The Triton Tribune Parent Edition
Be Kind ~ Be Awesome ~ Make The Right Choices
Volume 3 ~ Issue 4 ~ August 9, 2021
Marvelous Triton Parent/Guardians and Students,
“Always be a little kinder than necessary.” ~ James M. Barrie.
This past week flew by! Thank you for attending our Open House. For those of you who were able to join, I hope that you saw what your child's classrooms look like as well as have an opportunity to talk to your teachers. If you are on social media, you may have seen a suave ELM admin team doing a 15-second dance in between visiting classrooms. This was followed by a small group of teachers who may have been gently coerced by me to do the same dance as a celebration of the end of Open House. :-) Please make sure you read the Virtual Open House Recap Section below, which includes the videos for my session and for the assistant principal's section.
I would like to welcome our new teachers listed below. WELCOME TO THE TRITON KINGDOM!
- Stephanie Salazar - Math Teacher
- John Stubbs - World Cultures Teacher
- Robert Johnson III - PE Teacher
This Friday, August 13, please be aware that the office will be closed from 1:00pm to 2:00pm for a schoolwide staff meeting. We will re-open right after 2:00pm.
A reminder that Ms. Quinn sent out a voting ballot for School Site Council Committee and for the District Parent Advisory Committee. The ballot is open until Friday. Please vote.
This last week, it seems that more individuals have reported their positive tests for COVID. Right now, we are at 13 self-reported positive cases. It is certainly unnerving, even for me. I know that you want as much information as possible. Unfortunately, we can only give information as much as HIIPA will allow us to inform. To assuage your concerns, please listen to the Principal's Forum Video where I discuss the protocols in place when a report comes in. When I start to panic temporarily, and all of us in the front office have, I take several deep breaths and recall all the safety protocols that I am following. It helps to mitigate the unnecessary fear in me. If you are diligent in following the protocols in your homes and during outside activities then you can breathe easier because these protocols do work. This does mean that all of us have to be extremely vigilant in how we implement safety protocols. We got this; let's not allow a virus to create doubt and fear in us.
Starting this week are two of our academic support: Triton Times and 7th Grade Math Tutoring. Triton Times is a study place before and after school in the library. This provides students with a quiet place to complete assignments. For 7th graders, we have tutoring program with Ms. Glaser. This is only available after school right now. We hope to offer it before school soon. We are still working out the tutoring details for 8th grade and Integrated Math 1. The first progress report is three weeks away. If your child already feels behind, these opportunities are a great way to get back on track.
Finally, please read the newsletter in its entirety as there are many pertinent information regarding school for the next two weeks. There are many updates regarding COVID.
Let's have a wonderful week!
Mrs. Finley
Many of you asked if the Principal Forum part of Open House will be available. I have recorded a video of the presentation. The assistant principals have also recorded their presentation. The videos can be accessed immediately below or if you subscribe to our Elm Triton YouTube channel, you will also find it there.
Click on this LINK to access the counselors' presentation.
I have asked all teachers to send you their Open House presentation or a video of it. If you have not received it, please email the teachers directly and carbon copy your assistant principal or me please.
For those of who were able to join us at Open House, thank you.
Coming soon, the district will be offering routine COVID testing program for all students at ELM. Additionally, we will also be offering close contact testing without leaving campus. Please refer to the image slide below.
In the meantime, the district will continue to offer Rapid Antigen COVID testing, in partnership with San Diego State University (SDSU) and Communities Fighting COVID, at various campuses throughout the week.
This week's site testing schedule is:
- Monday: San Ysidro High School
- Tuesday: Castle Park High School
- Wednesday: Bonita Vista High School
- Thursday: Sweetwater High School
- All sites will operate from 9:30am-12:30pm with a pause for lunch and reopen from 1:00pm-3:00pm.
Click on this link to register for testing. Or you can scan the image in the flyer below.
For the month of August, the testing calendar will be posted on the district’s COVID website here: http://www.sweetwaterschools.org/covid-19-information/#rapidcovidtesting
We are so excited for the new school year and ask for your continued help in keeping all students and staff safe by wearing your mask, washing your hands, getting vaccinated and getting tested.
Thank you for your patience as we make slight adjustments so that we can feed everyone who wants to access the free meals for this school year. At ELM, we serve two meals: breakfast and lunch. ELM does not have after school program so we do not serve supper.
Breakfast will be served during two time slots:
- Before school: 7:30am - 8:05am (35 minutes)
- Nutrition break Monday - Thursday: 10:09 - 10:19 (10 mins)
Lunch will be served during two time slots:
- 7th Grade: 12:17pm - 12:47pm
- 8th Grade: 12:52pm - 12:22pm
Due to the split lunch, we anticipate that we will be able to serve everyone who want to access the meals during lunch from Mondays - Thursdays.
For Friday, we will continue to release groups of students in 5-minute increments during the last 10 minutes of class.
- Schedule A typically occurs Mondays and Wednesday where students go to Periods 1, 2 & 3, which starts at 8:15am and ends at 3:15pm.
- Schedule B typically occurs on Tuesdays and Thursdays where students go to Periods 4, 5 & 6, which starts at 8:15am and ends at 3:15pm.
- Schedule F typically occurs on Fridays and are minimum days, which starts at 8:15 and and ends at 12:51pm.
The other schedules, C - H, are used on occasions. We have created a rotation calendar that shows you when these bell schedules occur. Please look at the two images below so that you are aware of bell schedule changes throughout the year.
Eastlake Middle School
Email: easter.finley@sweetwaterschools.org
Website: elm.sweetwaterschools.org
Location: 900 Duncan Ranch Road, Chula Vista, CA, USA
Phone: 619.591.4000
Twitter: @erfinleysd