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Translations: Español | Pусский | 中国人 | Tiếng Việt 

Happy Sunday everyone 👋

I hope everyone had a fun and safe night last night and (hopefully) enjoyed an extra hour of sleep! My family had a great time walking around the neighborhood, seeing so many familiar faces, and getting home just in time to catch the end of the Valkyries game! 💜 🏀



📅 Key Dates 📅

Nov 1: Daylight Saving Time ends 
Nov 2, 4 and 6: Musical Auditions 
Nov 3: Election Day! 🗳️
Nov 4: PTA Meeting 
Nov 11: Veteran's Day (NO SCHOOL)
Nov 14: Lafayette Movie Night: Honey I Shrunk the Kids 
Nov 16 - 20: Scholastic Book Fair
Nov 16 - 20: Parent Teacher Conferences

📝 Action Items 📝

• Help advocate for Vice Principal funding from the district 
• Contribute to Lafayette's ofrenda for Día de los Muertos 
• Join us at the next PTA meeting and learn more about our STEAM program!
• Musical auditions are THIS WEEK (sign up here)

🙋 Volunteer Opportunities 🙋‍♀️

• Call for volunteers to help with Spirit Wear order sorting and distribution
• Lunch and noon recess monitors needed
• Help Lafayette celebrate its 100 year anniversary
• Fill out the Family Interest form if you're interested in helping out with Family STEAM Day

🗣️ Principal's Update 🗣️

See you on the yard!
Courtney

Courtney Browne, VP Communications, 2026-2027
PTA Quick Links: PTA Calendar of Events 2026-2027 • PTA Contact List • Join the PTA • Donate Now!

📝 Help Advocate for District-Funded Assistant Principals 📝

Elementary school leaders across SFUSD are developing a proposal for Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services John Davis to secure district funding for Assistant Principals at schools like Lafayette. Historically, only elementary schools with 600 or more students (just two or three schools district-wide) have received an AP allocation. This year, as in past years, Lafayette has funded this essential role primarily through PTA contributions. Mr. E, along with many other school leaders, believe the district should fund this position rather than relying on family fundraising.

We invite community members to share personal statements about the difference an Assistant Principal makes in an elementary school. Your experiences can help demonstrate how APs strengthen community involvement and sense of belonging through their leadership and participation in student and family committees, provide direct support to students, and support and coach teachers to improve instruction. Please consider sharing a specific example of how having an AP--whether that’s Ms. Yin this year, Ms. Pistone, Ms. Seaton, or any one else from the past--has positively affected your child, your family, or our school community.

Please email your statements directly to Mr. E at ellingsonj@sfusd.edu by November 4th and he will add them to the proposal.

Thank you for helping us advocate for this essential support for elementary schools across SFUSD!

🧡 Contribute to the School Ofrenda for Día de los Muertos 🧡

We’re bringing back Lafayette’s school ofrenda and invite your family to participate! As we celebrate Día de los Muertos today, we will honor and remember loved ones who have passed. An ofrenda is an altar decorated with photos, offerings, and meaningful objects that celebrate the lives and memories of those we hold dear.

Beginning on Friday, October 30, we have been welcoming families, students, and staff to bring photos of loved ones to display on the ofrenda. If you’re interested in contributing, keep in mind that photos may be framed or unframed. If you would like your photo returned, please write your child’s name and room number on the back.

The ofrenda will be located in the basement hallway between the library and the entrance at 37th Avenue and Anza Street and will remain on display for two weeks.

Thank you for sharing your family’s memories and helping create a space for remembrance, celebration, and connection.

🤖 Join us at the next PTA meeting and learn more about our STEAM program! 🤖


🎭 Lafayette Musical audition information 🎭

If you ordered Spirit Wear, it's coming soon! The Spirit Wear team needs help with Spirit Wear fulfillment and distribution. Fulfillment comes with free dinner! 🌯 🌮

Fulfillment will take place November 5th from 6-8:30pm (dinner order will be included). Distribution will be November 5th and 6th from 7:40-8:00am. 

For more details or to sign up, visit Konstella here.

🛝 Recess Monitors Needed 🛝

One of our parent volunteers, Hanna Cho, has generously donated her time to recruit and manage volunteers to help out with lunchtime and noon recess! If you are interested, please add your name to the spreadsheet she's been putting together. NOTE: Every volunteer will need to abide by SFUSD's volunteer requirements (Megan's Law, Mandated reporter etc). 

💯 Help Support Lafayette's 100 year celebration! 💯

Later this school year, Lafayette will be celebrating its 100th year in this location. We need your help doing two things: planning the bash and helping us get some alums together!

If you or anyone you know attended Lafayette, please share this alum registration form far and wide: https://forms.gle/xmnR8FXcqX6cZf9t5

 

If you want to help with the celebration, we would love your help! Fill out this form

🍿 Lafayette's Movie Night is this month! 🍿

Join us on November 14th for: 
A struggling inventor creates an energy-projecting machine that accidentally shrinks his and his neighbors' children to a height of a quarter of an inch. After being accidentally thrown out with the trash, the children must work together and venture their way back through a backyard wilderness filled with dangerous insects and man-made hazards.

Event Details: 
What: Lafayette's Movie Night
When: Saturday November 14th (Doors open at 5:15p, movie starts at 6:00p)
Where: Lafayette Yard
Note: Bring your own camp chairs, blankets and snacks (popcorn will be provided!)

🧪 Want to help with Family STEAM Day? 🧪

Do you work or have a hobby in any of the following fields: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, or Math? Are you interested in bringing your passion to Lafayette Elementary students? If so, please consider being part of our Family STEAM Day! Fill out the Family STEAM Day Community Interest Form.

This year STEAM Day is on Wednesday, January 27th from 1:15pm- 2:45pm.

Hello Dolphin Community! 

Thank you for all the support that made our Autumn Carnival and Halloween celebrations so special! These events showcase the Lafayette Spirit. The joy, creativity, and community that make our school such a wonderful place. We were proud to share that spirit with prospective families at the Enrollment Fair. If you’d like to help us keep spreading the word, we’re still welcoming volunteer tour guides for our upcoming prospective family tours!

We’ve also wrapped up Trimester 1 and its associated assessments, and the data is looking great! Students across Lafayette are performing above their peers around the district, and student groups, including our English Learners, are making impressive progress, already surpassing some of our end-of-year goals! We’re excited to celebrate this growth and discuss next steps for your student during Parent-Teacher Conferences. To take a closer look at our schoolwide results, join us at our November School Site Council (SSC) meeting on 11/18, when we’ll examine and discuss the data together.

As usual, there’s a lot happening this week, and these updates are chock-full of pictures, celebrations, and important information. Take some time to dig in and enjoy seeing our Lafayette Dolphins in action! 🐬

🚘 Traffic & Safety Support

Over the past few weeks, Connie Chan’s office has been directing SFPD to provide traffic and safety support at District 1 schools. Our admin team has been checking in with officers when we see them supporting to foster respectful, collaborative traffic and safety management that responds to our community’s needs.

We appreciate Supervisor Chan’s support and we’re noticing encouraging signs: congestion appears to have decreased, and morning drop-off is beginning to feel safer. Thank you for your continued partnership in keeping arrival and dismissal safe for students, families, and staff.

💞 Celebrating Our Commitment to Social-Emotional Learning

Lafayette’s teachers delivered the second-highest number of Second Step lessons in the district last school year! This reflects their deep investment in helping students build strong relationships, understand and manage emotions, and contribute to a caring school community.

Our teachers continue to make social-emotional learning an essential part of students’ school experience. We’re grateful for the care and dedication they bring to helping every child feel connected, supported, and ready to learn.

👁️‍🗨️ November Focus: Bullying Awareness & Prevention 

At Lafayette, we’ll observe Bullying Awareness Month in November, building on our ongoing commitment to a safe, welcoming, and inclusive school community.

Throughout the month, teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade will teach Second Step’s Bullying Prevention Unit, along with additional bullying prevention health lessons provided by our School Health Department. TK students will continue fostering an inclusive community and supporting social-emotional wellbeing through their Kimochis and Creative Curriculum.These lessons help students recognize bullying, respond safely, seek help from trusted adults, and support one another.

Families can reinforce this learning by talking with children about kindness, inclusion, and speaking up when someone needs help. Thank you for partnering with us to help every student feel safe, valued, and connected.

🐬 School Tours Update! 

Our next school tours are on Nov. 3 and Nov. 10, and we’d love your help welcoming prospective families! We’re continuing to recruit volunteers for upcoming tours. No special experience is needed. We’ll provide the tour route and key information. Your perspective as a Lafayette family is what makes these visits meaningful!

As a volunteer tour guide, you’ll:

• Lead families along a planned route through classrooms and campus highlights.

• Share your family’s Lafayette experience.

• Answer general questions and help prospective families feel welcome.

Enrollment Fair volunteers will join Lafayette staff to connect with prospective families, share their experiences, and answer questions about our school.

Sign up below:

• Morning Tours

• Afternoon Tours

• SFUSD Enrollment Fair

Thank you for helping future Dolphins discover what makes our community special!

Bright Spots

✨ Lafayette Shines at the Enrollment Fair!

Lafayette’s beautiful student artwork was on display at this year’s Enrollment Fair at Moscone Center! Prospective families showed plenty of interest in our school, and many Outer Richmond families stopped by to share their excitement about the upcoming transition to the neighborhood school policy.

Families also enjoyed artwork from students across the district, including the wonderful pieces by Lafayette students pictured below. A special thank-you to Ms. G for nurturing our students’ creativity, guiding these projects, and helping share their work with the wider community! 

Also a big shout out to Ms. Yin, Ms. Price, and parent and PTA President, Meghan Butler for the support as we shared the Lafayette spirit with prospective families at the event. 

🍁 Autumn Carnival

A heartfelt thank-you to Katie Woolf and all the staff, parents, and community volunteers who made our annual Autumn Carnival such a success! It was wonderful to see families and neighbors come together to enjoy treats, play games, and celebrate the season. Your time, creativity, and care made it a joyful day for our Lafayette community.

🎃 Halloween

Thank you to all the families and community members who came to support our Halloween celebration on Friday! Carnival games were a hit, and our parade was a fun community building event! The kids had a great time. 

💦 Splash Awards!

Let’s give a big splash of appreciation to this week’s TK–2nd Grade Splash Award winners! These students are putting our Lafayette values into action by showing kindness, including others, lending a helping hand, and making thoughtful choices.

We’re proud of our youngest Dolphins for helping make Lafayette a caring, welcoming community. Keep making waves! 🐬

🙋‍♂️ Wanted: Library & STEAM Volunteers!

Ms. Jer and Mr. Ly are looking for a couple parent volunteers to help with Library and STEAM projects on Thursdays in the morning. Please contact them if you are interested or have any questions. Thank you!

Library - Ms. Jer - jerl@sfusd.edu

STEAM - Mr. Ly - vincentt.ly29@gmail.com

Thank you! 

Repeated Reminders

👬 Navigating Student-Student Conflict

When a concern involving students arises, we encourage families to connect with staff directly so we can understand what happened, share important context, support students, and protect student and family privacy.

Who should you connect with? 

• School day concerns: Your child’s classroom teacher 
• RNC concerns: Ms. Angie (angie@richmondsf.org) 
• YMCA concerns: Ms. Alicia (ABrennan@ymcasf.org) 

If concerns escalate or additional support is needed, please don’t hesitate to include Mr. E (ellingsonj@sfusd.edu) or Ms. Yin (yin-pollackn@sfusd.edu).

Thank you for helping keep Lafayette a caring, respectful community!

🚗 Student Safety Comes First: Morning Drop-Off

Thank you to the families who have been helping us keep morning arrival safe and orderly. We want to reiterate that these expectations are about student safety first and foremost. With hundreds of students arriving within a short window, following the established drop-off procedures helps create a predictable and safe environment for everyone.

Please remember that all families dropping students off by car should use Stop, Drop, & Go on Anza Street. Students should never need to cross moving traffic, and families should not double park, make U-turns near the 36th Avenue entrance, or use the white bus zone for drop-off. Now that we are in our third month of school, TK students will begin walking independently from the Stop, Drop, and Go drop-off area to their class line. Credentialed yard teachers and other school staff are in the yard each morning to offer guidance and support.

Please help your child prepare for this transition:

1. Practice the plan. Let your child know that parent volunteers will no longer escort them from the car to their line. Remind them to walk directly to their TK line and ask a yard teacher or school staff member if they need help.

2. Exit on the right. Please have your child exit through the right-side rear door, closest to the curb - make sure your car seat is also moved to the rear passenger right side. This is the safest and most efficient way to unload.

If you prefer to walk your child to their line, please arrive early enough to find a legal parking space and accompany them into the yard. Please do not double-park or block neighbors’ driveways. Thank you for helping our youngest learners build independence and keeping drop-off safe for everyone!

🙋 We also need volunteers to help keep Stop, Drop, & Go running! A few extra minutes and a helping hand can make a big difference. Sign up to volunteer for Stop, Drop, & Go.

🏫 Before & After School

• In the morning, use Stop, Drop, and Go on Anza Street for a safe and efficient morning drop-off. Please do not park or drop-off in the white bus zone, double park, or allow students to exit on the opposite side of the street. This is for the safety of your students!

• Sign Up for Stop, Drop, & Go!

• Bikes and scooters should be walked on the school yard. This is for the safety of our students. 

• Enrichment Pick-Up Reminder:

• Please meet your student on time at the northeast gate on 36th Avenue, near the bike racks.

• The play structure is reserved for YMCA and RNC programs after school. For the safety and security of students in aftercare, families not enrolled in these programs should use alternate play areas after dismissal. Cabrillo Playground, just down the street, is a great option. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!

☑️ Attendance Reminder

• Reporting Full-Day Absences: Whenever possible, please report absences through your ParentVUE account. Instructions: English | Español | 中文

• Partial-Day Absences or Changes: Please contact our clerk, Yuki, directly at 415-750-8483 or sch664@sfusd.edu.

📱 Cell Phones & Smartwatches: OFF & AWAY

A quick reminder that cell phones, smartwatches, and other personal devices should be OFF and AWAY during the school day, including before/after school activities and events.

If a device must come to school, please help your student follow these expectations, including keeping smartwatches turned off, put away, or in School Mode.

If you need to reach your student during the school day, please contact the office at 415-750-8483. 

Thank you for helping us keep students focused on learning, friendships, play, and being present in our school community!

💬 A Reminder About Class Group Chats

A quick reminder that class group chats, including WhatsApp groups, are intended to help families connect and coordinate classwide events and activities.

Please help keep these spaces welcoming, inclusive, and focused on community-building. Political or social advocacy and school-related concerns are better addressed through appropriate private channels rather than classwide chats.

For school concerns, please reach out directly to school administration; for PTA matters, please contact the PTA. Thank you for helping keep our class chats positive, useful, and welcoming for everyone!

🚌 Field Trip Chaperones

Please review the updated chaperone requirements and instructions below, including guidance for navigating the ASCIP platform and completing the required Mandated Reporter training. Thanks for your patience in navigating this new requirement. For support, contact ehelp@ascip.org.

📝 Multipurpose Family Income Form (MFIF)

We are working toward 100% completion and need every family’s help (We’re only at 53.5% 😢)! Please complete your MFIF if you haven’t already. More information and instructions are included below.

What is the MFIF, and why is it important?

The Multipurpose Family Income Form (MFIF) is a quick annual form that helps Lafayette and community partners access important funding and benefits for students.

Completing the MFIF helps:

• Determine school funding for academic programs and services.

• Prioritize eligible students for afterschool programs.

• Connect eligible families with benefits like $120 SunBucks (Summer EBT), internet access, and more. See the Family Benefits Guide for details.

Every form counts! Please help us reach 100% completion!

Thank you for continuing to make Lafayette such a welcoming, connected, and joyful community. Looking forward to seeing everyone this week! 💙🐬

In Partnership,