Good Afternoon, MES Families!

We hope you had a fantastic week! This week at MES, we had the pleasure of welcoming Principal Harris into our building and she has been so impressed with students and families.

If you haven’t already, please see the e-mail from Principal Kelly that was sent out last Friday 🙂

We have some important information to put on your radar over the next few weeks! Let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

In partnership,

Karen Harris and Jen Dickens

kkharris@seattleschools.org

jndickens@seattleschools.org

You’re Invited!

We are so excited to invite you to our dedication ceremony for our incredible mural on Monday, January 29th from 1:30-2:00 in the MES gym. We have some very special guests joining us, including the talented muralist, Alex Chiu and Ken Workman, member of the Duwamish Tribe, who will share the DNA in trees story with us. We have been looking forward to this for so many years, and we hope you can join us 🙂

MES Community Cultural Celebration!

This Tuesday, January 30th from 5:30-7:00 we have our Community Cultural Celebration. We hope to see you there!

Join us for Magnolia Elementary’s 2nd Annual

Community Cultural Celebration

Celebrate the diversity within our communtiy and learn about cultures around the world through delicious food, community camaraderie and lots of fun!

Tuesday, January 30th 5:30-7:00pm

We all have cultures to share, and we would love to learn about yours! Please sign up to share your dis or activity from your culture.

A Message from Mr. Skoog: Bike Helmets!

Mr. Skoog sent out some information regarding the upcoming bike unit in P.E. for K-5 classes. If you are willing to send you student to school with their helmet on their P.E. days (starting February 1st), please do! It can save a ton of time and give students more time in class for learning and riding bikes! If you aren’t able to send in a helmet, it’s no problem, Mr. Skoog has plenty to offer! Thank you!

Drop-off

I want to thank the families who have been supporting our new drop-off plan and advocating for a safer solution. We are working with SPS Safety and Security, families, PTA and our staff to come up with the safest solutions for our students and families and we need your help!

I also want to extend the opportunity to connect with Principal Harris directly. We work as a school to be solution oriented when problems or conflict arise and your voice is an important part. Outside of our monthly coffee chats, please feel free to email or call her.

As you know we made some changes to our morning drop-off routine when we returned from winter break. I want to remind families and provide clarity around the decision, routine, and locations for car drop-off and walkers. We are asking all students to enter through the play court from McGraw St or the Ella Bailey gate (please see the map below). The front door is not an entrance before 8am and the lunchroom/commons entrance is also closed. It is a common practice across the district to limit access to supervised doors beginning at 7:35. This decision is 100% rooted in the safety of our students. We have supervision on 28th, McGraw, and in the play court to keep your students safe.

If you plan to walk your students to the play court, please park at least a block from the school (see the map below). The no parking zone is within the yellow lines. We are asking you not to park or drop off students on McGraw or Smith street. If you choose to drop your student off, you can pull up to the drop off zone on 28th. Your student will then walk along 28th to McGraw to get to the play court. We have had many near accidents with cars and students on Smith and McGraw. These streets are not designated for drop off and the blocks that border our school campus should not be parked on. Leaving a little earlier, parking in the neighborhood and walking your student to the play court is a nice way to connect and start the day.

Lastly, driveways and cross walks are blocked by cars parking daily during drop-off and pick-up. This is unsafe and frustrating to our neighbors. Please model being a safe and thoughtful community member for our students.

Before School Volunteers

PTA and MES are partnering to help keep students and families safe during morning drop-off. In order to do this, we are looking for more adult supervision to line 28th and McGraw from 7:35-7:55. This would include connecting with and greeting students and families and an increased presence of community members wearing orange vests. Your students can head to the courtyard at 7:35 where there are classroom teachers supervising or the lunchroom for breakfast. Each classroom will be assigned a week to sign-up, and communication will be sent through your student’s room parent beforehand. This will start the week of 1/29. If you are interested in volunteering before, please contact me. Thank you in advance for keeping our kids safe!

Magnolia Elementary School (MES) Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Update

Community Cultural Celebration

Let’s all come together on Tuesday, January 30th from 5:30pm to 7:00pm to celebrate the many different cultures within our MES community.

We want to have as many different cultures represented as possible with food, crafts, and activities.

Please sign up now to bring a food dish and/or a craft/activity.

Middle School Panel Discussion on Thursday, February 1st at 6:30 pm in the MES Library

Now is the time for 5th graders and their families to be thinking about 6th grade and middle school. To support your decision making process, we will be hosting a panel discussion featuring MES alumni from Blaine, Hamilton, McClure, and Salmon Bay. They will be here to tell us about their schools and answer your questions about middle school. We hope you can join us for this fun and informative event!

The following middle schools are also offering enrollment tours so you can take a look for yourselves!

• Blaine- January 23rd at 6:30 pm
• McClure -January 25th at 6:00 pm
• Hamilton- January 30th at 6:00 pm
• Salmon Bay- February 6th at 6:00 pm

SPS Enrollment is open at this time and Choice School open enrollment begins February 1st through the Seattle Public Schools website.

Coffee with Principal Harris

Join us on February 6, 2024 from 8:00 am to 9:00 am for a monthly informal gathering with Principal Harris and MES-PTA Board members (and coffee, of course)!

Held on the first Tuesday of each month, this is a fantastic opportunity for parents to come together, ask questions, provide valuable feedback and ideas, and engage in open conversation with our principal. Your voice matters and we look forward to building a stronger school community together! Please meet in the front office.

Student Safety Patrol Leader Needed!

We are looking for a parent or community member to run our Student Safety Patrol. This is a great opportunity for student leadership and for students to take ownership over student safety. Student safety patrol starts from 7:35am to 7:50am (when the bell rings) and from 2:20pm-2:40 pm (1:00-1:20pm on Wednesday’s).

The position responsibilities include creating a schedule and supervising students on patrol. This position pays a small stipend of $1,600.

Please email Sharla shwipplinger@seattleschools.org in the front office if you are interested.

Don’t miss important news, sign up for Orca Tales the MES PTA Newsletter.

Every other week important news and information is shared with the MES community through Orca Tales the MES PTA Newsletter.

Please make sure to sign up so you don’t miss out on any important information.

Sign up for the MES PTA Newsletter.

Registration is now open for Magnolia Little League including Baseball, Softball, and Tee Ball.

Register for Magnolia Little League and for more details.

Registration closes January 31, 2024.