Padilla Elementary School
A Note from Principal Purfurst
If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to complete our Parent and Family Survey by clicking below. It is quick and should only take a few minutes! The voice of every families at our school matters, so we have a goal of 100% participation! Once we have the results we will share them with you and what steps we are taking based on that data to get better as a school!
An Update from Dean Hawkins
Evacuation Drill #3
Our third evacuation drill occurred this past Wednesday. This drill is one we use similarly as a fire drill as we did pull the fire alarm. The drill lasted less than ten minutes and was very successful. Our staff has done a great job preparing our students for this situation and all (including our morning preschoolers, who joined us for this drill for the first time) did a wonderful job! We always reflect following the drill as we look for ways to improve and this drill did provide us with a few items that we can continue to get better at. Our community is always welcome to come and observe these drills at any time during the school year. Please reach out to Josh Hawkins (jhawkins@sd27j.net) if you are ever interested and available to come participate!
Lock Down Drill #1
As part of our continuous effort to make student safety a priority, we will hold a 'Lockdown' drill this week. These drills are held twice a year in partnership with the Brighton Police Department to practice student safety in the event of a threat. At the time of our drill a sign will be posted on the front door and school will be closed to visitors. The drill takes about 20 mins and once it's complete the office will again be open. This drill will begin on Thursday at 9:30am. You may see a police presence in the parking lot that morning and we will communicate with you during and after the drill. Thank you!
Parking Lot Expectations Reminders: Please see below as we are seeing more traffic in the parking lot in addition to the expectation of colder weather coming soon!
- We have freshly painted crosswalks in the parking lot that we need you to use. Please don’t cross the lot in areas that do not have a crosswalk or a staff member. We have staffed the crosswalks for your safety as well as the safety of our students.
Please do not get out of your car unless you are in the kinder horseshoe. We have had instances of families parking in the “Hug and Go” lane and getting out of their cars and this causes a back up as well as frustrations. Please park in the lot if you need to get out of your car to help your student into the building.
Pull forward as far as you possibly can in the “Hug and Go” lane. If there are no cars in front of you, please don’t drop your student off until you pull forward as far as you possibly can.
Please do not stop in the crosswalk.
Do not drop your student off from the middle pass-through lane. This isn’t safe and could result in the car in the next lane not seeing your student.
Thank you for your help as we ensure the safety of our students in the parking lot!
Important Dates
- Wednesday, October 20th and Thursday, October 21st - Conferences
- Saturday, October 23rd - PTO Trunk or Treat
Conferences
However, for many families, formal conferences are an important time to connect with your child's teacher. Regardless of how or when your conference with your child's teacher takes place, we believe it is important for all families to have intentional time to connect around your child's academic, social, and emotional progress at school.
Formal conferences will happen the evenings of Wednesday, October 20th and Thursday, October 21st. Due to current layers of protection in 27J Schools, these will be virtual conferences. More details about how to sign up and participate in conferences will be coming soon!
Next PTO Meeting
Our next PTO meeting will be on Tuesday, October 19th from 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM in the Learning Commons. We will finalize our planning for Trunk or Treat!
Prairie View High School Fall Fest
If you are looking for something fun to do on Halloween weekend, consider walking the halls at PVHS for their Fall Fest on October 30th from 10am to 1pm!
It will be a fun afternoon filled with games and of course candy!
Clubs such as art, theatre, and student government will also have booths you can get information from if you are interested in joining.
We hope to see you all there for a few fun packed hours of tricks and treats.
Polar Bears of the Week
Preschool: Sebastian Valladares
Kindergarten: Grayson Lopez
1st Grade: Eric Richardson
2nd Grade: Alexis Murillo
3rd Grade: Layla Damian
4th Grade: Luke Richardson
5th Grade: Lillian Bustos
Next week's CHILL Key of the week will be Courage!
Community Partnerships!
We are incredibly lucky to have partnerships in our community who help support Padilla! Three businesses have programs set up to helps us! Please be sure to check the links below for details about how to support Padilla through these businesses!
King Soopers Community Rewards
King Soopers Community Rewards - Link your rewards card to Padilla and a portion of every purchase will be donated to Padilla!
American Furniture Warehouse Partnership
American Furniture Warehouse Partnership - Mention Padilla Elementary School when shopping at AFW and they will donate 2-4% of the purchase to Padilla!
Longmont Dairy Farm Milk Caps for Mooola
Breakfast and Lunch Menus
Please note that, due to product availability shortages, there may be last minute substitutions to nutrition services menus from time to time.
Adult Learning
This week our teachers continued to build a culture where we believe we are better together by engaging in our second round of learning walks! Learning walks are an opportunity for teachers to engage in job-embedded professional learning as grade level teams. We like to emphasize that learning walks aren’t meant to “model perfect” teaching and learning. Rather, they are a chance for us as educators to stretch our thinking and see things in a new way. By seeing student learning and teaching in action we are able to expand our thinking, generate questions, make connections, and gain new ideas for instruction at our school. By opening our doors to learn from each other we are decentralizing the practice of teaching and learning and in turn we are creating an environment where collective efficacy thrives.
Board supports 5A and 5B with resolution
Recently the 27J Board of Education passed a resolution in support of the district’s mill levy override and bond issue proposals. The proposals will be on the Nov. 2 ballot for the communities the district serves in Brighton, Thornton and Commerce City.
In its resolution, the board highlighted the need for a mill levy override which would provide funds to add teachers for the district’s STEM/Career and Technical Education programs, and provide teachers with a reasonable pay increase in order to attract and retain quality staff. The proposal will appear as issue 5A on the ballot.
That request is for 8 mills which translates into $16 million and will cost $4.63 per month for every $100,000 of home value.
It was 21 years ago when the 27J community last approved a mill levy override request.
Ballot proposal 5B is a bond issue which will build new schools where schools are overcrowded, build a STEM/Career and Technical Education center at each high school, update technology and equipment, and update safety and security systems to keep schools and students safe.
The bond proposal comes with no tax increase.
