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Week of November 16, 2018
A Note from your Principal
Dear Cheetah Families,

We are happy to introduce you to our new newsletter. This will be emailed to families that provide email addresses to our office and it will be available on our school webpage as well. I hope that you enjoy this new method of communicating with our families.

One big piece of news to keep in mind is that when we return from Thanksgiving Break on Nov. 26, we will be starting the process of making our campus safer by implementing a closed campus environment. To make this happen, we need to limit access to only staff members and students, except for those parent-family visitors who sign in at our office.

This change will be tricky because our kinder parents and preschool parents are accustomed to coming on to campus at arrival and dismissal. Preschool is the trickiest part and we are still working out the details with our preschool staff and hope to be ready with those families at the start of January. In the meantime we will get started with Transitional Kinder through 8th Grade families on Nov. 26th.

The details of the change are listed below in our "Important News" section. Please read there for more information so that you know what to do beginning on November 26th. I will be at the gate at arrival and dismissal the first few days after our break in order to assist you and to observe how the change is going. I hope you will feel free to chat with me if you have any questions.

Warm Regards and Happy Thanksgiving!
Bonita DeAmicis (aka Dr. Dee)

Champions-in-the-Making
A Cheetah Champion-in-the-Making is a student who has shown a leap of growth! We celebrate our Champions-in-the-Making because every time we grow, we get closer to our goals and aspirations. Continuous growth and learning is something that we want for every cheetah.

The school principal, Dr. Dee, and teachers work together to identify those students who have put forth great effort to overcome an obstacle or who took a leap of learning. The Champion visits the principal in her office in order to celebrate the growth that they have made so far. They sign the Champions-in-the-Making Poster and take a note home to parents to share their successes. Our Champions-in-the-Making will also be highlighted here in each newsletter.

First Champions-in-the-Making to be recognized are:

Richard Sepulveda who is in second grade and has been working so hard on his classwork portfolio in addition to reading tons and growing his reading skills. Here is a video of him at work! Richard Richard Reading

Deron Sayles who is in fifth grade has been working very hard on all class assignments but showed particularly impressive growth with this writing piece: Admirable Quality of the Character by Deron Sayles
Upcoming Events
Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the week!
We will return to school on Monday, November 26th. We look forward to seeing you then. Reminder that during pick up and drop off all non staff member adults should remain outside the fence to begin our path toward being a closed, safe campus. Thank you!
PTA Family Bingo Night, Friday, Nov. 30
Come enjoy some Family Bingo and win prizes at the VLMA Auditorium. This is a fun night for all and should not be missed! All ages are welcome.
Important Changes Ahead--Closed Campus
In January the district will be installing computerized check-in systems for all visitors to campuses in an effort to assure the safety of our students and staff. This system will require all campus visitors to run their ID cards through a scanner. This means no adults will be permitted on campus without first checking in at the front office with their ID. This includes at arrival and dismissal times because we have students and staff on campus starting at 7:30 a.m. and lasting until 6:30 p.m.

Our first step toward transitioning to a fully closed campus starts on Nov. 26 with only preschool parents coming on to campus in the morning from 7:45-8:00 a.m.. Kinder families will now need to leave their children on our waiting wall or at Cheetah Race Club. Parents who do not want to leave their children at Race Club or their Transitional Kinder and other Kindergartners at the waiting wall, may choose to supervise their children outside our main gates until it is time for the children (no adults) to come inside the gates at 8:15 a.m.

No adults will be permitted through the front gate when we are opening up for arrival or closing down for dismissal. Adults will need to wait outside the front gate.

All adult visitors to campus will need to go through the office to sign in and to sign out. In January, when the scan machine is operating in the office, adult visitors will need to scan their ID cards in order to sign in and sign out.

We are a school that prides itself on being welcoming to our families. It is difficult to make this change, however, parent groups have all assured us that safety should come first. Thank you for helping us with this transition.

Here is a link to the letter that we sent home regarding the change:
Stay Connected
Visitor Policy:
Parents who are scheduled to volunteer on campus are required to sign in at the front office, provide ID, and wear a visitor sticker any time they are on campus. Other adult visitors must make arrangements with the front office to visit our campus. Student visitors are not permitted.

The Lemon Grove School District prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying, based on actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, national origin, nationality, ethnicity, ethnic group identification, age, religion, marital or parental status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression; or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics, at any district school or school activity. Title IX Coordinator Edward Caballero ecaballero@lemongrovesd.net 619-825-5728. Equity Compliance Officer Dr. Yolanda Rogers yrogers@lemongrovesd.net 619-825-5712