The FACE Forum
Back to School Edition, August 2023
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!
Thank you for taking a moment to read our newsletter each month and please feel free to share it with your school/ department teams. 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 do 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!
Wishing you a great school year ahead!
The FACE Team
Site-Based & Community Partnerships: Tip of the Month
Now is a great time to engage with your dedicated community partners and reach out to new potential partners. Share important dates with your partners and discuss what the partners work will look like this year. Include partners in your welcome back activities and celebrations. Partners love to engage with the families and students that they are serving!
To learn more about partnership opportunities or request assistance with your community partners, reach out to Natalia Mazzi-Aguirre, Supervisor of Community Partnerships. natalia.aguirre@sanjuan.edu
Creating connections, inspiring collaboration, and cultivating community, the purpose of the San Juan Education Foundation (SJEF) is to support and advance excellent education for all students in the San Juan Unified School District through a partnership with parents, educators, businesses, and the community. Founded in 1991, SJEF provides support through Direct-to-Teacher Grants and a broad scholarship portfolio.
Check out all that the SJEF helps fund in the graphic below!
Do you need $500 for your classroom to support a project or activity you are excited about? Planning a Next Generation Science experiment or need something special for your STEAM lessons? Consider applying for a San Juan Education Foundation grant. Fall application period opens Monday, August 14, 2023. Apply now!
Problem Resolution Tip of the Month
Upcoming August Family Education Workshops
Family Power Hour: August 10, 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.
Family Power Hour: August 17, 5:30 - 6:30pm via Zoom
District staff will provide an overview of attendance related topics. Join us to learn about reporting absences, school attendance rules and strategies to build healthy attendance habits for positive school attendance. This is also an opportunity to ask questions about other school-related topics or district programs.
Talleres Familiares: August 30, 5:30-7:00 pm, Mariposa Elementary
Talleres Familiares is a workshop for parents, guardians, and caregivers that is presented entirely in Spanish and covers a range of topics to support student learning and ways for families to be involved in education. Topics include navigating Parent Portal, tips for a successful start to the school year, ways to support positive school attendance habits, district and community resources, and more!
For more details and registration information, please share the visuals below and the content above, and refer families to our www.sanjuan.edu/familyed webpage.
Fall/Winter Lineup of FACE Workshops for Sites, Departments, and Individual Employees
*Note: If you are a school or department and would like to book a workshop for your entire staff, using your collaborative Thursday time or as part of your Staff Meeting time, please reach out to Amy Rovai Gregory to schedule. (arovai@sanjuan.edu)
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 after school in September (date soon to be announced). 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:
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.
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
Updated Field Trip Process & Enhanced Opportunities
Some field trip process updates include:
- The planning guide has been updated. It reflects the forms that all sites must fill out and trickles down to additional forms. Sites now only have to fill out and submit the forms that are needed for their trip.
- We have updated transportation costs. They went up 10% as of July 1st.
- The packet is smaller because all COVID-19 forms were removed. That means less paperwork the schools have to fill out!
- The updated Field Trip Packet will be uploaded to the intranet by the first day of school, but sites can reach out to fieldtrips@sanjuan.edu if they need the packet sooner. As we receive any additional pricing changes or updates, we will continue to revise the information provided in the field trip packet and ensure the most updated packet is on the Intranet. Therefore, when completing a field trip request, be sure to use the packet on the Intranet for each request instead of copying the most current version today.
To learn more about the updated field trip process and get more information, please see the Field Trip Info Sheet, 23/24 Field Trip Forms & Planning Guide, and Transportation Cost PDFs below and reach out to Cassandra Nunez de la Torre (c.nunezdelatorre@sanjuan.edu) with any questions. 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!
FACE Lending Library of Fun Information
Having a family engagement event? FACE offers items for checkout at no cost to support family engagement efforts! Staff and volunteer leaders (PTO/PTA, etc) are welcome to request items on behalf of school events. We will follow up and confirm in 2-3 business days. Pickup and return of items is at the San Juan Unified District Office during normal business hours.
For more information, visit our Lending Library of Fun Catalog!
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!
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!
Welcome Back FACE Fan Mail is Arriving to Your Sites!
August Morale Booster- Welcome Back to the Grind!
Frame it and put it next to your Staff Room coffee maker and fill up the K-cups as an added treat for your dedicated school team.
Print it out into thank you cards and include a coffee gift card for your hardworking office team as a thank you for all they've done to get the office ready to welcome families!
Turn it into a gift card holder and place a $5 coffee card inside to use as a raffle item for your upcoming professional developments with your staff!
Add it to a ziploc bag with a coffee pod and some chocolate and give as a thank you to someone who's helped you get ready to have the best school year ever!
Welcome back to the grind! It's going to be a great year!
Need Help Language Badges
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.
Parent Portal Flyer Available to Print/Display for Families
Ways to Create a Welcoming & Inclusive Environment for Students, Families and Communities
The "About Me" Student/Family Survey
Want A Student-Friendly Survey to Use in the Classroom?
Diverse Books in Classrooms and Office Spaces
Books are a great way to create a welcoming environment and allow students and families to see themselves-- and others-- inside their school community
Meet the Team Wall in Office
Free Donation Area for Families
Check Out Some Helpful Back-to-School Tools for Families!
Going back to school and adjusting to new routines can be tricky for kids who learn and think differently — and for their families. But having the right tools can make it easier. Use these back-to-school downloads to start the school year off right.
Community Resource of the Month: St. Vincent de Paul Help Line
Information about nonprofit organization St. Vincent de Paul:
"The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a nonprofit organization that provides direct assistance to a community's most vulnerable residents—those who live in poverty and those who are struggling to make ends meet. Our goal is to help them meet basic needs, build self-sufficiency, and ultimately break the cycle of poverty. Instead of only helping those who come to us, we provide one-on-one service through our home visits, being invited into people's homes to learn the extent of their needs before determining how to help."
Subject to available resources, the aid they provide most often includes:
food
financial assistance for rent and utilities, and emergency housing
clothing
beds & furniture
consultation, referral and intervention services
Learn more about the help available by visiting https://www.svdp-sacramento.org/get-help
Community Partnership of the Month: Sacramento Republic FC & Kellogg’s - Mission Tiger
Sylvan Middle School celebrated the grand opening of their futsal court at a ribbon cutting ceremony on July 17. Unlike soccer, futsal is played on a flat surface, making it a more accessible game for schools. Thank you for our community partners, Sacramento Republic FC and Kellogg’s Mission Tiger, whose collaboration and sponsorship made this possible.
Watch the video to learn more about San Juan Unified’s first futsal court!
Site Administrators-- Don't Forget to Complete Your Optional FACE Site Survey for a Chance to Win a Free Family Night or Family Engagement Event for Your School!
Who wants to win a FREE Family Night or family engagement event for your school? Click the link below to directly go to the survey, or copy and paste the link directly into your browser. The winning name will be drawn on August 31!
One Last Thing for You To Remember... This is Your Calling! THANK YOU for All You Do!
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
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/