Welcome ~ Bienvenido ~ To Tualatin Elementary

From the Principal's Office

Dear Families,

I hope you are all doing well. I have been enjoying my time with my baby and already understand how quickly the time passes. I have been in close contact with Erin Lolich over the last two months and I know she has kept Tualatin in good hands.

As we are midway through the year I would like to highlight a few exciting changes that have taken place of which you may or may not be aware. Some highlights include: extended day kindergarten to help with the loss of full day kindergarten classes, changes in TAG procedures to better support TAG students in the classroom, adding a math specialist and reading teacher to lower reading group sizes, additional support time for teachers to meet regularly to discuss student progress, adjustments to some of our holiday celebrations, beginning the process of becoming a green school, starting the planning of a Tualatin learning garden and increased volunteer and parent outreach efforts, particularly to our Latino families that comprise about 35% of our school community.

In a school as large as ours, we have received a variety of responses to these efforts. Both Erin and I have received feedback that parents, particularly parents of color, feel more included in our school and that a wider variety of parents are attending school events. We have also had parents ask questions about our strategies for parent outreach. As a district and school we are always looking to improve our practices. In a district-wide review of achievement data and school-wide needs assessment exercise, we found that we needed to improve our effectiveness in working with our Latino students and families. As a district and school we went to work to find out how we could tackle this issue that we and countless other schools in our nation face. We have undergone district-wide training on addressing issues of race in our school and in our teaching, and have learned ways of better engaging our families of color.

As a result we have worked to create an additional forum for parent input. We formed a family involvement team of parents and staff and a Latino parent group. Parents discuss issues and provide us with input. These groups also feed into the site council and PTA. We feel this will encourage more cohesiveness and parent involvement. We would like to share some of the ideas behind the work we are doing around closing the racial achievement gap and improving parent outreach. We invite you to join Superintendent Rob Saxton, Erin Lolich and I on February 25th at 6:30 p.m. in our library to discuss these issue and other topics which impact our school and district.

I will be transitioning back into school the last week of February and will be back full time on March first. I really look forward to being back at school and seeing all of the kids and families again soon.

Thank you!

-- Johanna Cena

Other News

Need Immunizations or flu vaccine, call the School Based Health Center 503 431-5775 

   

    For students who are missing one of more of their required immunizations, Feb. 17 is an important day.  That’s the day schools are require to send home any student whose immunization record is incomplete.  
    Thanks to the existence of the School Based Health Center (SBHC) at Tigard High, it’s easier for Tigard-Tualatin students to get the immunizations they need.  All they must do is call the SBHC 503 431-5775 to make an appointment.  The SBHC  accepts private health insurance, the Oregon Health Plan and sliding scale fees for families without insurance.
    Students can also make an appointment to get the H1N1 flu vaccine as well as the seasonal flu vaccine.  The SBHC has sufficient supplies of both. 

Join us at Tualatin Elementary's Mardi Paw Auction March 6, 2010

 Click the logo above to view the auction website.  See the catalog of items, find out how you can contribute, and even purchase your tickets!  You won't want to miss the Mardi Paw fun!http://www.tualatinelementarypta.schoolauction.net/mardipawmagic.

2009-2010 Tigard-Tualatin School District Calendar

Tualatin Elementary Supply list

2009-2010 Classroom Teaching Assignments

We wish to thank and salute all of our fine teachers, staff and volunteers for a job well done!  You made a positive impact on the lives of Tualatin Elementary students.  You do make a difference in the lives of many. ~~ Thank you! ~~