happy to do that but we would prefer to get items back to their owners. Our process is to continuously remind students to gather their things before lining up but inevitably, we have students who don’t go back for their things. We also send reminders to families to come by and check the lost and found, especially as it starts to fill up and eventually, we donate the items. This happens about every couple of months.
One way you can help us get items back to their owners is to write your children’s name in their clothing. Anything you think they might take off during the day should have their name and grade written in it. We really appreciate your help with this.
Standard Response Protocol (SRP)
In light of recent events in the community, our staff met and discussed our SRPs for emergency situations. Schools do a monthly training on various situations throughout the year. We practice fire drills, secures, lockdowns, evacuation and earthquake drills. You may have experienced finding a sign on the door when you came by which is to inform you that we are in the middle of a drill and that you will have to wait until it is over because all of the staff are participating.
I want to share our Standard Response Protocol with you so that you are aware of how we respond to various situations. Please pay particular attention to the information about the Secure. We will use this response should we encounter an unsafe situation that is right outside of the school building.
Volunteering
I have recently been asked about how families can help around the school. We love having volunteers!
It is important to consider that your children are part of a dual language program developing their bilingual skills. Our model is to have the majority of K-2 classroom time be in Spanish – so, if you would like to volunteer and are not comfortable speaking Spanish in those grade levels, you may be able to help with other important tasks. We would just ask for your help with keeping the class in the target language when it is Spanish time. Teachers can give ideas of other tasks that they could use some help with.
We also have a volunteer station in the workroom by the office that volunteers are always welcome to come by and check for any projects teachers are requesting help with. Field trips are always a wonderful way to support as well. We like to have about a 1 to 5 ratio for field trips. One adult for every five students but of course that may vary by grade level.
Here is the volunteer link: https://www.csd509j.net/departments/human-resources/volunteer/
It takes a couple of weeks to be cleared to volunteer. You must be fully cleared before you can volunteer. Once your name shows up on the volunteer computer in the office, you are cleared. You are always welcome to come by and check if your name is listed. There are a couple of computers set up in the office for volunteer check in.
Upcoming Events:
9/8/25 Morning coffee for Kinder families and new families to Garfield 8:00 a.m. in room 9
We hope you can join us!
9/18/25 Garfield Picnic and Open House 5:30-7:15p.m.
9/16/25 Community Listening Session: Consolidation & Closure 6:30-8pm Lincoln Elementary
2025-26-School-Year-Calendar-Elementary-EN.pdf
We are so excited to partner with you to make this a successful and memorable school year. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Warm Regards,
Nancy Davila-Williams, Principal
