Dear Joseph Sims Students and Families,
Welcome to the new school year. My name is Shelly Hughes and I am proud to be the principal of Joseph Sims Elementary School. I began as principal in September, 2008. I look forward to working with students, families, and teachers to make this school year a positive and motivating experience for all.
I come to Sims with several years experience as a site administrator and classroom teacher. Currently, this is my eighteenth year working in education—all in Elk Grove Unified School District. As a product of Elk Grove schools myself, I consider myself lucky to live and work in this community. I truly believe that we provide students with a high quality education that is rich in diversity, culture, and valuable learning experiences.
On a personal note, I have a long family history in Elk Grove as my father’s family homesteaded in the Elk Grove/Florin region in 1850. Since that time, three generations have called Elk Grove our home, where we have raised our families and attended Elk Grove schools. I have lived in the Laguna/Franklin region since 1997 and have one daughter who attends Toby Johnson Middle School and another daughter who attends Franklin High School as a sophomore. Our school experiences in Elk Grove have been extremely positive and my hope is to help to provide the same for each and every one of our families at Sims.
My passion is to ensure all students achieve their greatest potential. For children to reach their greatest potential and become life long learners, it takes a partnership of committed administrators, teachers, parents, support staff and students. I can assure you that this is a shared belief at Joseph Sims Elementary School.
I encourage you to email, call, or stop by anytime to share any thoughts, concerns, suggestions, or insights with me. My email is: shughes@egusd.net and/or phone number is (916) 683-7445.
Fondly,
Shelly J. Hughes
Principal, Joseph Sims Elementary School
July 14, 2011
Dear Parents:
After a much anticipated wait, we finally have a State budget. We are excited that this budget allows us to bring the remainder of our certificated teachers back to our district and allow our students to have smaller class sizes. However, the late notice and time needed to understand the budget and complete negotiations has caused many changes in the past week.
At one point, we were ready to move forward with class sizes at 30:1 in kindergarten thru sixth grade. Shortly after that, negotiations brought the class size down to 26:1 in kindergarten thru third grade. Finally, last Wednesday afternoon at 3:00PM, with class lists made and ready to be posted, we were notified that the new State budget would bring our class sizes down to what they were last year, 24:1 in kindergarten through third and 28:1 in fourth through sixth.
We have done our very best to make these changes in a short amount of time. Please understand that more changes may be made regarding your child’s teacher, classroom and/or track. It is our goal to keep these changes as minimal as possible. However, with teachers being assigned to our campus on short notice and the number of classrooms at each grade level increasing, we want to make sure that we are able to match the strengths of our staff with the needs of our students.
We all know how special the first day of school is, but these last minute changes will have some classrooms esthetically ready while others may not be. Our teachers are extremely dedicated, and this will be rectified as quickly as possible.
We, at Joseph Sims Elementary School,apologize for any confusion or anxiety this information may cause, but know that, as with all decisions, our first priority is your child’s education.
Please know that we are steadfastly making phone calls to notify you if your family will be affected through a track change.
Some key details to make note of:
- Class lists will be posted this Friday, July 15th at 4:00pm in the office windows for tracks B, C, and D. Our A Track lists will be posted on Friday, August 12th at 4:00pm.
- Kinder first day of school will start at 8:00am for AM and 10:54am for PM Kinders
- Grades 1st – 6th first day is a Reverse Minimum Day from 10:00am to 2:25pm; following school days will begin at 8:00am.
- Breakfast will normally be served at 7:30am but on the first day of school, it will be served at 9:30am
- Back to School Night for B, C, and D is Thursday, July 21st. A Track’s will be held on August 18th. Teachers will be sending home specific dates and/or times.
We look forward to seeing you all at 10:00am on the first day of school.
Thank you for your support, understanding, and boundless flexibility during this time.
Sincerely,
Shelly J. Hughes
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