Family Newsletter

Dear Parents and Families,

I just want to to a moment to assure you that at Laurel Dell Elementary School, we are committed to ensuring a welcoming and inclusive environment for all our students.

We fully support the rights of immigrants and believe that all of our students, regardless of their background, should feel safe, valued, and respected.

Our school is a place where all students can grow, learn, and thrive together, and we are dedicated to providing a supportive space for everyone.

Thank you for being a part of our school community.

Warm regards,

Mr. Lopez

Every year during the first week of February, School Counseling is acknowledged. This is a time to inform the community as to the role of the school counselor. Our district, among thousands across the nation, have School Counselors within the school setting. School Counselors provide students with a safe outlet for their feelings. They are then able to return to their classroom and focus on their academics.

Our role is to provide support to students, staff, and families. We support our staff in providing Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as part of the curriculum- which for our district is the Second Step program https://www.secondstep.org/. A few other things that school counselors do: 

To learn more about what school counselors do, please see these links: 

I am at Laurel Dell every day; however, I split my days on Tuesdays and Thursdays between Laurel Dell and the Early Learning Center at Short School, where our TK is located. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns: mwoodbury@srcs.org or send me a private message through Parent Square. I can also be reached through Google Voice: (415) 326-4192.

We just wrapped up a successful “Great Kindness Challenge” week. Thanks to all students, staff, and families who participated! Let’s remind our students that Kindness is to be spread EVERY day! Our Life Skill for this month is “UPstander/PeaceMaker”. Here is the poster that will be shared with all the classes: FEBRUARY LifeSkill Poster  

Please reinforce the message of standing up for yourself and others in a Peaceful way using the “Stop, Walk, and Talk” method (as seen on the poster). 

Speaking out for oneself and/or for others takes courage and it can only be done in a safe and responsible way if we take the time to first calm ourselves (step away from the situation, take some deep breaths, and - once calm- use an “I-Message” to state how you feel). An “I-Message” consists of telling someone how you feel: “I feel______” then why you feel that way: “When People_______ “ and then state what you need from the person to do differently next time: “I Need____________” or “Next time, please__________.”

Junior Coaches- I will be training the new Jr. Coaches this coming week and they will be on duty starting the week after. I will honor the Jr. Coaches who supported our students during the recess times in the Fall semester with a party on February 14. THANK YOU to all the students who have served our school! We appreciate you!! 

A big THANK YOU as well to our amazing crossing guard, Susan, who wrote to the city’s Public Works department and was able to get them to install flashing lights at the corner crosswalk near our school! 

We all know that this is very important for the safety of our students and families and appreciate her efforts in having this occur! Students wrote and drew thank you cards for her and we presented her with the cards and flowers at our last LifeSkill Assembly!