The Jaguar Journal
August/September 2023
James Sales Elementary
Brandy Nelson - Principal
Ryan Moore - Assistant Principal
Office Hours - 8:30 to 3:30
253-298-4200 / FAX 253-298-4215
Website - jamessales.fpschools.org
Dates to Remember
August 24 ~ Back To School Night - 5:30-7
August 29 ~ FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
September 6 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
September 13 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
September 14 - Curriculum Night - 5:30 - 7:10
September 20 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
September 27 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
October 4 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
October 9 ~ NO SCHOOL - Staff Training
October 10-13 ~ 11:55 EARLY RELEASE - Conferences
From the Principal's Office
Hello James Sales Families!
Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year! We are excited to see you at our Back-to-School Night on August 24th from 5:30 - 7:00 PM. This will give you an opportunity to meet your child's/children's teacher and see the classrooms. We can't wait to see our James Sales families again!
We are also very excited to introduce you to our new Assistant Principal, Mr. Ryan Moore! He comes to us from Florida and has moved to Washington to be closer to family and to be with us! We hope you will take a moment at our Back-to-School night to meet him.
Please take the time to review our Student/Parent handbook. You can find it on our James Sales website here along with lots of other great information!
Basic school supplies will be provided by the school district again this year. You won't need to shop for supplies for your student to bring to school! Please make sure your student has a sturdy backpack though. They will use it daily to bring their work to and from school.
Finally, our office doors will open each morning at 8:40am and close at 3:30pm. Students may enter the building at 8:40am. We strongly encourage students to ride the bus, but if you decide to drop them off and pick them up, please note our procedures. Parents must remain in their car and line up until we are ready for drop off/pick-up. To ensure the safety of our students at a busy traffic time, please keep your child/children in your car until staff comes outside to receive your students. A staff member may open your car door to let your child out/in. Thank you for driving slowly and safely in our pick up zone. In the morning, students will be dropped off along the sidewalk in front of the school. In the afternoon, please pull up to your child’s grade level sign. First you will see 5th, then 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st and Kindergarten at the end. Students who walk will be at the east end of the sidewalk in front of the school to meet their parents. Please do not park on the neighborhood streets surrounding the school to walk up to pick up your child. Our pick-up process moves along very quickly even though the line looks long! Thank you for your help, patience, cooperation and support as we work to ensure that our students are safe.
I truly look forward to partnering with you this year.
Respectfully,
Brandy Nelson
Principal
James Sales Elementary
Plan ahead! See the dates for the new school year so you can make sure your vacations don't conflict with school days.
Protection Plan for Laptops
This year Franklin Pierce Schools IT department will be offering optional, but highly recommended, protection plans for student laptops. Each laptop can be insured for accidental damage for $10. Please watch for more details about when we will be collecting these funds. Also, please make sure the office has your correct email address so the IT department can send you the required forms for your student to be able to use their devices this year.
Welcome to James Sales!
We have several new staff members at James Sales this year: Ryan Moore - Assistant Principal, Madelyn Johnson - Kindergarten, Polly Lutz - 1st Grade, Janna Webber - 1st Grade, Colin Horak - Physical Education, Letecia Vasquez - LAP Paraeducator, and Ivana Watkins - Strides Paraeducator. Please give a big welcome to our new staff. We are so glad they are here!
Curriculum Night
Save the date, September 14th, for our Curriculum Night! Visit your student's classroom to learn more about the curriculum and strategies they will be learning and using! Choose one 30-minute rotation per student. Presentation begin at 5:30, 6:05, 6:40. We hope to see you there!
Order James Sales Spirit Wear Online!
We are happy to be able to offer James Sales spirit wear for purchase! Please click here to see what is available. You may purchase with a credit card or debit card directly from the website. Your purchase will be sent from the manufacturer directly to your home. You may also purchase with cash by filling out the form your child will bring home and sending it with exact change in cash to the school with the order form. Purchases made with cash will be sent to the school from the manufacturer and sent home with your child.
From the Handbook
If you wish to bring treats for your child’s birthday, please notify the classroom teacher. All birthday treats must be store bought and will be served during lunch. Please deliver to the office before lunch. Due to safety on the bus and classroom distractions, balloons are not allowed at school.
Extra Clothes in Backpacks
Please send an extra set of clothes in your Kindergarten or 1st grade student's backpack. Accidents happen and it is very helpful for students to have the clothes they need here at school so they can change and get back to class. We have a very limited amount of clothing to lend in our health room. If you child does not have a change of clothes with them, we will call you to bring clothing for them.
Important Information!
From the Health Room
Our goal is to keep healthy children learning in the classroom and to get ill children home. Our health-room is staffed daily by an LPN to provide first-aid to students who become ill or injured at school. It is the parent's responsibility to make sure their child does not have symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, and/or vomiting. before sending them to school. If your student has any of the above symptoms, please keep them home. If a student becomes ill at school, the parent or another emergency contact will be called to pick them up.
We will give medications prescribed by state approved medical providers. We must have a new medication order signed by your provider each school year. The state allows for students to be administered only oral medications at school (including inhalers). The two exceptions in this law are for insulin and epi-pen use. The school is unable to give your student ear drops, eye drops, or apply lotions or ointments. All medications, even over-the-counter products such as pain relievers and cough drops, require an order from an approved medical provider.
Please do not send medication to school with your child, as it is illegal for them to carry it on school grounds. Parents must deliver medications to the school.
If you have any questions, please contact our nurse, Jessica Churchill, at 253-298-4223.
Bus Procedures
Please be patient during the first days of school. The buses may be running late. We have a very helpful transportation department, so if you have any questions or issues about something that happened on the bus, at the bus stop, or regarding a late bus, please call the Transportation office directly at 253-298-3865.
Sign up for Bus Bulletin for timely bus notifications: www.busbulletin.com/parents
If you wish your child to ride a bus other than his or her normal bus or to get off at a different bus stop, you must send a note with the bus numbers and different stop listed. The same holds true if you want your child to walk rather than ride the bus. Sending a note with your request will cut down on the amount of phone calls our busy office receives each day. Without a note or phone call, we will not allow students to walk or change their regular bus or bus stop.
Please be aware that any bus-riding kindergarten student that is not met at the bus stop after school will be returned to James Sales for parent pick-up. It is very important to meet your students at the bus stop on time!
Student Drop-Off and Pick-Up
Drop off: We want all of our Jaguars to be safe! Beginning at 8:40, when our doors open, we have supervision to welcome students in front of the school. Parents and students are to stay in their car in line until the car reaches a staff member who will help the student out of the vehicle. Parents who walk their children to school will say good-bye to them outside of the school. If you arrive prior to 8:40 please stay with your child until the doors of the school open. Thank you for your help with this! The office will be open to parents in the mornings at 8:40 if assistance is needed.
Pick up: All parent-transported students are picked up in front of the school. Parents stay in their car and, in turn, drive to the appropriate grade level sign to find their child(ren). Staff members will help students into their vehicles.
If you need to pick up your child early from school, please come to the office to sign him or her out. One of the office staff will call your child from the classroom. As stated in the student handbook, we will not release students from 2:40 to 3:25 PM, or during the last forty-five minutes of the day on early release days. Please schedule appointments and the corresponding pick-up times so students will not be picked up during the above-mentioned times. For security reasons, you will be asked for identification. Thank you for your help with this.
Franklin Pierce Free Immunization Clinics
If your child needs immunizations before starting school, you can take advantage of a number of opportunities! The Franklin Pierce school district is sponsoring several opportunities. Click here to see more information.
School Picture Day!
We are happy to have Quality School Portraits do our school pictures this year! Picture day is scheduled for September 26th. Your child will bring home a picture order envelope during the first few days of school. Please look it over carefully and select the picture package you would like to order. You may pay for your order with cash (must have the exact amount - the school and the photographer are not able to make change) or a check enclosed in the envelope, or you may pre-order online with a credit card at www.qualityschoolportraits.com and follow the instructions there. Use the code JAME23. QSP asks that students do not wear green on picture day! If your child misses picture day, we will have a retake day on November 2nd so your child will be included in the yearbook.
Free Fair Tickets
A Washington State Fair free admission ticket will be sent home with your child! The ticket will be good for any day of the fair. Early dismissals that coincide with the run of the fair will not be excused. Replacements for lost tickets will not be available.
Breakfast and Lunch
We are pleased that James Sales will once again be participating in the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Program as part of the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program.
In a CEP school, ALL enrolled students receive a nutritious breakfast and lunch at no cost during the school year, regardless of family income.
If your child brings a lunch from home and wishes to have only milk, it will cost $.65. Milk by itself is not free in a CEP school. Student meal accounts are still available in CEP schools if parents wish to put money on accounts to purchase milk.
If you have any questions concerning school meals or CEP please contact the Nutrition Services Department at 253-298-4618.
Nutrition Services
Adopt a Classroom Fundraiser!
We have a way for you or anyone you know to donate funds to support the students and teachers at James Sales Elementary. Adopt a Classroom facilitates donations that are used exclusively to purchase needed items for our school. Click on this link to learn more. Copy this link to share with friends and family! https://donors.adoptaclassroom.org/s/designation/a1m5c000004dIbmAAE. Any donations made on Monday, August 22nd between 3 AM and 3 PM will be matched! Thank you for your support!
Reminders From the Office
Office Phone - 253-298-4200
Please read these important reminders from the office!
- If you need to come into the building, please press the intercom button on your right as you look at the front door. This will enable the office to see and hear you and buzz you into the entry if needed.
- Please notify the office of any changes in the way your child will go home at the end of the day. We need this information before 2:40 so we have time to get a note to the teacher.
- Call the office if your child will be absent. If they have an appointment, please ask the doctor, dentist, counselor, etc. for a note for school. Offices that treat children are used to giving notes to students for excuses!
- If you need to take your child out of school early, please make sure to come to the office at least 45 minutes before dismissal time. On a regular school day, please be in the office by 2:45 and on an early dismissal day, be in the office by 1:10. You will want to make sure to come early enough so that we can locate your child and so you won't be trapped in the after-school pick-up line! You will need to sign your child out and wait for them to come from their classroom, so allow plenty of time. Thank you for your help!
- If your phone number, email address, or home address changes, please let us know so we have the most up-to-date contact information for you. If your child becomes ill, or otherwise needs your help, we need a way to contact you! Thank you!
Attendance
Volunteers
We anticipate the need for volunteers for field trips and other occasions. If you are interested in volunteering as a chaperone for field trips or in any other capacity that may come up, please complete the volunteer application as soon as possible. It may take two weeks or more to process an application and we don't want you to be left out of a volunteer opportunity because you are not approved yet! Click here to begin your volunteer application.
Join the James Sales PTO!
Because we are a PTO, not a PTA, we are able to put 100% of our membership dues right back into our school! We provide classroom enrichment, and raise funds to provide our students and staff with items and activities not funded by the district. Volunteering and attending meetings is encouraged, but not required. A family membership (for adults living in the same household) is $10.00. PTO membership forms are in the office. Cash or checks are accepted. Make checks to James Sales PTO.
James Sales PTO is on Facebook
Franklin Pierce Schools has a resource center for our families. You will find information and help for all sorts of situations and needs - food, diapers, formula, community referrals, and more. Click here to access the Family Resource Center website.
Free Developmental Screening
Children ages 3-5 who reside within the Franklin Pierce School District are eligible for free developmental screening. Hearing, vision, kindergarten readiness, speech and language, motor skills, and behavior are checked. Screenings take place regularly. See their web page here. To schedule an appointment, call the Early Learning Center Child Find hotline at 253-298-4658.
Hewins Early Learning Center Enrollment
Please scan this QR code for information about enrolling at the Hewins Early Learning Center, an income based program for preschool aged students in the Franklin Pierce School District.
Before and After School Care with Right at School
James Sales hosts a before and after school care program on-site for our students. The care is provided by Right at School. Right at School provides a safe environment to learn, to play, and to grow. Click here for more information and to register.
Child Care Resources
Looking for school-age child care? Click on this link to find help.
Franklin Pierce Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. Questions and complaints of alleged discrimination should be directed to Brandy Marshall, Compliance Coordinator for State and Civil Rights Laws; Wendy Malich, Title IX Officer; or John Sander, 504/ADA Coordinator at 315 129th ST S, Tacoma, WA 98444-5099 or at (253)298-3000. Requests for accommodation of a disability should be directed to Human Resources.