Village News

Free summer meals for eligible children

For some children and teens, summer can mean an unwanted vacation from the regular meals they received at school. Fortunately, children in Santa Clara County, ages 18 and younger, can receive free meals during the summer at multiple locations.

Various programs are in place throughout the county to help children, who rely on free or reduced-price school meals, to receive meals when school is out.

Two Campbell Union School District schools will serve meals beginning June 26 and ending July 14.

• Rosemary Elementary School, located at 401 W. Hamilton Ave., will serve a lunch/brunch from 12:30 to 1 p.m. M
• Sherman Oaks Elementary, located at 1800 Fruitdale Ave., will serve brunch from 10:30 to 11 a.m.

Children in Campbell also can go to:

• Del Mar High School will serve free meals during the summer to anyone under age 18. Breakfast is from 9:10 to 9:20 a.m. and lunch from 11:00-11:10 a.m. There will be no meals served July 3-4.
• The Health Trust, 2105 Bascom Ave., and
• The Jewish Family Service of Silicon Valley, 14855 Oka Road Suite 202 in Los Gatos.

There are many more locations in Santa Clara County. Families can find a meal site in their area through web searches for USDA Summer Food and the Hunger Hotline, or by phoning the National Hunger Hotline at: 1-866-3HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479) or 1-877-8HAMBRE (1-877-842-6273).

Ideas and questions about a new TK–8th-grade school filled the walls at the District's first Community Input Forum. A second forum is planned for June 12.

The community is invited to the District's second Community Input Forum to provide feedback on short- and long-term decisions relating to creating our new school on the Campbell Middle School site. The meeting will be held Monday, June 12, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., at Campbell Middle School.

The District is seeking ideas and suggestions about elements of the Transformation Team's recommendation, which includes which grades will be enrolled in the school's first few years, the theme for the school, site plans, and more. 

Students, families, employees, neighbors—all those who have an interest in development of the school—are welcome.

For more information about the school transformation, contact the District's Public Information Office: 408-341-7254 / contact [at] campbellusd.org

More information is available online on the Transformation web page. (www.campbellusd.org/transformation)

All District families are invited to a FREE family STEAM event on Wednesday May 31, 2017, from 4:00-7:00 p.m., at Campbell Middle School, 295 Cherry Lane, Campbell.

Sponsored by School Linked Services and the Measure A grant, the event will feature food, and fun activities like Derby Car Engineering, projects in Art and Science, and more.

There also will be a special workshop with award-winning author Carmela Dutra, and each family can take home a STEAM Kit to use this summer.

(See the e-flyer in this week's e-news, or click on the e-flyers link on the school's home page.)

Meet Dancing Bird Graham’s Family

Hi! We are Ashlee and Tejas. Our son Graham joined Ms. Gretchen’s Kindergarten class this year. They call themselves the Dancing Birds! Graham also has an 18 month old brother Cedric, who already enjoys hanging out in Graham’s class for Book Browse every morning. Our family is completed by 14 year old Boo Radley (meow!) and 4 year old black lab Eleanor (woof!).

Ashlee grew up in Ohio and Florida and teaches chemistry at Kehillah Jewish High School, while Tejas grew up in India, speaks 5 languages and works in tech. We met during grad school at Georgia Tech at a friend’s wedding before moving to California 7 years ago. Ashlee loves baking and gardening in her spare time with help from Graham and Cedric, while Tejas loves consuming said baked goods and coaching Graham’s baseball and soccer teams when he gets a chance. We try to squeak in a few camping trips and visits to family every year.

Fun Fact: Our initials coincide with the molecules that form DNA base pairs.

How did you find your way to Village? 
As we were reading up on the various schools on the district website, we first read about Village being right next to Capri, our assigned school. While chatting with parent friends, we ended up talking to a Village mom whose daughter attended preschool with Graham. She has been a long time member of the Village community and we learned from her about the atmosphere and the roles that parents play, we were very excited to try it out. We talked among ourselves about how we could commit to contributing the time and dedication to make our participation meaningful before applying to the school for enrollment.

How prepared were you for the transition to Kindergarten?
We would say we were mostly ready. Graham is generally easy-going and enjoys making new friends or trying new things, so he adjusts to new environments easily. He was in a Jr-K program at preschool, which eased him into a daily academic routine. We felt Village would be the perfect place to continue to nurture him in various ways, not just academically.

How would you describe the first 100 Day experience?
In one word, refreshing. We can’t believe 100 days have flown by. It’s been great to watch Graham blossom in Ms. Gretchen’s class — she is simply one of a kind, and we are already excited at the prospect of Cedric in her classroom in a few years! Graham has always loved to read by himself, and since school he has been devouring books by himself.

More importantly, we have begun to appreciate the effects of the respectful atmosphere in the classroom and school. Just as an example, Graham has become noticeably better at expressing his wants and feelings, or describing conflict situations to us.

What have you been most surprised by so far?
No homework! While Graham hasn’t really been averse to it in the past, he has been somewhat busy outside of school this year. He has been taking classes to learn Tejas’ mother tongue Tamil in a formal setting on weekends, along with a few sports and physical activities. And all the extra time has come in handy there. We are also very grateful for Village parents that have been teaching the Spanish class, and engaging him with the various Centers programs.

Biggest challenge/ adjustment so far?
There are a lot of moving parts involved in making Village run the way it does. It was a bit overwhelming at the start of the year to absorb all the information coming at us, the parent education classes, and the expectations of engagement as new parents. We are starting to get a better hold on it now. It’s important to remember that parent participation consists not only of participating, but enabling others to give their best as well.

What are you most enjoying about being part of the Village community?
The Positive School Climate and Centers programs have earned Village School a Distinguished School Award in the past, and we are seeing first-hand how these programs have benefited our child and family. Above all, we are grateful to have an active and engaged role in our child’s education, and to get the opportunity to interact with his classmates and their teacher and families.