The Jaguar Journal
August/September 2022
James Sales Elementary
Email: jamessales@fpschools.org
Website: jamessales.fpschools.org
Location: 1301 113th St S, Tacoma, WA, USA
Phone: 253-298-4200
Brandy Nelson - Principal
Joy Sims - Assistant Principal
Office Hours - 8:15 to 3:30
253-298-4200 / FAX 253-298-4215
Website - jamessales.fpschools.org
Dates to Remember
August 22-25 ~ WATCH YOUR EMAIL FOR TEACHER ASSIGNMENTS
August 25 ~ Back-to-School Ice Cream Social 4:30-6:00 PM
August 30 ~ First day of School!!!
September 2 ~ NO SCHOOL
September 5 ~ NO SCHOOL - Labor Day
September 12 ~ Last Day to Order School Spirit Wear
September 14 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
September 21 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
September 22 ~ Picture Day
September 28 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
October 3 ~ NO SCHOOL - Teacher Training
October 4-7 ~ Student-led Conferences - EARLY RELEASE - 11:55
October 4-7 ~ Book Fair!
From the Principal's Office
Hello James Sales Families!
Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year! We are excited to see you at our Back-to-School Night Ice Cream Social on August 25th from 4:30 - 6:00 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!
As this new school year begins, I want to remind our families and students that although masks are no longer mandatory, you may wear a mask if you wish. Frequent washing of hands and desks will continue multiple times throughout the day as well. Thank you for keeping your child home if they are ill.
Please take a few moments to review our Student/Parent handbook. You can find it on our James Sales website here along with lots of other great information!
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 will 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 in front of the main office area. In the afternoon, please pull around and look for your child’s grade level sign. First you will see 5th, then 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st and Kindergarten at the end. 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
Protection Plan for Laptops
This year Franklin Pierce Schools IT department will be offering optional, but highly recommended, protection plans for student laptops. This plan is $25 per student and can be paid via cash, check, or money order. Please watch for more details about when we will be collecting these funds.
Welcome to James Sales
Free Immunization Clinics
Does your child need immunizations to start school? Here are some free immunization clinics for you to take advantage of!
- Keithley Middle School - 12324 12th Ave S, 98444 - August 25th - 5-6:30
- Brookdale Elementary School - 611 132nd St S, 98444 - August 29th - 5:30-7
Schedule Changes
Important Information!
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 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.
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, stomachache, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, etc. before sending them to school. If your student has any symptoms of illness and is not feeling well, please keep them home. If a student becomes ill at school, they will be placed in the isolation room and 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.
Current COVID Procedures
If a person has one or more of these symptoms they should isolate at home and test for Covid-19:
❑ Fever (≥100.4°F) or chills
âť‘ Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
âť‘ Muscle or body aches
âť‘ New loss of taste or smell
âť‘ Cough (new, changed, or worsening)
âť‘ Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
âť‘ Fatigue
âť‘ Sore throat
âť‘ Congestion or runny nose*
Please see the document below for a flow chart to help you to determine if your child should stay home from school.
Before and After School Care with Right at School
James Sales will host a new before and after school care program on-site for our students this year. We will use the front door of the school for drop-off and pick-up. 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. Enter WASAVE50 for a $50 discount!
Picture Day!
Free Fair Tickets
School Spirit Wear
families have the option of purchasing school spirit wear online. Please click on the following link or paste into a web browser, www.winningseasons.net, click on team sales, then scroll until you see James Sales to access the order form. Online orders only. The website will close September 12th. Items will be sent home with students once they arrive.
Breakfast and Lunch Menus
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 $.60. 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
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.
Early Learning Center Registration
Free Developmental Screening
Reminders from the Office
Office Phone - 253-298-4200
- 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!
From Our 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. Please save them for your child at home.
Attendance
Did you know if your child is tardy or leaves school early, it will show on their attendance record? Please make appointments outside of school hours whenever possible. If your child must miss school for an appointment, please ask for an excuse note for your child. Doctors, dentists, and therapist offices who serve children are set up to provide you with a note to excuse absences! Make sure you call the school office at 253-298-4200 if your student is absent for any reason. You may leave a message if you need to call before or after school hours.
Volunteers
At the end of last year we were finally able to have volunteers help with field trips! Hooray!! We anticipate the need for volunteers this year as well. 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. Volunteers must be fully COVID vaccinated or provide a valid exemption. It may take up to two weeks 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.
SPYA Fall Volleyball
James Sales PTO is on Facebook
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.