The FACE Forum
September 2023
Happy September! We hope the school year is off to a great start and that you and your teams are settling in well! We know it's been busy and filled with some added challenges, so THANK YOU for all you're doing! We appreciate you!
If this is your first time reading our FACE Forum newsletter, welcome! In this digital monthly newsletter for school staff and district departments, our Family & Community Engagement (FACE) team shares practical family and community building tips, high-leverage engagement strategies, upcoming family workshops, staff professional development opportunities, district and community resources, school shoutouts, and more! While our FACE Forum monthly newsletter is an internal newsletter intended to only be shared with district staff, you are invited to take any applicable parts of the newsletter that may support your families and add to your own site/classroom newsletters and family messaging.
(Please note that in an effort to create more accessible messaging for viewers, we will be limiting the amount of PDF flyers we digitally include in the FACE Forum newsletter and on our website. Instead, we will be creating simple graphics and content blurbs with accessible links that can be copied and pasted onto your own social media, newsletter, or any other forms of messaging you use for your families. Hard copies of flyers that we do include in the FACE Forum and our monthly mailers to sites are meant to only be used for physical displays at sites and/or handed out to families and staff. The flyers are NOT intended to be scanned and posted on websites or social media solely as a PDF or image, since the content on the flyers is not accessible to families with visual impairments. Instead, please visit our website or FACE Forum newsletter to grab the image and content for your postings and link families and staff back to our website for more details. Friendly links to our website are www.sanjuan.edu/face or www.sanjuan.edu/familyed.)
Thank you for all you're doing to engage with and support our San Juan students, families, and community! Our FACE team is here to help you, so please reach out to us at any time!
Have a great September ahead!
The FACE Team
September Morale Booster- What's Going Well?
We know the start to this school year may have had some things that didn't as well as we each had hoped, and it can become very easy to fall into the trap of deficit thinking and pessimism. Once we get into that mindset, it can be challenging to get ourselves out. Therefore, it's important to shift our focus to instead think about what's going WELL... and you'll be amazed at how that one little question really does change everything! (And, of course, chocolate also helps... so we've included an extra helping of that in this month's FACE Fan Mailer!)
WAYS TO USE THIS QUESTION TO BOOST MORALE WITH YOUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY:
- Create a bulletin board/ whiteboard space in your staff room where staff can write down something that's going WELL, whether it's in their classrooms, on the playground, arrival/dismissal, family engagement, new site procedure, leadership practice, colleague support, etc. Make time to share some of these positive shout outs during a staff meeting or in your staff newsletter.
- Use the "What's Going Well" prompt to lead a community circle in class or as your morning icebreaker with students. By helping them to intentionally start their days focusing on the good, you'll help them warm up that optimistic mindset for the rest of the day.
- Create a "What's Going Well" QR code to share with your families and encourage them to use it as a way to give positive feedback and appreciation shout outs to staff, students, and fellow parents who are helping make this school year the greatest that it can be! If the shout out includes the family member's name who submitted it, follow up with a thank you email letting them know how much you appreciate them taking the time to let you know what's going well. You'll be amazed at the difference these small but mighty positive interactions make for everyone!
Important Upcoming Dates
Sept. 7 - Family Power Hour
Sept. 13 - Parent Project
Sept. 14 - 22 College Week
Sept. 27 - District Office Food Distribution Event
Oct. 5 - Family Power Hour
Oct. 6 - Evening with the Stars
Oct. 7 - Families Matter Conference
Oct. 16 - Family Leadership Academy
Oct. 26 - Talleres Familiares
Family Power Hour: Communication
September 7, 5:30 - 6:30pm via Zoom
Join district staff for a virtual family workshop to explore tips for a successful start to the school year and learn about district resources available to families. This is also an opportunity to ask questions about other school-related topics or district programs.
Parent Project
10-session series starting September 13, 5:45-7:45 pm
San Juan High School, Room B3
Participants will learn how to deal with difficult teen behavior, nurture positive home communication, and strategies to reduce family conflict. Dinner and childcare will be provided for each session.
Families and staff can visit www.sanjuan.edu/familyed for workshop information, learning opportunities, upcoming events, school/family resources, and this month's stops for our FACE Mobile-- a mobile resource center that travels across the district to provide families with resources and support!
Flyer for Printing
Graphics for Social Media
Flyer for Printing
Graphic for Social Media
FACE's upcoming after-school learning opportunities for staff will begin this month and the lineup for the year can be found in the PL Tile (click "FACE" in the "Subjects" section on the Home page). Upcoming September learning opportunities for staff include:
Get a Grant! Your Little Dreams Can Come True!
September 6, 3:30-4:30 pm via Zoom (Section 55453)
Join Colleen Cadwallader, the Executive Director of the San Juan Education Foundation, to learn how to best complete a Direct-to-Teacher Grant so you can make your student learning dreams come true. This 1-hour virtual workshop on Zoom will help you formulate great case statements, write the best SMART goals, and create easy-to-understand budgets. Best of all, if all goes well, you’ll be able to submit your grant application to the San Juan Education Foundation by the end of the workshop!
Kickstarting a Successful Year of Family Engagement
September 13, 3:30-4:30 pm via Zoom (Section 55434)
During this 1-hour virtual workshop on Zoom, participants will learn about the importance of family engagement on their campus and how to create effective partnerships with families, both at the elementary and secondary schools. Topics will include ways to provide excellent customer service, create welcoming environments, learn how to effectively communicate with diverse families, and opportunities to share ideas of successful family engagement activities.
Parent Teacher Home Visit Project Training
September 19, 3:30-6:30 pm, District Office Board Room
Parent Teacher Home Visits (PTHV) is a high-impact family engagement strategy designed to build trusting home-school partnerships centered on shared hopes and dreams. Recent studies reveal that PTHV’s model for relational home visits strengthens relationships, shifts mindsets, improves teaching, and bolsters student outcomes. Professional learning hours will be offered for attending. If you are interested in receiving information about this optional training opportunity, please complete the Interest Form below:
https://forms.gle/LzMV6XXUU2GoBedK7
Building Relational Trust with Students & Families
September 27, 3:30-4:30 pm via Zoom (Section 55452)
Meaningful partnerships between home and school can only occur when relationships of trust and respect are established. During this 1-hour virtual workshop on Zoom, we will discuss strategies for developing trusting relationships that lead to more effective academic partnerships, including increased attendance and engagement, and will explore how to incorporate trust-building activities into all interactions with families.
The Parent Teacher Home Visit Project is Launching in September!
Are you looking for a way to build trusting, effective, positive relationships with your families beyond the traditional parent-teacher conference? We're excited to launch an incredible opportunity for our San Juan Unified colleagues to become trained on Parent Teacher Home Visits!
Parent Teacher Home Visits (PTHV) is a high-impact family engagement strategy designed to build trusting home-school partnerships centered on shared hopes and dreams. Recent studies reveal that PTHV’s model for relational home visits strengthens relationships, shifts mindsets, improves teaching, and bolsters student outcomes.
Our team will be funding the cost of the one-time, 3-hour training, which will be taking place September 19 from 3:30-6:30 pm in the District Office Board Room. Professional learning hours will be offered for attending. If you are interested in registering for this optional training opportunity, please complete the Interest Form below:
The Family Engagement Initiatives Bootcamp is Coming October 6!
District staff is cordially invited to join us for an interactive staff development opportunity, Leading Family Engagement Initiatives Bootcamp, which will be hosted in collaboration with Scholastic Education’s Family and Community Engagement experts. This full day of empowering training is perfect for any staff member, but especially helpful for school community support staff members and administrators. It will take place on Friday, October 6 from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm. This staff development opportunity is tailored to support the work that you do to support families and students in our district community and will focus on learning about important topics such as:
- Understanding the fundamentals of family engagement and creating partnerships with families
- Key findings in family engagement research
- Exploring ways that family engagement connects to our role and every day work
- Utilizing practical family engagement practices & strategies at your school or in your department
We hope you can save the date to join us at this fantastic event! Breakfast and lunch will be provided and each participant will also receive a door prize for attending!
If you are interested in attending, please contact Luis Cruz Solache at 916-971-7929 or luis.cruzsolache@sanjuan.edu to reserve a spot.
FACE's Fall Conference "Families Matter: Setting the Stage for Success" Taking Place October 7
Our FACE team is excited to announce that our fall conference, "Families Matter: Setting the Stage for Success" will be taking place on Saturday, October 7 at Arden Middle School. This FREE, fun, family-friendly conference will include engaging, informative workshops to help families and educators kick off the school year successfully! All attendees will receive a conference gift bag, free breakfast and lunch, raffle prize tickets, and will have the opportunity to take part in interactive games, family activities, and a community resource fair after lunch. Free, on-site childcare and translation support will also be available. The workshop portion of the conference will take place from 9:00-12:30 and the community resource fair and family activities will take place from 12:30- 2 pm. Conference information and registration can be found at www.sanjuan.edu/familyed.
Thank you in advance for sharing the flier and conference blurb above with your school community! Translated fliers will be added to our website and the September FACE Forum as we receive them. (And as an added thank you for sharing, the school site that has the most registered attendees will win a free family engagement night/event for their school!)
Flyer for Printing
SAVE THE DATE! OUR FACE FALL BOOK CLUB BEGINS OCTOBER 30!
Staff can register for this book club on the PL Tile Registration on Portal (portal.sanjuan.edu) and Search Course # (55445) or Subject (FACE)
September is Attendance Awareness Month!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xcQ-tv0vdPImpC39izUaI8n9hKbqlBUi?usp=sharing
Attendance Works is also a fantastic site to access for attendance resources and supports, including this year's attendance awareness campaign! Visit https://www.attendanceworks.org/
Thank you for helping to remind students and families that every day counts and every minute matters!
Check Out the Newest Addition to our District's Support Fleet... The Student Support Services S3 Vehicle!
DISTRICT RESOURCES- Get to Know the New District Website!
Explore and share the San Juan Unified Parent/Family hub at www.sanjuan.edu/parents
Explore and share the San Juan Unified Student hub at www.sanuan.edu/students
Explore resources to support families at www.sanjuan.edu/communityresources
Food
Clothing
Diapers
Utilities & Housing
Social & Recreational
Academic
Disability & Special Education
Employment
Mental Health
Refugee, Immigrant & Newcomer Supports
LGBTQIA+
Domestic Violence
and more!
San Juan Unified Volunteer information and sign up: www.sanjuan.edu/volunteer
FACE department page is on the intranet! Find field trip forms, volunteer fliers and more!
https://intranet.sanjuan.edu/familycommunityengagement
Outreach requests: https://bit.ly/FACEoutreach
(Face Mobile visit, tabling, staff/family workshops, mini clinics, parent portal demos and more!)
Lending Library of Fun: https://bit.ly/FACElendingfun (Create and enhance engagement opportunities)
Staff Digital Resource Library: https://bit.ly/FACEresource (community/district fliers & resources)
It's a Great Time to Recruit Volunteers!
Research supports a correlation between direct family involvement and student success. Volunteers are a great asset to our school communities and now is a great time to recruit! As a reminder, all volunteers must complete the ONE TIME verification process found here: www.sanjuan.edu/volunteer. If cleared through our most recent online system (starting 2021), they do not have to re-do their application/prints each year.
Tips for success!
Advertise opportunities (and feel free to use the ready-made graphics we've created below!)
Share mutual expectations
Support volunteers through process
August and September is the best time to outreach to TK & Kinder families who are most likely new to our system
Consider having a table to support volunteer sign ups at kinder testing, orientation, meet and greet, back to school nights!
Please download and read the Volunteer Info Sheet attached as a PDF below and feel free to use the digital graphics we created for website and social media use.
Graphics for Social Media
After Hour Volunteer Fingerprint Clinics Available!
We understand some families have barriers to access district office appointments during the day, therefore, we have created regional walk-in volunteer fingerprint clinics. Please only use the PDF flyer below for display purposes/hard copies at your site. Use the Fingerprinting graphic above for websites, social media, or other digital family messaging and include the details below with the www.sanjuan.edu/volunteer website address for more information.
Sunrise Tech Center - 5:30-7pm
7522 Sunrise Blvd, Citrus Heights
August 15
September 15
September 19
Greer Elementary - 5:30-7pm
1300 Bell Street, Sacramento
August 23
September 13
September 27
To request a FACE Mobile visit for one of your events, please click the link below:
To check out where the FACE Mobile is headed to next, visit our family education website at www.sanjuan.edu/familyed and click the FACE Mobile tab!
FACE Digital Resource Library
We know how challenging and time-consuming it is to search for resources for families, so our team has been building a Digital Resource Library for all sites and departments to have access to. In this library, you'll find flyers and links for district and community resources to assist with housing, clothing, food, health, special education, college and career, community service partners, and more. We'll be adding to this library regularly, so keep checking to see what's new! The link allows anyone in San Juan to view the resources, so please feel free to share the link with your site/ department team members!
Check Out Some of the Newest Resources Added to the Digital Resource Library This Week!
Free Community Food Distributions & Resources
San Juan Unified Food Distributions
Monthly drive through and walk in distribution in partnership with Sacramento Food Bank & Family Resources includes canned and dry goods as well as fresh produce. If you have your Sacramento Food Bank Card, please bring it with you.
Location: San Juan Unified District Office, 3738 Walnut Ave, Carmichael, CA, 95610. Please enter the back parking lot off Gibbons Dr between Walnut and Garfield.
2023-24 Dates (2:00 - 4:00 pm while supplies last)
- August 30, 2023
- September 27, 2023
- October 25, 2023
- November 15, 2023
- December 20, 2023
San Juan Central Food Closet
The San Juan Unified food closet is located at the Central Enrollment Center (3700 Garfield Ave. in Carmichael) and serves families who are in need of non-perishable food items.
Hours:
Open year round, Monday through Friday (8:30 am - 2:00 pm)
Closed on non-school days and holidays. If you are unavailable at these times, please call (916) 979-8878 to schedule an appointment.
COMMUNITY RESOURCE OF THE MONTH: Back-to-School Mental Health Library from California Health & Human Services Agency (CalHHS)
CalHHS mission is to work together with counties, cities, and communities, as well as our public, private, faith, and educational partners to make California a healthy, vibrant, inclusive place to live, play, work, and learn.
They have released an INCREDIBLE library of resources to support youth, parents, family, friends, schools and teachers with mental health resources.
Learn more about CalHHS and the Back-to-School mental health resources available by visiting https://www.chhs.ca.gov/back-to-school-resources/.
FIELD TRIP OPPORTUNITY!
The Friends of Sutter’s Fort and the San Juan Education Foundation want to bring more San Juan Unified students to Sutter’s Fort. They have partnered to make it affordable for every classroom to make a visit. Submit a grant to tour Sutter’s Fort this Fall or have your class participate in an Environmental Living or Studies Program. Apply Now! San Juan Education Foundation Grant - Visit Sutter's Fort (smarterselect.com)
To learn more about the field trip process or ask questions, please reach out to Cassandra Nunez de la Torre (c.nunezdelatorre@sanjuan.edu). When you're ready to submit a field trip request, please send them to fieldtrips@sanjuan.edu.
We're looking forward to an enriching year ahead for our students, families and school communities!
An Evening with the STARS!
Sign up to win two tickets to the San Juan Education Foundation’s annual An Evening with the Stars on Friday October 6, 6:30pm at the Mack Powell Event Center. Winners will be chosen on Thursday, September 28. Including San Juan Unified's hard working staff in this special event is paramount to the event’s success. Don’t miss out on this great night out - You’ve earned it! Find the form here: https://forms.gle/KgSnP2zFhMVSUKBC9
COMMUNITY PARTNER OF THE MONTH: The Sparkle Foundation!
This month, we partnered with the Sparkle Foundation and helped stuff 1,000 backpacks. Volunteers from Starr King and Whitney proudly stuffed and loaded 700 backpacks which went directly to their school communities. The remaining 300 backpacks were distributed throughout the district via our mobile resource center, the FACE mobile. A HUGE thank you to The Sparkle Foundation.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION OF THE MONTH: The Cove Community Center
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP TIP OF THE MONTH: Partnership Collaboration!
Now is a great time to host a back-to-school partnership meeting for all of your community partners to gather together. We’ve received feedback that our partners not only want to do great work with our sites, they also want to know what other partners are doing so they can work together. Partner collaboration can align similar goals and help deliver great results. If you plan to host a partner collaboration on site, please let us know! We’d love to support.
Tracking families’ communication preferences, contact information, and last touchpoint with you can be a lot to manage. That’s why our Ongoing Communication Reflection Tool is here to help! Designed with simplicity, flexibility, and organization in mind, the Ongoing Communication Reflection Tool, available in English and Spanish, can support any educator who has direct access to students and their families.
Use this Tool to reflect on your individual practice of building trusting relationships and meaningful partnerships with families. It provides space to reflect on the quality of your relationships with students’ families, plan next steps for ongoing communication efforts, and/or assess the equity of your communication and relationships with your students’ families.
The Ongoing Communication Reflection Tool is flexible! It can be:
- used in IEP meetings,
- shared with administration as evidence of impact,
- utilized with colleagues during team meetings,
- employed to self-assess if you communicate equitably with families,
- and more!
As you reflect with the Ongoing Communication Reflection Tool, you might want to learn more about your family engagement practice. Use our new Family Engagement Assessment Tool at www.engageyourfams.org to understand where your practice is already strong and get personalized recommendations for how you can improve.
To learn more about The Flamboyan Foundation and all their effective family engagement tools and resources, visit https://flamboyanfoundation.org/
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IDEA: 100 Positive Phone Calls Whole Staff Challenge
The Neighborhood Learning Project School Site Registration is Now Open!
Do you struggle with getting parents to attend your site events or participate in on-campus family meetings and volunteer opportunities? Are you interested in learning an innovative, highly-effective way to build trusting relationships with your families, while building community with your school neighborhood? Neighborhood Learning Project may be the perfect opportunity for you and your school!
The Neighborhood Learning Project partners with interested school staff and neighboring apartment complexes, community centers, parks, libraries and more to identify a space within the school community of our families, where we can bring fun learning opportunities, community resources and partners, caring school staff, and a service learning mindset for our students and their families.
Our FACE Department will fund this opportunity for interested school sites to participate, including the 1-hour training, time card pay, materials and supplies, activities, set up, community partners, and more! It's such a terrific way to engage families and build relationships!
Please click the link below to submit your interest form and a member of our FACE team will reach out to you with more information!
PROBLEM RESOLUTION TIP OF THE MONTH: Explore Ways to Resolve Concerns at the School Site
When it comes to Problem Resolution, our goal is to assist families and community members with learning how to navigate appropriate channels and processes in order to resolve concerns at the lowest possible level. Establishing open communication with parents and providing them accessible ways to reach a staff member or administrator when they have a concern is a great way to build trust and strengthen the relationship between home and school. Visit our website for more information: www.sanjuan.edu/resources/resolving-problems
Thank You to All Who Completed the FACE Site Support Survey!
We had a record-number of surveys returned by elementary and secondary administrators! THANK YOU! We'll be reaching out to all of you who submitted a survey on behalf of your school with information on requested resources and next steps.
The lucky winning name that was drawn to receive a free family night or engagement event is...
Carmichael Elementary!
Congratulations Principal Latcham and the Carmichael Cougars! Watch for an email coming to you with details about your free Family Night!
For anyone else who didn't yet take the FACE Site Support Survey but would like to complete it and be entered into our second chance prize drawing this month, you can find the link below!
Awesome Job Making the Start to the New School Year So Great!
Give a Shout Out!
There are so many wonderful student, family and community engagement highlights happening around the district! We'd love to spotlight any of those efforts that your site or department is doing! Remember, if you submit a Shout Out for your team or another team, we'll send you a Starbucks card as a thank you for helping spread the positivity and encouragement! The link to submit a Shout Out for your school/ department or another school/ department is below: https://forms.gle/vLhYTumEDY1NN3dB8
Did You Miss Last Month's FACE Forum Newsletter?
Want to receive the monthly FACE Forum newsletters directly to your email inbox during the school year? Our newsletter is now being emailed directly to recipients who have opted in to receiving the monthly newsletter. For those who choose not to opt in to receiving the newsletter via email, you will still be able to access the newsletter in Behind the Scenes (all SJUSD employees) and Leadership Reflections (administrators).
To opt in to receiving The FACE Forum newsletter directly to your Inbox, please complete this brief opt-in here: https://forms.gle/3DQ62CUCZy4HjzGt6
San Juan Unified Family & Community Engagement Department
Email: face@sanjuan.edu
Website: www.sanjuan.edu/face
Location: 3738 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael, CA, USA
Phone: (916) 971-7929
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanJuanUnifiedFamilyandCommunityEngagement/