Principal's Corner

Dear Hacienda Hawk Families, 

Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year at Hacienda Environmental Science Magnet! We are excited for the start of school and to welcome back our Hawks on Thursday, August 8th for the first day of instruction. We are excited to get going this school year and continue our favorite programs and events that make our school so special. Please read through each of the items carefully, so we can best be prepared for the wonderful year ahead of us. 

First Day of School
Thursday, August 8, 2024

Bell Schedule
We will be starting school at 9:00am and ending at 2:55pm daily. We will have a daily AM warning bell that rings at 8:55am. Please see the bell schedule on our website for more detailed information about the school day and our minimum day schedule.

Start and End Time                    LUNCH

Grades K-1 9:00-2:55pm      11:00-11:45am
Grades 2-3 9:00-2:55pm      11:45-12:20pm
Grades 4-5 9:00-2:55pm      12:35-1:10pm

Kindergarten Special Schedule

Starting August 8th through August 16th, Kinder students will begin at 9:00am and be released at 12:55am. This is in accordance with the District-wide Kindergarten Slow Start Schedule. The intent of this shorter day is to help our Kinders ease into the expectations of a full-day Kindergarten program.  This abbreviated daily schedule is ONLY for Kindergarten students.  This means you will be expected to pick up your Kinder by 12:55am the first two weeks of school.  Please make arrangements to have your child picked up on time. Bus transportation will not begin until the first full day of school for our Kindergarteners. Our regular schedule will begin for our Kinders on Monday, Aug. 19th.

 Grade Level Assignments Page 2 of 5 

We have many changes for the upcoming school year and want to make you aware of our new grade level teams. As always, students will find out their upcoming placement the day before school at our schedule release event on August 7th and via email at 4:30pm. We look forward to a great upcoming school year. Here are our grade level teams and room numbers:

Kinder	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth
Hollenbeck- 1	Brown-7	Huang-11	Muller-23	McClure-22	Huston-21
Smith-2	Martin-8	Guillen-12	Hargunani-24	Miner-27	Sirobushanam-25
Bonfiglio-3	Hamilton-9	Unze-13	Tucker-29	Anders-31	Tsao-26
Everly-4	Escalante-10	Luong-14	Seymour-30	Hayes-32	Griffeth-28

Class Lists

This year, class assignments will be posted in our front office windows and sent out via email at 4:30pm on Wednesday, August 7th. Hacienda Involved Parents and Staff (HIPS) will be on site providing opportunities to buy logo wear and you can take advantage of our uniform swap. They will also have volunteers ready to answer all your questions and provide a brief tour if needed. 

Attendance

Daily attendance is required for all students. Students that are ill should not report to school and must inform the attendance office within 5 days of the absence to have the absence excused. Any absences not reported within 5 days will automatically be marked as unexcused. 

All absences must be reported by calling the Hacienda Attendance Line at (408) 287-6303. Informing the teacher that your child will not be in school is not sufficient notification, you must report it to the office. If your student is late, it is important that you bring them to the office and sign them into school. This is the only way we have of tracking whether or not a student who was marked absent was actually present in class. If an absence goes beyond three days in a row, a doctor’s note will be requested. 

In the past few years, we have seen an increase in both Chronic Absenteeism(missing 10% of the school year) and Short Term Independent Studies requests. We know that attendance is the number one factor in a student’s academic success. Our goal in the upcoming year is to work with families to get their child to school each and every day. We will be working with families with attendance concerns through meetings and individual supports. 

In order to limit the amount of absences we are seeing throughout the year and improve our State Dashboard standing around chronic absenteeism, we will no longer be offering short term independent studies plans to students missing between 5 and 15 school days. We have seen an increase in families taking vacations outside of the scheduled breaks and an independent studies plan, in no way, mirrors the classroom experience. We hope that this change will help us address the rising attendance concerns we have seen over the past couple of years. In order to help with this, I have attached the upcoming school year calendars with scheduled breaks. We appreciate you making sure your Hawk gets to school each and every day! 

If you are no longer planning to attend Hacienda, please contact Anna Lilly at aclilly@sjusd.org to close out your records and allow us to prepare for a smooth transition to your next school site. 

Breakfast and Lunch
Student meals will be available before school, during morning recess (2nd-5th grade), and lunch. All San Jose Unified Schools will provide breakfast and lunch every school day at no cost to all students in attendance. Families do not need to qualify for free and reduced-price meals for the 2024-2025 school year to receive meals at no cost. Menus will continue to be available on the student nutrition website each week. https://www.sjusd.org/your-resources/student-nutrition-services/ 

Student Supervision Before/After School

In an effort to ensure your child’s safety, please note that students may not arrive at school more than 30 minutes before school begins. Limited supervision will be provided beginning at 8:30am by the cafeteria where breakfast is available for all students. 

There is NO supervision after school. For your child’s safety, please make sure to pick them up promptly at the end of the school day. If you need morning or after school care for your child, please visit https://hacienda.sjusd.org/learning/after-school-program on our school website for YMCA and Bellgrad Before/After-School Programs. Free aftercare will continue to be provided for our Low-Socioeconomic, English Learner, Foster, and Homeless Youth students if you have registered. The program supporting these students is still being determined at this time. 

Drop-off and Pick-up

Your cooperation with safe drop-off and pick up is greatly appreciated, and helps to ensure the safety of every child at Hacienda. Please note that any parent volunteer or staff member assisting with traffic flow has been specifically asked to help with this important job and should be treated with respect and courtesy. 

If dropping off or picking up your student using the drive through at the front of the school, do not allow your student(s) to exit from your vehicle until you have driven all the way up to the blue wrought-iron gate. Students should always enter and/or exit your vehicle from the passenger side, never from the driver’s side. Please discuss with your child the dangers of running or cutting through the student drop off / pick up area to get to you as you wait in the pick-up area. Check out our informational video for using the drop-off circle. 

Parking 

Parking is available on the street on all four sides of the campus. There is NO parking in the Bus Loading Zones or in either of the Staff Parking Lots. Due to limited parking available at Hacienda, our parking lots are reserved for staff members only (this includes district personnel). NEVER leave your vehicle unattended in the drop off / pick up area located in the front parking lot of the school. Check out our site parking map for all the different parking zones around campus. 

Volunteering

Volunteering is an integral part to the success of our educational program. In order to be cleared to volunteer in the classroom, all adults must complete the online application including fingerprints and TB test. All volunteers should check-in and check-out at the front office and receive a volunteer sticker before heading to volunteer on campus. Parents must be cleared volunteers to work with students or attend field trips, but clearance is not needed for you to enjoy our schoolwide events, classroom celebrations, or performances. 

Hacienda Involved Parents and Staff (HIPS) 

HIPS is an organization that pools the resources of the Hacienda community and partners with the school to support the teachers, students, and their families through programs and services. HIPS organizes events throughout the year, including Fall Festival, Spring Fling, and much more, and also organizes year-round school programs like Sprouts, Project Cornerstone, and Art Vista. As an organization, we help fund the music program and support the science program and the Outdoor Classroom. Perhaps most importantly, we support our teachers through an annual teacher’s stipend for school supplies and an additional teacher grant program. Do you love Hacienda and have ideas for making it even better? Consider joining the HIPS Board as VP of Programs for this year (responsible for HIPS-sponsored assemblies, oversight of all HIPS parent lead programs and non-fundraising events (i.e. Star Party), and work with the VP Events to coordinate HIPS calendar of events). Contact Parliamentarian@hips.rocks No matter what you do – from volunteering to help the classroom to organizing a big event, you will be part of what makes Hacienda unique. Thank you! 

Since HIPS plans so many events and programs to support our teachers and students, HIPS needs volunteers! If you are interested in volunteer opportunities, please sign up on Konstella (committees do not get deleted annually, unlike classrooms) https://www.sjusd.org/resources/general-resources/volunteer Pro Tip: Getting one/both things done over the slower summer months will allow for you to be on campus as early as possible, as the process can sometimes bottleneck every fall. 

Speaking of Konstella, if you are NEW to the school and need to know how to register my family please click here for the access code! Everything HIPS posts about will come through over Konstella, so please register to ensure you never miss a fun event or Page 4 of 5 

 

volunteer request! To make it even EASIER for your family, consider syncing your Konstella calendar to your primary calendar so you never miss a thing! 

Although a more complete calendar will be provided once approved by the Board & membership, please save the date for our first events of the year: 

KINDER KICKOFF: Saturday, August 3rd, 9-11 AM, for incoming Kinder families only. 

CLASS ROSTER POSTING & HIPS WELCOME BACK EVENT: Wednesday, August 7th, 4:30-5:30. Find out your student’s teacher, meet classmates, purchase logo wear, and utilize the Uniform Swap. School tours will also be available for new students/families. Kona Ice will also be here as a 5th Grade Science Camp fundraiser. 

COFFEE CART: August 9th, 8:30-9:30 am. Come by, say hi, meet and greet, and get help with any questions. Look for the coffee cart near the Kinder classrooms. Bring your own coffee mug to help with the Less Landfill initiative! 

ICE CREAM SOCIAL: on August 16th, 6-7:30 pm, Our FREE Annual Ice Cream Social is back! This is a great chance to meet other families and have fun. 

Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS)

We are excited to continue our PBIS program. Our students will reflect what it means to have Hawk Spirit: Mind, Body, Heart. In the first weeks of school, all students will be receiving explicit instruction around the appropriate behaviors expected throughout Hacienda. Please keep an eye out for more information at the start of the school year regarding Hawk Spirit and the behaviors and expectations for our Hacienda Hawks. 

Toys/Sports Equipment/Electronics

All equipment will be provided by our school site. Students may not bring toys or sports equipment to school. This includes trading cards, basketballs, baseballs (soft or hard), tennis balls, soccer balls, frisbees, or any other toys or play equipment. Cell phones, smart watches, and any other electronic devices may not be used during the school day. If a student wears a smart watch, it should be turned off during the school day. If it becomes a distraction, we will keep the device secure for guardians to pick-up in our front office after school. 

Uniform Policy

All students are required to wear school uniforms. School uniform colors are red, navy blue, white, hunter green or khaki. No sport logos on clothing or hats (See attached for uniform specifics). Hacienda gear is always welcome! We will be enforcing our uniform policy this upcoming school year. Attached to this communication is our Site Uniform Policy. If your child is not in uniform, your classroom teacher will connect via email to remind you of our policy. If your Hawk continues to be out of uniform, our front office will connect with you personally over the phone. Finally, if uniforms continue to be a problem, I will connect with you directly to come up with a plan. We will have opportunities for uniform swaps throughout the year and we are always willing to support any family in need of assistance. If you would like to opt your child out of the school’s uniform policy, email me at tweber@sjusd.org requesting to be opted out, and I will communicate with the teachers and front office. If you choose to opt out, your Hawk must still follow district policy found in the Student/Parent Handbook. Our goal is to minimize loss of instructional time, while also having a Site Uniform Policy that is adhered to on a daily basis. The school is not responsible for replacing missing items. Hats are permitted outside for protection from the sun and/or inclement weather, but must be removed in the classroom. Donations of gently used uniforms that your child may have outgrown are greatly appreciated. Please do not send in stained or torn apparel. 

Communication 

Our school and district websites are our main information center. Please check the website regularly at https://hacienda.sjusd.org/. If you have a question about something related to your child’s classroom, please contact the classroom teacher directly. The classroom teacher and you form the team that directly supports your child’s progress. If you have additional questions after working with your child’s teacher, please contact the administration. Since we will focus on the campus and classrooms during the instructional day, the best ways to relay messages will be with an email or a voicemail. We will return your email/call within 24 hours at the earliest and 48 hours at the latest. We will also send out a weekly ParentSquare post and phone call on Sunday evening at 5pm with upcoming information and dates. This message will always be posted on ParentSquare for your reference. Hacienda Involved Parents and Staff (HIPS) will also keep parents informed through their communication app, Konstella. Due to the frequency of email communication, please notify our front office of changes to your email address and keep all household information current. 

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The school office will be open on Monday, August 5th to Wednesday, August 7th from 9:00am-3:00pm. Regular office hours of 8:15am-4:00pm will begin on Thursday, August 8th. If your child will NOT be attending the first day of school, please notify the school immediately at (408) 535-6259.. 

We at Hacienda are excited and determined to prepare our students to be the thinkers, leaders, and creators of tomorrow. We invite you to join us in this pursuit, and to help us as we work towards providing every child with the skills needed to reach their full potential. We welcome your talents, your time, and your support as we unite as one community to elevate opportunities for all of our children. 

Sincerely, 

Todd Weber, Principal 

Hacienda Environmental Science Magnet 

(408)535-6259 

tweber@sjusd.org