Start of Year Pioneer Puma Post
August 07, 2023
This newsletter contains IMPORTANT information that can help ensure that your child has a fantastic start to this school year! Please review it thoroughly.
A note from Mr. Jakious ...
Pioneer Families ...
I was at the store the other day and bumped into THREE Puma families purchasing school supplies. That can only mean one thing. No ... it doesn't mean I have the time to hang out in the school supply sections of local stores as a personal shopper. It means ...
School is just around the corner! When I've had the opportunity to speak with Pioneer families recently, I can tell that they are just as excited as we are to get back to school. We are looking forward for another year of tremendous growth for our students built upon what makes Pioneer so exceptional ...
- A dedicated and talented staff
- Supportive and engaged parents
- Remarkable kids
If you ever have any questions or need to discuss something, please don't hesitate to reach out via e-mail or call the office (208-855-4100) and they can get you routed to the correct person. If you are hoping to connect with your teacher, please be aware that their ability to respond may be limited for a bit as they are not back on contract until August 11th and those 3 days leading into the school year are filled with setting up their classroom, planning/preparation, collaboration, and professional development. They will be looking forward to meeting you and your child at Meet & Greet on August 15 (a drop-in event from 4:30 - 5:30).
Thank you for taking the time to read all of the information below carefully. I've included a lot of information that I believe will help all of our students and families have a great start to this school year.
Regards,
David Jakious
Principal, Pioneer School of the Arts
Reminder: The first day of school is a FULL DAY and WEDNESDAY LATE START (9:25)
GETTING READY FOR THE START OF SCHOOL
How to Identify Your Child's Teacher
Logging In: Call the West Ada IT Service Desk at 208-350-5300, Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:30pm. They are available for any school device or tech resource support all year long.
Password Issues: If you have logged in before and are just having password issues, please call our office @ 208-855-4100.
IMPORTANT: Join us for Meet & Greet - Tuesday, August 15
We strongly encourage all Grade 1-5 students to drop in with their parent(s)/guardian(s) on Tuesday, August 15th, between 4:30 and 5:30 pm for an opportunity to ...
- briefly meet your teacher
- see the classroom
- get school supplies situated (click HERE for supply list)
More thorough information regarding the curriculum and classroom procedures will be shared by your teacher outside of Meet & Greet, including at Open House on 8/31.
Note: Kindergarten classrooms/teachers will not be available at Meet & Greet. Reference the teachers' summer letters for your Kindergarten Orientation day/time.
Where to go when you arrive ...
- Please park in marked spaces if available. If not, you can park along the curbing of our drop-off/pick-up and bus lanes or on the streets of adjacent neighborhoods. Please always be aware and drive carefully on campus and in our neighborhoods. Avoid blocking driveways and mailboxes if you park in a neighborhood.
- To help the event flow, we encourage families to enter through the exterior door of the classrooms. This will also help your child know where to go at the start of the school day, as they are expected to go to the exterior door at the 9:05 bell (9:20 on Wed).
- Click HERE or below for a map to help you locate the classroom.
We will be there to help. The front office will be open to provide assistance, hallway signs hanging from the ceiling will include teacher names and room numbers, and staff will be moving around to support families.
Devices
We plan to distribute devices during the first week of school so that teachers/staff can spend time teaching students how to use, care for, and access important resources with their devices.
We strongly encourage families to consider the optional device protection plan offered by the district as it can protect families from an expensive repair/replacement bill for accidental damage. More information on how to sign up for this can be found here ...
As you get your child ready for school, remember ...
Cellular Phones/Watches: Cellular Phones/Watches are not allowed to be used during the school day (from when the student arrives on campus until they are headed home). These devices should be placed in a mode that will not allow them to cause a distraction (i.e. off or in airplane mode) and phones are to be left in a student's backpack. Violations of this rule will result in ...
- 1st Offense: Student pick up at the end of the day
- 2nd Offense: Parent pick-up of the device
- 3rd Offense: Student is not allowed to have the device on campus for the remainder of the year
Please note that if a student needs to contact home, they request permission from a staff member and use a school phone if appropriate.
Items from Home: We ask that students leave toys and valuable items at home unless they have specific permission from the teacher (such as for Show and Tell). Students can bring a ball to play with at recess if it has their name clearly marked on it. We ask for these to be typical playground balls (football, basketball, soccer ball, etc) as we do not allow hard balls (baseballs, golf balls, bouncy balls, etc).
SCHOOL MEALS
West Ada Hot Meals (Breakfast & Lunch)
MENUS: Meal menus can be found HERE. Make sure you select West Ada, Pioneer, and breakfast or lunch to see the menu by week. If your child might require meal substitutions for medical, nutrient, or allergen issues please follow the process detailed on the school nutrition website.
SCHOOL MEALS: Breakfast service starts daily at 8:45 (9:00 on Wednesdays) in the cafeteria and students enter through the corner door near the bus loop. Hot lunch is served daily at your child's assigned lunch time.
MEAL COST: Breakfast ($1.75), Lunch ($2.80), Milk Only ($.50).
MANAGE MEAL ACCOUNTS: LinqConnect allows families to add funds and monitor your children's school lunch accounts. Balances from last year were automatically rolled over.
FREE & REDUCED MEALS: Applications for the 2022-23 school year are now open through LinqConnect in the "Meal Application" section & we don't want any families who qualify for Free or Reduced School lunches to miss out. Families only need to submit one form per family BUT IT MUST BE SUBMITTED ANNUALLY & IS NOT RETROACTIVE FOR MEALS PURCHASED BEFORE APPROVAL. So get your application in TODAY!
Cold Lunch
This guidance especially applies to our younger students who are still developing independence with lunch routines.
Lunchtime is a fun part of a student’s day when they get to visit with classmates and fuel up for an afternoon of learning. Students get 15-20* minutes to eat, but a lot of this time can be taken up with opening containers ... especially for our younger students. Here are some guidelines to help your child have as much time as possible to eat the food they need to get them through the afternoon.
These are guidelines, not hard and fast rules. What works for one student, might not work for another. You know your child best and what they are capable of when it comes to being self-sufficient at mealtime. We usually have two or three people on duty during lunch and MANY more students than that in the lunchroom, so how you package your child’s lunch will help tremendously! While we love to help students, we can’t get to everyone at once, and sometimes students must wait to get help. Here are a few things you can do to help this process go smoothly ...
- Make sure they know how to open and close their lunchbox. Practice a few times at home until your child is successful.
- Some things that are typically difficult for students to open are GoGurts, Lunchables, fruit cups, juice pouches, oranges, etc. Please practice opening these at home until your child is proficient in opening and try to limit these challenging items to a maximum of one per lunch per day. Make sure to pack other easy-to-open items so your student has something to eat while waiting for help.
- You can repackage the difficult items in easier containers. The lunchboxes with separate containers are great for placing fruit slices or the contents of a Lunchable. Sending oranges or cuties pre-peeled is another great choice.
- We see a lot of food go uneaten in the lunchroom. Limiting the number of choices you pack for your little one will help them focus and spend more time eating.
- Remind your child that even though it is fun to visit in the cafeteria, lunch is the time to eat. Students will have lots of time to socialize at recess immediately following lunch.
*Students will be allowed to have more time if needed, but in order for the lunch rotation to work for the entire school students do need to eat and transition to recess efficiently.
TRANSPORTATION
Please make sure your child's teacher is aware of any changes to your typical arrival and dismissal routine. Many families alter that routine on the first day(s) of school.
Make sure your child can easily remember their bus route number & color (right now C12 will be PINK, C02 will be BLUE, and M03 will be PURPLE). While we anticipate having color-coded backpack tags, we are not sure if they will arrive before the first day. So please practice, make it a game, write it somewhere they can easily access when they are all packed up ... anything that ensures that they can identify the correct bus for coming home. Bus routes are posted on the side of each bus next to the door.
NEW: Download the App. This should allow you to view any updates to your route/stop times AND even see when your bus should be arriving on a given day!
If you have questions about the bus routes/stops or other bus-related issues, you can contact Cascade Transportation @ 208-229-8500.
Car Transportation Information
Be prepared for a little extra congestion on campus the first day of school and plan a little extra time into your transition.
If you plan to drop them off, please use our drop-off/pick-up lanes. The main loop travels straight south from McMillan. A smaller loop can be accessed at the end of the chain-link fence by turning left. Many Kindergarten families, amongst others, choose to use this loop.
We ask drivers to remember ...
- Please put your phones away when driving.
- Always be aware and drive slowly.
- Please yield to busses and keep the entrance/exits to the bus loop clear.
- Pull forward to fill any open spaces in the drop-off/pick-up loops.
- Only unload/load when you are stopped along the curb.
- Be aware of the crosswalks and crossing guards at McMillan and in the parking lot.
Make sure your child is confident in knowing what they do after school (bus, meeting location, where to walk, where to meet their ride, etc). If it varies, make the plan clear EACH morning.
We strongly encourage coming up with a plan that can be as consistent as possible and ask that families avoid frequently needing to call in to convey changes to plans as it only results in confusion and the potential for a child to be unaccounted for, which we ALL want to avoid. If your child is consistently uncertain about your after-school routine, the principal will follow-up to determine what can be put in place to ensure that the student, school, and parents are on the same page.
VISITING CAMPUS
Parents on Campus
To be responsive to the needs of some students, we relax this rule through the FIRST FULL WEEK of school each year. While we encourage families to try to adhere to this early on if possible, we know that some students require a little more support and time to become accustomed to their new classrooms and morning routines. Please work toward a "yellow line goodbye" by August 25.
We will have staff members around the building who can support students/families as needed. Also ... if your child requires your company as he/she transitions to the classroom door early on, we ask that you wait with them at/near the yellow line until the 5-min warning bell (avoid the playgrounds or fields as we don't want students to become accustomed unfamiliar adults) and avoid entering the classroom when you get there ... as that can inadvertently make that transition even more difficult for your child in the long run.
Important Visitor & Volunteer Information:
- Review the West Ada Volunteer Guidelines Document; AND
- Indicate completion by completing and signing the Volunteer Registration Form (hard copy of the last page of the packet OR electronically using the link below).
After THE FIRST FULL WEEK OF SCHOOL, volunteers will not be allowed beyond the front office until they have completed this review and confirmation.
Visitors: Parents/family members are allowed to visit during lunch for special occasions. To make this manageable and reduce disruption, we ask that families ...
- Feel welcome to visit but try to limit them (i.e. we've found a regular weekly visit can impact the flow of our lunch rotation).
- Keep the number of visitors to no more than two family members per visit (excluding infants)
- Bring your own food (the student is still welcome to have a school lunch)
Checking-In/Out: West Ada schools utilize an electronic sign-in & immediate background check system called Raptor. Make sure you bring your Driver's License with you when you come to the office to sign in to visit/volunteer or when you need to check a student out of school. If visiting/volunteering, the system will print a badge that must be worn visibly at all times on campus.
SCHEDULES
Daily Schedule
- 8:45 is the earliest that students can be on campus (9:00 on Wed).
- Students are expected to be in their seats ready to learn at 9:10 (9:25 on Wed).
- Wednesday is a 15-minute late start each week to allow for meaningful teacher collaboration.
- There are three recesses within each school day (2 on Wednesdays).
- School dismisses at 3:55 daily.
- For your convenience, NO SCHOOL days are listed on the schedule.
Upcoming Schedule
Important Dates:
- Kindergarten Orientations (see your letter for your assigned time)
- Grade 1-5 Meet & Greet (4:30 - 5:30pm, attendance is strongly encouraged)
August 16
- First Day of School!
- Late Start Wednesday
- Students should not be on campus before 9:00
- IMPORTANT: Drivers should plan extra time the first day of school and focus on an efficient morning transition. The first day can get very congested on campus, especially if every family takes a little extra time. If you want that first-day transition moment with your child, please consider parking in the parking lot or neighborhood and walking with your child. For the sake of all students/families, the drop-off loop needs to keep moving.
August 22
- PTA Meeting (4:10 in Cafeteria)
August 31
- Back-to-School Night (6:00 - 7:30) - Grades 1-5
- Learn more about your child's classroom, the year's curriculum, etc
September 4
- No School - Labor Day
September 8
- School Picture Day!
School District Calendar
We greatly appreciate our parents efforts to miss as little school as possible by scheduling vacations and routine appointments when school is not in session whenever possible.
Made it this far?
About Us
Website: westada.org/pioneer
Location: 13255 West McMillan Road, Boise, ID, USA
Phone: (208)855-4100
Facebook: facebook.com/pioneerpumas