SCC Weekly Newsletter: December 9 -16, 2019
Mark Your Calendars for the SCC Winter Celebration !
Thursday, Dec. 19, 6:30-7:45pm

Food Drive for Second Harvest Now Through Dec. 18th.
Director's Spotlight On... Safety First (Please)
As the holiday season heats up and the weather cools down, I have noticed an uptick in some unsafe driving and pedestrian behavior on campus. As such, I think ‘tis the season to remind us all about being more mindful while navigating on our campus.

I want to start by acknowledging that driving on campus can be extremely frustrating. There are many infrastructural problems that we do not have control over but we–drivers and pedestrians–can control our own actions. 

Drivers, remember to:
  • Slow down! You should never be driving faster than 10 mph through the campus. Seriously. Check your speedometer and ground truth your speed. You might think you are driving slowly but I have witnessed countless drivers (from both schools, parents and staff) zipping up and down the road to get to the drop off/pick up/parking zones. I know we are all busy and have places to go, but those 30 seconds you save are not worth the potential risks
  • Don’t be a distracted driver. No cell phones. Don’t watch your child walk to class as you drive away. Use your signal when you want to merge into another lane. Look at the traffic pattern ahead to anticipate bottlenecks. Be present behind the wheel
  • Watch for pedestrians. We have over 1000 students on this one campus and their safety needs to be first and foremost (they also have responsibility and I will speak to that next). Unexpected things happen because, you know, kids! If you are adhering to the first two guidelines, you will be able to react quickly to avoid something tragic

Pedestrians, remember to: 
  • Stay on designated walkways! Do NOT walk along the edge of the street or sidewalk. If you are using the sidewalk on the way down to the entrance of campus, do not crowd (two across only)
  • Cross in crosswalks only! Please do not dart out into the street and cross in random places. Drivers are not expecting you to cross anyplace except the crosswalks. Do not take shortcuts across the parking lot or roads on campus
  • Do not be a distracted pedestrian. Don’t walk in traffic or congested areas with your head down on your phone! Look around you. Know where cars and other pedestrians are. Don’t goof around in crowded areas. Be aware of your surroundings

As adults on campus, it is our responsibility to model safe and appropriate behavior. Understand what you can do to make this campus a safer place for all. Please take the time to help your children understand what they can do to be proactive about their safety. 

Here is to a safe and caring holiday season ☺
Office News
Gwynne Rinker , Data and Operations Manager
Miriam Peirano , Office Manager
Applying to Independent Schools
If you intend to apply to Independent Schools for your child(ren), please do not delay in getting any transcript or recommendation requests to the office.  Our deadline to receive these requests is Friday, December 13th. When we get back from break it will be TOO LATE. Please let us know, even if it's just a possibility, so that we can do the work up front to be prepared to submit. We will of course keep all requests completely confidential.

Kindergarten for Siblings
We will be accepting sibling kindergarten applications on SchoolMint beginning in mid-January. If you have a sibling who is kindergarten-age for 2020-2021, please keep your eyes peeled for announcements about deadlines and requirements. It's easy, but the season goes quickly! All applications will be due by 2/10.

FreshSchools Signup
We re-sent the invites to sign up for FreshSchools directly to email. Please don't wait to click that link and sign up! Thanks to all those who have registered - we love it so far!
Board of Directors Update
Executive Director Search Update
The BOD and Succession Planning team have been actively engaging stakeholders and working with Edgility on what we want to see in our next Executive Director. We appreciate everyone who showed up for any of our 3 parent community Meet and Greets last week. We appreciated the open discussions and questions. 

Here are the steps of the process that have been done and timeline for moving forward:
Completed:
  • A portion of the focus groups on and off site: staff, educators, learners, parent community
  • Staff surveys - 25 completed
  • 5-8th grade learner surveys - 130 completed
  • Parent surveys - 46 completed
Week of Dec 8: 
  • Completion of focus groups with educator and parent community. 
  • Edgility presents findings and needs assessment to Succession team.
  • Succession team to present findings to Board at meeting on 12/11 at 7:30pm. All are encouraged to attend. 
By Dec 13:
  • Job description finalized
  • Post job listing and begin search with internal and external searches
December - January:
  • Edgility will filter through applicants and begin the screening process.
February:
  • Begin initial interviews of candidates

Communication/Input: 
If you have a question for the Succession Planning Team, please utilize the anonymous survey via Survey Monkey. If you have general questions for the board, you may email board@scclc.net.
Volunteer Corner
Melissa May , Volunteer Coordinator
SignUp.com
Wondering how many volunteer hours you've logged to date?
How to Check Volunteer Hours to Date: Everything on SignUp.com is done by email, so if you have multiple family members (emails) volunteering, remember to create a report using each email address. 
1. Log onto SignUp.com
2. Under your name on the top right, drop down to Profile
3. Scroll up and at the bottom of the page is Participant Hours Report
4. Click on Email Report. SignUp.com will send you an email with your individual hours.
Volunteer Jobs Still in Need
We are still seeking volunteers to help with the Variety Show! See here for more information.
Food Drive
Charter Food Drive -- Yes we CAN! Now Through Weds, Dec.18
'Tis the season of giving, and our holiday food drive with Second Harvest Food Bank is in full swing! In the front office and Educare are 3 barrels that we aim to fill up with 500 pounds of non-perishable cans or other dry goods. As a community, we can easily come together to make this happen! We are asking families to donate ( 3 cans per kid suggested) non-perishable nutritious food items. So line up the kids, stick a few cans in their backpacks, and let's do this! Contact Jen Berman with questions.
Educare Happenings
Katie Hall & Desi Smith , Co-Directors of Educare
REMINDERS:
  • All Fall Enrichments have concluded, with the exception of Kinder Art. The final Kinder Art class will be held this Thursday (12/12).
  • Winter Enrichment registration is open! Click HERE for details! Classes begin January 13th, 2020. 
  • January 2-3 Special Days Registration is available on EZChildTrack via the Flex Plan Calendar. January 3 is limited to 20 learners and will fill up fast! Priced at $85/learner/day until NOON on December 20th. At 12:01 PM the price goes up to $100/learner/day. 
  • Don't forget to fill out your Flex Plan calendars! Since the end of the Fall Enrichment session we have seen a spike in un-enrolled learners... in order to run our program properly we need to know who is coming.
  • Educare will be CLOSED for PM Care on Friday, December 20th. This is a Super Minimum Day (all learners dismissed at NOON) and Educare will not be available after school has been dismissed. AM Care will be open for regular hours. 
Parent Education
Lorea Martinez , Parent Ed Liaison
The arts matter for kids' self-esteem. Middle school can be tough on an adolescent’s self-esteem. Social comparison often becomes fierce, leading to feelings of unworthiness that can have negative consequences in years to come. New research suggests that one great answer is to encourage your kids to participate in the arts—or, better yet, to join them in some creative pursuit. For more details on this research and how to get started, read this great article by the Greater Good Science Center. 

Coming up this week, you can learn about how to confront stress and anxiety in girls (Tue) and no such thing as a bad kid (Wednesday). For details and more parent ed events, click on the button below. Happy Parenting!
SCEF Update
Help us meet December 2019 fundraising goals. Leverage the TAX BENEFITS of charitable giving before the end of the year! Explore corporate matching and stock donations on our website or contact info@scefkids.org with questions. 

Not sure WHY you should give to SCEF? 

When you are shopping in San Carlos, please take a moment to thank our amazing local businesses for supporting SCEF and our schools.

Honey Bear Trees supports San Carlos public schools by donating 15% of tree, wreath and garland sales to SCEF. Find detailed info online.
Greater San Carlos Community Information
  • ROPES Judges Needed & More!
Appreciations
  • Darlene and Lindsay would like to thank Rob Bertolina for giving his time and talents for a photography project. :)
  • A big thank you to Krim Stephenson for being Anke's class photographer for a special art project last Friday.
  • A big thank you to Tami Gordon and the Room 212 Field Trip Reps, Christina DiLauro and Kari Barcelo, for helping 3/4 get ready for their Sanchez Adobe field trip. A big thank you also to the drivers and chaperones, Shelley Zulman, Tomas Gonzalez, Susan LevinRachel Brighton, Norah Christmann, Christina DiLauro, Joel Wade and Anna Axiaq.
Quick Links
Have a great week!
-The Newsletter Team at newsletter@scclc.net