Dear JCS Families,

I hope that the first Panther Press of the school year finds you doing well! The first day of school is just around the corner.  The staff is looking forward to seeing all of our JCS students on Wednesday, August 24^th at 8:25!! 

We have been working hard this summer to get ready for a terrific school year. The class lists will be posted outside of the school office on Monday afternoon, August 22 at 1:00 for you to find out your child’s placement for the school year.

The JCS Panther Press will be delivered to families monthly via email this school year. It will also be available on our website at jcsk8.org. Please let the office know if you would prefer to receive a hard copy.  The goal of the Panther Press is to keep JCS families informed about all of the monthly activities here at school.  Please be sure to let me know if you would like to see any information added to this newsletter. 

The Jacoby Creek School PTO will be hosting a Welcome Back Social for family members in the library at 8:30 on the first day of school.  This is a great chance to meet other JCS families and to catch up with people that you have not seen over the summer.  We hope to see you there!

There will be a Welcome Back to School Assembly on Friday, August 26^th.  The students are encouraged to wear their school colors to show their JCS spirit on this day!  

Be sure to bookmark our school website: jcsk8.org. Calendars, lunch menus, class web pages, and important announcements are all available on the site. 

I am looking forward to seeing everyone next week.  I am very excited and proud to be the principal at Jacoby Creek School.  My office door is always open to families and I encourage you to bring suggestions, concerns, and celebrations to me throughout the school year.  Working as a team, we can provide Jacoby Creek School students with an excellent education in a caring and positive community environment!

Sincerely,

Melanie Nannizzi

JCS Staff Announcments

I am excited to announce that we have two new teachers joining our staff this year.  Mary Dominick will be teaching our new Transitional Kindergarten class and Holly Couling will be teaching third grade.  Mrs. Dominick has worked at JCS as a Spanish teacher and as a substitute teacher and we are thrilled to have her on board to start our Transitional Kindergarten.  Ms. Couling student taught in Mr. Trewartha’s class last year and we are so fortunate to have her as an official member of the staff.

Nathan Cuny will be joining our staff as our Speech and Language Pathologist.  We are pleased to welcome him to Humboldt County and to Jacoby Creek School.

Tyler Warren and Lisa Beamont have joined are team as yard duty staff.  Both Lisa and Tyler are excited to be working with students at recess time and are committed to helping recess be a fun and safe time for our students.

**We are seeking a cafeteria assistant from 10:00-2:00 Monday through Friday.  Please contact the office if you are interested in this position! 

 Grade Back to School Night 

This is an informative night for parents only, please do not bring children. Times for each grade will come home from school in Tuesday notes from your classroom teacher.

• TK and Kindergarten: Monday, August 22, at 6:30 p.m.
  • TK Orientation for students begins at 5:45.
• 1^st through 6^th grades: Thursday, September 1^st 4^th -6^th @ 6:00 and 1^st-3^rd @ 7:15
• 7^th and 8^th grades: Thursday, September 15^th

Emergency Supplies

Each year students are asked to bring a zip lock bag filled with three bottles of water and three non-perishable food items in case we were to encounter an emergency at school and needed supplies.  This year the Athletic Department will be selling the emergency supply bags as a fund raiser at Back to School Night.  Plan on buying your emergency bags at BTSN if you would like to skip dealing with creating the disaster pack and support the Athletic Department.  The emergency supply bags will be $10.

5^th-8^th Grade Music

JCS joyfully welcomes back Laura Arrington as our 5^th-8^th grade music teacher!! Please see the letter from Mrs. Arrington regarding 5^th-8^th grade music options attached with the Panther Press.

7^th and 8^th Grade Spanish

Spanish for our 7^th and 8^th grade students is offered in the morning from 7:30-8:15.  Brandi Rose is excited to be teaching this course and I know that the students will learn so much from this talented teacher! Students that take 7^th and 8^th grade Spanish at JCS have the opportunity to place directly into Spanish 2 at the high school. It is a great opportunity for our students.  Ms. Rose will be visiting the 7^th and 8^th grade students the first week of school in order to get commitments from students.  Classes will begin the second week of school and are held in Mrs. Skiles’s classroom. 

Garden Club

Garden Club will held on Wednesdays and Thursdays after school.  Garden Club will begin the week of September 14.  More information will be provided the first week of school.  Thank you so much to Sue Moore for providing this great opportunity for our JCS students!!

Fall Sports Night

I am pleased to announce that Davita McGoldrick will be returning as JCS’s Athletic Director!  We are so fortunate to have such a dedicated, enthusiastic, and organized person to run our program.  

There is a mandatory meeting on Wednesday August 31, at 6:00 pm for parents of students who are interested in participating in a fall sport (cross country, golf, volleyball). This is the night for parents to find out about the sport, meet the coach, get a schedule, and to sign up to help in some way. Without parent support, we aren’t able to field our teams! Reminder—All student athletes must have their sport physical paperwork turned into the office prior to participating in sports.

Cross Country:  Students in grades K-8 can participate in cross country. Parent participation is required for younger students/grades. There are weekly practice runs plus meets scheduled during the season at a variety of sites. More information will be available at the Fall Sports Night.

Golf:  Students in grades 5-8 are invited to participate in golf. There are two practice days during the week, more details will be available at the Fall Sports Night.

Girls Volleyball:  This is open to girls in 7th & 8th grades. More information will be available at the Fall Sports Night.

SPONSORING AN ATHLETICS BANNER is a great way to support JCS athletics. Please contact our Athletic Director, Davita McGoldrick, if you are interested in sponsoring a banner for the gym. 

Davita McGoldrick:  dmcgoldrick@jcsk8.org or (707) 616-5964.

Panther Pentathlon- October 6th

Our goal this year is to raise $50,000 to support the following five programs at JCS: Music ~ Drama ~ Athletics ~ Foreign Language ~ Technology

It is the money raised by the Panther Pentathlon that funds a lot of the things that makes a JCS education wonderful including; the primary grade music program, music concerts, class plays, school play, athletic program, Spanish lessons for the middle-school grades, as well as significant yearly technology updates. 

The Panther Pentathlon Pledge Packet will be sent home with the kids then, throughout the first month of school, we ask kids and families to collect donations to support these five programs.  As this is our own “homegrown” fundraiser, we have an incredibly low overhead with usually greater than 95% of the money donated going directly to the school.  All of the kids’ fundraising efforts to support Jacoby Creek School culminate with the celebration event on the morning of October 8th. 

Harvest Carnival – Friday October 21

Annual PTO event with cotton candy, games, music and a legendary cake walk. A fun time for kids and adults! This event takes a lot of parent volunteers, so if you can help with the planning or volunteer for even just one booth for 30 minutes, please contact the PTO (jacobycreekschoolpto@gmail.com), your classroom teacher, or sign up on any of the sheets when they are posted. The kids thank you!

8^th Grade Spaghetti Feed – during the Harvest Carnival

This is a great way to get dinner on the night of the carnival and all profits go to the 8^th grade class year-end celebration. Since I’m putting this in the newsletter so far ahead of the event, the details are not known, but it is always helpful to get volunteers organizing this event early on, so please, if you are an 8^th grade parent, contact your classroom teacher to get a jump on the planning.

 Foundation Notes:

The Foundation is the main fundraising organization for JCS. This group of parents and teachers is responsible for the Panther Pentathlon in October and the auction that is held in February. They can always use more help; their events are fun and big, so please consider joining if you can.

 PTO Notes:

The PTO is responsible for so many of the fun events of our school. This is a group of parents, teachers and staff that come together to organize things such as the sweatshirt sales, Annual Harvest Carnival, and staff appreciation luncheon. They, too, can always use more parents; both at the meetings to help with planning and at the events, so consider joining and helping with some of the fun things they do.

Board Notes:

Many important things are discussed at the School Board meetings, such as budget, school calendar, staffing, curriculum materials and school facilities maintenance. Attending these meetings is one way to stay informed about our school; Board meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month at 7:30 pm, usually in the school library.  Anyone is welcome to attend.

 

More information specific to JCS’s Board, including agendas and minutes can be found here:  jcsk8.org

 

This month at a glance:

August 22              TK and Kindergarten Back To School Night at 6:30

August 24              PTO Social for Families in the library 8:30 am

August 31              Fall Sports Night at 6:00

September 1         1^st through 6^th Back to School Night

September 5       Labor Day – No School                                                                            

September 9         Music classes start (7:50 a.m.)

September 14     School Garden classes begin

September 15      7^th and 8^th grade Back to School Night

 

Next month at a glance:

October 3             Early Success Conferences 1:15 Dismissal

October 6             Panther Pentathlon (daytime event, at school)

October 21           Annual Harvest Carnival

 

Meeting dates:   

JCCEF                    TBA

PTO                         TBA

School Board       Wednesday, September 7 at 7:30 in the Library