September 2009

Dear Castille Families,

Welcome to the 2009-2010 school year!  After a rejuvenating summer break, our teachers and staff have been busy preparing for our young scholars to return for another spectacular year.  Hopefully our scholars have been taking time to read some wonderful books over the summer, and they will come back and share their adventures with us.  Some of our scholars may have even had the opportunity to do some traveling this summer, and we can't wait to hear about all of the exciting places they've been.  Even if you were only able to "staycation" this summer, hopefully you spent quality family time together doing all of the things you love most. 

Our school theme this year is "We're All in This Together."  Unfortunately the state budget has taken its toll on education.  We've lost cherished staff members and class sizes have increased.  Some families are having financial difficulties.  We will all be pulling together to keep our focus on the children.  Our teachers are professional, highly qualified and able to teach these larger classes; however, we will be relying on our dedicated parent volunteers now more than ever.  We will also be needing more in the way of donations as the year progresses and our supplies run out.  Seeing firsthand the generous spirit of the Castille Community, I know that Together we will continue to put the needs of the children first.

We will continue to implement the 3 R's (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) here at Castille as we are an environmentally friendly school.  School flyers will be sent home to 1 child per family.   Most of the information you need can be found on the school's website, including a comprehensive Student/Parent Handbook with all of the school's policies and procedures.  Consider it your "Parent Homework" to review the handbook over the next week or two.  You will want to bookmark the Castille website and check it frequently for up to date information:  http://ctes.capousd.ca.schoolloop.com/ or www.castilleschool.com

COMMUNICATIONS FROM SCHOOL:  How many times have you found that important piece of information in your child’s backpack the day after the event happened?  Unfortunately, you are not alone.  This year ALL Castille students will be receiving a Coyote Connection Folder that will come home every Thursday with important papers from school.  Review the contents of this folder and return it the next day.  The school's website ( www.castilleschool.com ) contains valuable information regarding school events, schedules, minimum days, links to teachers’ websites, PTA, etc...  Additionally, I will be sending out important information on the Castille ListServ every week for which you may sign up by logging onto the school's website and following the directions on the right side of the Homepage.  We will be making every effort to become “paperless” with our communication that goes home, so please be sure to read these important weekly messages.  Also, every teacher at the school has an e-mail account, and in lieu of calling them, you can e-mail them directly with questions or concerns.  The e-mail addresses are accessible from the school’s website.

Please remember to support our PTA by joining at one of the many levels of membership.  Our PTA volunteers work very hard to ensure that your children get additional enrichment programs that wouldn't otherwise be possible.  Just wait until you see the beautiful new computers in every classroom!  These were a result of the Technology Drive we had last year.  This year we are holding our first ever Golf Tournament as an alternative to the traditional school fundraisers.  Even if you do not play golf, join us for the delicious dinner and auction.  All proceeds will be used to fund programs this year.

I am excited about beginning a new year and carefully tackling the challenges we will indeed be facing.  Together we make our school a success!

Sincerely,

Laura Lyon, Principal