Dear Chacon Families,

            Now that the students, teachers, and staff have been together for a month in school, all of us are beginning to get into our yearlong routine. There have been many wonderful changes leading up to this point, and I look forward to a terrific school year. Below is an update on some of the events, activities, and matters happening at Chacon.     

• Carnival: The annual Chacon Carnival is coming! Join us on Friday, October 10 from 5:00p to 7:00p for an event filled with fun, food, games, and prizes. Save the date and look for more information coming soon.
• Caring for Our Community: A Health Event for the Whole Family: Chacon, McCoy, and Fern Bacon in partnership with California Human Development and Divine Mercy will be hosting our first ever Health Event on Sunday, October 26, 2014 from 9:00a – 3:00p. This event will provide free flu shots, vaccinations, screenings, information, activities, and much much more. This free event is open to the public but early bird access hours for Chacon, McCoy, and Fern Bacon only will be available from 9:00a – 3:00p. Save the date and look for more information coming soon. 
• Roundabout Drop Off and Pick Up: The organization, flow, and safe speed of our drops offs and pick ups has been working well. Please know that a big part of the reason that your car moves from the back to the front quickly is because the cars ahead of you have been moving to the farthest available spot for drop offs and pick ups. In order to be helped, one must help. As a reminder, please be very aware of the curb red zone areas as they are never to be used as a drop off/pick up space. It is a very dangerous place, and it quickly backs up traffic.
• Cafeteria: The new cafeteria procedures have proven to be a huge success. The students are eating, getting to class on time, doing well with behavior, and are enjoying their time together during the meals.
• Enrichment Programs: Based on the feedback of families from the Family Input Form (FIF), Chacon has joined an intramural soccer league for 5th and 6th graders with other local SCUSD schools. Mr. Kinter, our PE teacher, will coach the team. Games will be played on Friday afternoons at Soccer Planet located on 5031 24th Street starting October 10th. Please be sure to attend the games to cheer on our students. The other enrichment programs will be discussed soon with the teachers and Steering Committee. More information will be provided thereafter.
• Lifeskills: Our Lifeskills focus for October are Organization, Cooperation and Sense of Humor. More information will be provided to families soon.
• Parent Teacher Association (PTA): The first PTA General Meeting last Tuesday was well attended. Important items such as the budget, fundraisers, and grants from the district were presented and discussed. Please continue to participate in the meetings and be active and involved with PTA!
• English Language Advisory Committee (ELAC): The second Chacon ELAC meeting was held on September 25 to discuss matters that are important to students, families, and school. Please join us for our next ELAC meeting on Thursday, November 20 at 12:45p. Food and childcare will be provided.
• Breakfast in the Cafeteria: Starting October 8, the cafeteria staff will stop serving food at 8:03a and will have students leave the cafeteria by 8:09a to enable them to get to class on time each day. Students that arrive in the cafeteria after 8:03a may request a breakfast slip until 8:09a for food and beverages to be delivered to their classroom for them to eat during morning recess.  
• Uniforms: The Chacon families have done a wonderful job of getting their children to school in proper uniform attire. Please be sure to notify your child’s teacher if you need assistance with additional uniforms.
• Toys, Sports Equipment, and Personal Items: This is a friendly reminder that toys, sports equipment, and personal items that are not related to approved classroom activities should not be brought to school. If students bring these items to school, their teacher will hold it until it is picked up by an adult family member.
• Chacon Website: There has been much work put into our school website. Mr. Kinter has been putting the finishing touches on the site. Our website will be live and available for access on Wednesday, October 8 and will have information about our school schedule, teacher and staff information, online absence reporting, events, and other useful resources. Also, our website will be available in many languages including English and Spanish. More information about the Chacon website will be out soon.
• Dogs on Campus: Please be sure to not have your dog or pet on campus as it poses a danger for the students and a huge liability for Chacon. I understand that pets are very important to families, and that in general they will not harm our students and staff. However, it only takes one accident. With that in mind, the campus will usually shut down, and all personnel will be directed to go inside when a dog is loose on campus until it is captured or gone. This procedure takes up a lot of valuable time from our staff and away from the school time of our students. Also, we have caught numerous dogs on campus without a collar and tags. Since we have no way of contacting the owners, our only option is to call Animal Control for them to pick up the dog.

• Other upcoming events, activities, and matters: October 2 at 8:30a (Parents are Partners II Workshops start), October 17 (Picture Day), November 13 – 21 (Parent Conferences/Shorten Days), and November 24 – 28 (Thanksgiving Break).      

Thank you,

Jack L. Kraemer

Principal