Principal's Podium

First Day Letter August 30, 2006
Back to School Letter September 7, 2006

Construction Update September 25, 2006

Budget Good News October 18, 2006

School Climate November 13, 2006

November 13, 2006

Dear West Portal Parents/Guardians,

Rain, Rain Go Away!

The rains have come and West Portal is prepared. When it is raining in the morning, the students who are dropped off before 8:40 are to report to the auditorium where ample supervision will be provided from 8:25 to 8:40. The students will then be walked to their classrooms by one of the morning supervisors. It is important that they not be in the hallways or out in the yard at that time.

School Climate Assemblies

This year West Portal School Climate committee is looking at different ways to improve and maintain a positive climate at school for both the students and staff. The school will have monthly themes related to school climate that will be school specific but also follow district wide themes developed by School Health Department of the SFUSD. There are monthly assemblies, which would involve students performing skits and discussing the month’s theme. Classroom teacher’s would then spend time in their individual classrooms discussing and possibly do activities relating to the themes. Example: creating posters that could be displayed, role-playing, community circle discussions, etc… October’s Theme was awareness of school-wide and classroom rules. November/December’s theme is “Social Responsibility: How to Respond to Negative Situations”. An assembly is scheduled for this Friday.

In Thanksgiving

In all cultures, in the entire world, people celebrate a season of sharing. We set aside the fourth Thursday of November for America’s day for giving thanks. We have been celebrating Thanksgiving at school through our studies, our contributions, and our classroom reflections and discussions. Our students joined together to donate to the canned food drive so that others may have a happier Thanksgiving. Our families are most generous in their donations to the San Francisco Food Bank. Many classes are studying the history of how people celebrate Thanksgiving and harvest festivals. Some classes joined together in traditional feasting. This day of Thanksgiving is traditionally a day when we sit down with members of our families, enjoy each others’ company and share our cultural favorites in a “traditional feast.” The Thanksgiving Day celebration is a joyous occasion and gives us the opportunity to remember to say “Thank You.” The West Portal staff members, in this time honored tradition; send our most heartfelt thanks to West Portal students and their families. Thank you for your support and for the joy you share with us. We wish you a HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY.

Sincerely,

Will Lucey

Principal

Reminder:

November 22nd, 23rd & 24th – Thanksgiving Break – No School

December 7th – SSC Meeting – 4:30pm, Parent Club Meeting – 6:30

December 11th -15th – Scholastic Book Fair

December 18th –January 2nd – Winter Break – No School

October 18, 2006

Dear West Portal Parents/Guardians,

GOOD NEWS 2005-2006 School Site Budget

I received the Final Budget Allocation for the 2006-2007 school year. Due to our student population increase we received an additional $22,528 in our Site Budget, $5,520 in Prop H and $23,184 in a one-time Discretionary Block Grant. After receiving input from our staff and Parent Club, the school Site Council allocated these monies for the following:

Site Budget: $22,528

$11,915 added to Instructional Supplies

$5,613 added to Sub days for teacher planning and collaboration.
$2,000 has been added for teachers to attend workshops/conferences
$3,000 has been added for the purpose of having a garden coordinator

Prop H Options: $5,520

$4,000 for Sub Days for teachers to work on the Spring Musical.
$1,520 for Instructional supplies for Art Supplies

Discretionary Block Grant Options (one time monies): $23,184

$8,539 for Equipment for Technology
13,500 for extended hour for after school instructional support for targeted students
$1145 for Stipend to pay for cleaning and basic maintenance of the garden and equipment.

Friday Art Studio Volunteers Needed

Our wonderful new inclusion teacher, Mr. Dyer hosts a painting studio for 10 students every Friday. The students are different each week and are from all grade levels. It has been extremely popular and successful. Mr. Dyer needs one volunteer on Fridays from12: 45-2:00 to assist him in setting up the room, making sure the students have their aprons on, names on their papers and help students with clean up. Other volunteers are needed to help display the kid's paintings which entails putting the paintings in pre-cut mats, typing display labels and hanging the paintings in the main building. Times and days are flexible for these tasks. Exhibit will change every 2 weeks or every week, if possible. Let Mr. Dyer know if you’re interested.

Construction Update

Below are projected completion times for various major tasks with regards to the Prop. A Bond construction project at West Portal.

Activity	Completion
Elevator	End of October
Permanent Interior Handrails	End of October
Ramp from yard 1 to elevator corridor	Middle of November
Casework and sinks in rooms 1,2,3,4,5,6,10,12,14,20,22,23,24,25,26	Completed
Casework and sinks in rooms 15, 17 and 18	End of October
Exterior Drinking Fountains	End of November
Exterior Handrails	Middle of November

Sincerely,

Will Lucey, Principal

Reminder:

October 20th – Pumpkin Patch – 9am – 3:00 pm

October 29th – Halloween Carnival – 12 - 6:30 pm

Oct. 30th- Nov. 3rd – Parent/teacher Conferences – dismissal 1:40pm

October 31st – Halloween Parades K-2 at 11:00 am, 3-5 at 1:00 pm

September 25, 2006

Dear West Portal Parents/Guardians,

A Great Back-to School Night

It was great to see the large turnout at our Back-to School Night. The teacher and I were very pleased with the clear commitment the West Portal Community gives to the education of our student population. Thank you for your attendance and commitment to your child’s education. A special thanks goes to the teachers who spent time preparing their classroom presentations. We are fortunate to have such a wonderful group of educators.

New Updated Web Page

Thanks to one of our wonderful parents, Rose Lacy, we now have a newly updated school web page. Please take a moment to look it over at www.westportalschool.com to get the most updated information about West Portal School. A new addition is the Principals Podium page which will have all the newsletters and other important information directly from the principal.

Construction Update

Below are projected completion times for various major tasks with regards to the Prop. A Bond construction project at West Portal. See letter attached from Bond Program Manager Leonard Tom for further details.

Activity	Completion
Elevator	End of October
Permanent Interior Handrails	End of October
Ramp from yard 1 to elevator corridor	Middle of November
Casework and sinks in rooms1,2,3,4	Middle of October
Casework and sinks in Rooms 5 and 6	Middle of October
Casework and sinks in rooms 15 and 17	Middle of October
Case work and sinks in rooms 10,12,14,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26	Middle of November
Exterior Drinking Fountains	Middle of October
Exterior Handrails	Middle of November

Sincerely,

Will Lucey, Principal

Reminder:

October 6th – Moon Festival 9am Yard 1 and 2

October 9th – Columbus/Indigenous People’s Day – NO SCHOOL

Oct. 30th- Nov. 3rd – Parent/teacher Conferences – dismissal 1:40pm

October 31st – Halloween Parade

September 7, 2006

Dear West Portal Parents and Guardians,

Thursday, September 14^th, beginning at 6:00 pm is “Back to School Night”.

The schedule for the night is as follows:

Session 1 6:00 – 6:20 pm General Session in the auditorium

Session 2 6:25 – 6:55 pm Classroom Informational Meeting

Session 3 7:00 – 7:30 pm Classroom Informational Meeting

Back to School Night is an important event. Teachers will be sharing important information regarding the curriculum, their expectations, and special classroom events that will occur through out the school year. These sessions are not a time for one-on-one conferences with your child’s teacher. If you wish to conference with the teacher, please indicate your request in the sign-in sheet and the teacher will contact you for an appointment. Due to scheduling conflicts, Mr Hansell’s 4^th Grade, Room 21; Ms Bernstein’s 4^th grade, room 23; and Ms Breisach’s Kindergarten, Room 3 will be having their Back to School night classroom informational presentations on Wednesday, September 20^st at 6:30 pm.
We ask that only parents attend this evening’s presentation with the teachers. It is difficult to conduct an informational meeting with parents if there are many children in the classroom. We are unable to offer childcare for our Back to School Night because of the large number of children, but we sincerely hope that you will find some way to attend this important event.

Sincerely,

Will Lucey and the West Portal Staff Principal

Reminder: September 14^th – 6:00 – 7:30 – Back to School Night September 20^th–6:30– Rooms 3,21,23 Back-to-School Night Classroom Info. Meeting September 26^th– Picture Day for the Students in the Main Building September 27^th– Picture Day for Students in Bungalow Classrooms

Special Notes:

Please notify the teacher before school begins if pickup arrangements change. For Emergencies notify the office.
Please call the school if your child is not going to be at school that day or is going to be late. This is important for attendance purposes.
If your home address has changed, you need to fill out a form and provide two proofs of address. Forms can be picked up in the office

August 30, 2006

Dear West Portal Parents/Guardians,

The staff at West Portal School welcome you and your children to the 2006-2007 school year. We hope it will be a rewarding year for all the students. We look forward to getting to know you and your children.

Even though we had major construction over the summer with many delays, we were able to have a safe and positive opening of school. Construction will continue through November with all work being done after school and weekends so as not to impact student learning.

The traffic and parking has always been a problem especially during the first few weeks of schools. If you are able to park your car a couple of blocks away and walk your child to the school, it would be helpful in alleviating some morning and afternoon traffic issues. More information will be sent out regarding how you can help improve the traffic around West Portal School.

Included in the first take home folder are several important papers and Parent Club information. Please take a moment to review them and return the necessary forms such as emergency card, emergency release form, Free/Reduced Lunch Application, and Parental Consent Form for Media Access, etc. to your children’s teachers as soon as possible, but no later than Wednesday, September 6^th please.

Parent Club Meeting is scheduled for September 7^th at 6:30pm. I will being giving a construction update and information regarding our school STAR Testing scores. Childcare will be provided. Please make an effort to attend.

Back-to-School Night is scheduled for Thursday, September 14^th at 6:30 pm. Please mark your calendar for this important evening.

Labor Day falls on Monday, September 4^th. No School.

Picture Day is on September 26^th & 27^th. A flyer is included in the folder.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if either you or your children have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Will Lucey
Principal
for the West Portal Staff

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