January 9, 2020
#GGUSDPRIDE E-newsletter
The #GGUSDPride E-newsletter features many of the great things happening in GGUSD.   
Send your photos to pio_department@ggusd.us to highlight your school or students in the e-newsletter.
Save the Date for GGUSD's Choose Wellness Event on January 30th
GGUSD’s Board of Education invites families, intermediate and high school students, and staff to attend its first Choose Wellness event on January 30 from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at Alamitos Intermediate School, 12381 Dale Street in Garden Grove. Hosted by Vice President Teri Rocco, the event will feature a resource fair and more than 20 wellness workshops on topics like suicide prevention, stress reduction, mental health services, healthy relationships, cyber-bullying prevention, and more.
Pacifica Hosts Holiday Event to Celebrate Season of Giving
During Pacifica High School's annual holiday event, kindergartners from Simmons, Heritage, Russell, Newhope, Eisenhower, and Clinton elementary schools were paired up with Pacifica High School seniors for a fun-filled day that included gifts, face painting, train rides, and photos with Santa, Elmo, Tigger, and visitors from a galaxy far, far away.
Nine GGUSD Schools Named California Distinguished Schools
GGUSD was well represented in the 2020 California Distinguished Schools Program, placing more schools on the list than any other school district in Orange County. Allen, Cook, Crosby, Excelsior, Hazard, Lawrence, Morningside, Peters, and Stanley elementary schools all received the recognition for achieving exceptional student performance for two consecutive school years and/or closing the achievement gap between two school years.
GGUSD Students Donate to Families in Need
Crosby Elementary School's awesome Student Council, led by Advisors Mrs. Smith and Ms. Worthing, helped pack Christmas baskets at the Elks Lodge recently. Thank you to Crosby students and families for your amazing generosity during the recent Canned Food Drive for a total donation of 3,532 cans which were used by the Elks for the holiday baskets.
As part of their schoolwide Kindness Month, Alamitos Intermediate participated in the KFI Radio PastaThon for the third straight year. ASB (Associated Student Body) & NJHS (National Junior Honor Society) clubs worked together to collect, sort, and deliver over 1,700 items for Caterina's Club. This amazing charity provides 5,000 meals per day in our local communities, as well as hospitality skill training and other scholarship opportunities.
GGUSD Teacher Shares Story to Encourage Others to Choose Wellness
As part of our Choose Wellness campaign, we called on those who have battled adversity to share their testimonials in order to reduce the stigma of receiving mental health and wellness assistance or support. Garden Grove High School teacher Darla Scarpella shares her story to encourage others who may be struggling or facing challenging circumstances.
On the Job Learning

Fitz Intermediate School AVID students got their feet wet learning about environmental science careers and a whole host of other jobs during their career exploration visit to the Department of Water!
Future Engineers

Cook Elementary School sent three teams to compete in the VEX IQ robotics competition against students from approximately 40 elementary schools across Orange County. Students were tasked with building and personalizing a robot to complete tasks on the playing field, in under one minute.
GGUSD Shows Gains on CA Dashboard Accountability Report
GGUSD once again showed several areas of positive growth on the recently-released 2019 California School Dashboard, the state’s school performance and accountability website. The dashboard displays five color-coded performance levels with GGUSD ranking green, a high-level ranking in five categories, including graduation rates, English language arts and mathematics scores, suspension rates, and college and career readiness rates. GGUSD students demonstrated tremendous growth since last year, earning high green rankings in five categories this year, compared to three green and three yellow rankings last year. GGUSD consistently outperforms the county and state average in ELA and math, as well as chronic absenteeism.
Health Fair for GGUSD Employees
Employees and their families are encouraged to attend GGUSD’s 2020 Health Fair on Monday, January 27 from 3 to 6 p.m. in the district office annex parking lot. The event will feature free health screenings, interactive activities, fitness demonstrations, food trucks with a variety of delicious healthy treats, raffle prizes galore (prizes will align with healthy mind, healthy body, healthy home themes), and much more. Please, save the date for January 27 th . We hope to see you there! 
GGUSD Launches ParentSquare to Expand Parent Communication
GGUSD has launched ParentSquare, an easy-to-use communication platform to reach and engage every parent, ensuring all parents have the opportunity to actively participate in their children’s education and stay up-to-date on district and school news. 

ParentSquare features:
  • district and school-wide mass notifications through voice, email, text, and new mobile application
  • district, school-wide, and classroom posts received as emails or texts by parents with two-way communication features
  • principal and teacher direct messaging with instant language translation using Google Translate
  • automated attendance notifications on student absences and tardies
  • school calendars and event rsvp’s
  • teacher to student communication for seventh through twelfth grade students

ParentSquare allows parents to choose how to receive school and classroom communication via email, text, or mobile application. Parents can also select when to receive messages either instantly or in digest format at the end of each day. Urgent school-wide messages can be sent through voicemail as well.  Parents will receive emails, texts, or voicemail messages to the email address or phone number on file with the school as part of the student enrollment process. 

Parents can download the GGUSD mobile application now on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. 
 
GGUSD’s partnership with ParentSquare will enable a stronger dialogue between school and home, and will help empower everyone within the school community to stay connected and informed.