First Full Week of 24-25 School Year

Dear YG Families

What a fun and intense week it has been for YG students, staff, and families. Teachers are focused on building classroom and grade level communities with social emotional lessons, rules rodeos, and get-to-know-you activities. They are also preparing for a wonderful year of learning, by starting with informal and formal assessments to see where students are after summer and tailor lessons and groups. Yujin Gakuen is an amazing place for students (and staff :) because of the focus and skill of our teachers and staff.

Another reason YG is amazing is because of our parent community. Our families show up when asked. We are grateful for your involvement. YG PTO supports our school in so many ways that are not just financial. They host events to help us maintain a strong sense of community, make sure staff have treats on special occasions, and , yes, provide funds for teachers to buy classroom items above the general school budget. Thank You, PTO. I also want to thank PTO for hosting the BBQ, what a fun welcome back to school event! If you haven't already, please check out YG PTO website to learn about events and ways you can volunteer. Yujin Gakuen is 

And finally, below are a few updates about other things happening and dismissal.

Have a great weekend,

Kimberly Ingram

Fragrance Free School - YG is a “fragrance free” school. We have students and staff who have allergies that cause headaches, migraines, and for one, severe allergic reaction including anaphylactic shock, if aerosol spray particles make contact with eyes and nose. Lots of products can cause these reactions including perfumes, scented lotions, scented antibacterial lotion, and hair oils and sprays. Please help us keep staff and students safe by using fragrance free lotions and products, and zero perfume.

Farm to School partnership with Grazier Gardens - one of our long time family members, Toni Migneault, with Grazer Gardens, and in collaboration with YG and 4J Nutrition Services will bring a taste of locally grown produce to students each week for the next nine weeks; and then again in the Spring. This week, Toni visited 5th grade. She discussed the growing and harvesting process, and then students could taste the produce. Ray Martin, YG’s Cafeteria Lead and Cathy Schneider, Cafeteria staff, process the vegetables for the class and put any extras out for lunch at the salad bar. 

Library - we will have a permanent librarian starting September 24th, named Christina Jimenez, coming from out of state. In the meantime, we have had a wonderful sub named Kadri Sensei who has been pushing into classrooms to teach a lesson. Our goal is to have the YG library completely unpacked and ready for classroom visits by early next week. In order to make that happen without a YG librarian, Amy Page (District Library TOSA), Mellissa Magill (District Catalog Specialist), and Whitney Sakakibarra (YG kindergarten parent and volunteer extraordinaire) have been unpacking our library, weeding books, and helping the library be a place where kids can explore the love of reading (English and Japanese). 

Safety Drills - 4J and state policies require regular practice of safety drills in case of an emergency. We practiced drills on Thursday of this week. Here is a link to the protocol 4J (and YG) uses to teach and practice safety in case of emergency.

Transportation to and from school

Car Riders - 3:10 - that is the time when 95% of cars and both buses are on their way. That is 10 minutes past dismissal. The process has smoothed out over the last few days (barring EWEB trucks blocking traffic) and that is in large part due to you all following the process and asking questions when the process isn’t clear and being kind throughout. THANK YOU!

Bus Riders - I have heard from both bus drivers that in general, YG students are very well behaved (this is a common message I hear from substitute teachers and visitors as well). In an effort to support and encourage your students with safe bus riding, we are doing the following.

• Assign every student a bus route to ease the loading process and allow drivers to get to know students better. 

• Teach safe school bus lessons. Families can support the message for safety, check here.

• Assign some seats for students to support safe behavior and choices. (More to come next week.)

Bus drivers have discussed behavior expectations with students, use the intercom to remind students who are not being safe, and have pulled over to ensure safety. If a student is unable to maintain safety, they will write a student conduct report and forward it to the building principal to take action. I will always start with re-teaching the expectation to emphasize the importance of bus safety. And, if there is repeated misconduct, district policies outline consequences that start at three day bus suspension.

Again, these situations are rare and I am working with transportation and families to support individual students.