August 9, 2019

Dear Dragon Staff,

I hope your summer is going great and that you are relaxing and enjoying your time off. It has been a busy summer at school with getting our school ready. I really enjoyed reading the book Culturize this summer. It has some great ideas and I can't wait to put some of them to use! If you want more information about Culturize, check it out on Twitter. Thank you Carlos and Ross for working hard all summer and making our rooms SPARKLE!!

Our retreat is scheduled for August 21st. We will meet at the Nelson Center at 8:00am - 3:00pm.  Buy back is available. On Thursday morning August 22nd we will have our first staff meeting from 8:30-12:00pm in room 20 J. I WOULD LIKE ALL STAFF TO ATTEND FOR THE FIRST 30 minutes. If you are a new teacher on campus you will meet with me in my office at 1:00pm on August 22nd. The meeting will last about an hour. On August 30th at 5:00pm we will be having our staff social at my home at 137 Auburn Way Vacaville, 95688. Please bring your family and your swim stuff. We hope to see everyone there.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to some new staff members on our site Melody Griffin (RSP), CJ Lucido (7th), Diana Hines (7th/8th), Alee Kalyuta (Welcome Back, 8th), Sarbjit Nahal (8th), Heather Merodio (Agri-Science release teacher), Donna Gomez (yard duty), Dina Gabbart (4th) will be long term subbing for Katie and Amor Flores (yard duty) . If you see them on campus please introduce yourself and help them in any way that you can.

I want you to know that I think we had an exciting eighth year together. You are an amazing staff and I feel fortunate to be able to work with you. I am excited about our new year, our new teachers, staff and just being back!!   

The 2019/2020 school year promises to be another great year. We will continue to work on our Ag/Tech focus for the upcoming school year. We will also continue to support our efforts of being an NEU school.  I know that through our continued hard work, we will see our students grow academically and socially.

Teacher work days are August 22nd  and August 23rd, and the students will arrive on August 26th .  The school will be open for you to pick up your keys, August 12th. 

Have a super rest of the summer and I will see you on August 21st.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019        8:00-3:00pm                 NEU Llama Training at the Nelson Center

                                                                      Coffee, breakfast treats, and lunch will be provided

Thursday, August 22, 2019        8:30-12:00       Staff Meeting-  in room 20

                                                    1:00-2:00     Orientation for new staff on site- in my office

                                                    12:00-3:00                     Teacher Work Day in Your Classrooms

Friday, August 23, 2019         8:00-3:00                       Teacher Work Day in Your Classrooms

Monday, August 26, 2019  First day of school :)

Friday, August 30, 2019  Staff social at our home in Vacaville at 137 Auburn Way at 5:00pm. Please bring your family and swim stuff :)

Best Regards,

Jas Bains Wright

Please welcome our new teachers:

Hello! My name is Alee Kalyuta. I am excited to return to SV and take on 8th grade this year! I enjoy working with middle school students especially and love the fact that I have an opportunity to make a difference in their lives. Aside from teaching, I enjoy traveling with my husband, cooking and doing anything outdoors. I am looking forward to this year and working with the amazing SV staff!

Howdy! I’m Diana Hines and my family and I just moved to the Bay Area from Texas last spring. I’m from College Station, TX and my husband is from the Bay Area. We met while attending Texas A&M University where I majored in Agricultural Journalism & Communications. We have two SV dragons, Sophia (11) and Lily (9). After graduating from college, I worked in radio for a couple of years before deciding that I wanted to make more of an impact and pursue teaching. This will be my 9th year in education and I have taught 6th grade all the way up to seniors! This year I will be teaching 7th and 8th grade and I could not be more excited about joining the Suisun Valley family! Go dragons! 

My name is Sarbjit Nahal. I taught for 29 years with the last 19 years in Davis. In my free time I mentor students as they navigate their way through high school and college. I have worked with at risk high school students through the Adult School in Davis. In addition I was a Supervisor at Sac State in the Multiple Subject Student Teaching program. I believe in creating caring and compassionate classrooms. I have taught all subjects and look forward to teaching 8th grade at Suisun Valley. I live in Davis with my husband, Jaz and our dog Benny.  I have a 24 year old daughter, Yasmeen, who graduated from San Francisco State and an 18 year old son, Shaan, who will be attending University of Oregon in the Fall. 

Hello Suisun Valley Staff!  I am super excited to join you at school this year. As many of you know, I was a teacher before I became a mom.  I taught in Salinas at Toro Park School for 6.5 years and I am looking forward to getting back into the classroom after 14 years at home with my three children. One of my favorite things about teaching was being outside with my students.  I often took my class outside for silent reading or journaling and I look forward to spending time in the Suisun Valley garden.  I am also looking forward to getting to know all of my awesome new colleagues. See you soon!