Gant

Gant Community,

As we bring this year to a close, I would like to thank all of you for your continued support of the teachers, staff, and especially me. This has probably been the hardest year any one of us will ever go through and we came together and finished strong.

With that being said, we know we have a lot of work to do moving into next year. We know our students struggled academically and emotionally. Some of our friends have not stepped inside a classroom for over a year, and those that did, it was for a short amount of time.

I have already started planning for next year. We know we will need to meet our students where they are at academically. Our teachers are up for the challenge. This is what they’re good at! We know emotionally and socially we are going to have to start slow to be successful. Our students have been through so much over this past year. As a school, we will be spending time working on those social skills that will promote positive learning and a sense of belonging. This is going to be tough for some, but we are in this together.

A few things for the 21-22 school year:

First day of school for the 2021-2022 school year: Tuesday, August 31, 2021

September theme: We are going to kick off the school year with Kindness! For the entire month of September students can wear any shirt with the word Kindness (examples: Be Kind, Kindness Counts, Treat People with Kindness, etc).

Uniforms: Students will be required to wear uniforms starting the first day of school (except in September with kindness shirts)

Please welcome our new teachers to the Gant community:

Kindergarten: Jen Ness
1st grade: Lexi Lahera
2nd grade: Lindsay Moss
3rd grade: Megumi Abiad

Additional grade level changes:

2nd grade: Paula Goldberg
4/5 Combo: Maria Heck
5th grade: Jen Barragan

Please take the time this summer to enjoy life! Get out there and have some fun. I am so blessed to be the principal here at Gant. This is more than a school, it’s a supportive community that has become a family.

Cassie

Congratulations to our very own Nurse Ana, who was named LBUSD’s Nurse of the Year on June 9. Staff celebrated her last Friday by wearing scrubs to school, and our school website is featuring her front and center in our Staff Spotlight column. We are so fortunate to have such an amazing nurse!!!! 

You can still pre order by this Wednesday, June 16. Just send in the order and the bottle will be ready by the first day of school. If you lost the envelope, please see the attached info and send it in with a plain envelope.

Fourth-grade parents, we are looking to fill the fifth-grade chair for next year. If you are interested or would like to know more about it, please reach out to either Jessica Reed at president@gant-pta.com or Gloria Leon at 5thgradechair@gant-pta.com

Congratulations to our new board members for the 2021-2022 year, and thank you to our outgoing board members from this year. The PTA board members give considerable time to our school, going to meetings, going to trainings, and going that extra mile to plan and run programs for our kids. Many have served for several years while welcoming and training newer members to maintain a strong PTA and Gant community. So welcome, new members, and thank you to all. We are very grateful Gators!

President: Jessica Reed
Vice President: Genn Billish
Recording Secretary: Abby Tatlilioglu
Treasurer: Jessica Leishman
Auditor: Jasmine Lacsamana
Historian: Emily Contreras
Programming: Adrienne Gomer
Corresponding Secretary: Sharlene Siegel
Legislation: Tara Petrone
Financial Secretary: Cristina Pruchyanimit
Room Parent Coordinators: Christina Mulcahy & Shannon Rohrig
Parliamentarian: Amy Yerkey
Way and Means: Katie Kilkenny & Christina Gentilini 

The LBUSD Office of Child Development Centers is now enrolling for our full-day, fee-based preschool program. Please visit our web site here for specific details regarding locations and contact information. For enrollment assistance, call 562-429-8636.

May 3 to May 7, online and in-person families united to celebrate our cherished, hard-working teachers. We showered them with cards, flowers, pies, box lunches from Rascals Teriyaki, and other goodies. 

We hope that our teachers left the week feeling super appreciated!

On Friday, May 7, we celebrated the folks who have shown up every day in the past year to serve our students and parents. Thank you for making Gant a better place to learn and grow! 

It's a hard time to be a kid right now. It's a hard time to be a parent and guardian right now. Minnie Gant students and families deserve all the support we can give them. Here are some resources we hope can help.

Gant Staff and Resources

This pandemic has brought unprecedented change and uncertainty into all of our lives. If you are in a difficult position, we encourage you to PLEASE ask for help!  You can reach out to our counselor, Laurie Wheels (lwheels@lbschools.net), or our principal Cassie Fanton (cfanton@lbschools.net) with any needs you may have. Your privacy is paramount and any discussions will be completely confidential.

LBUSD Family Resource Centers

LBUSD Family Resource Centers are available to support students' and families in so many ways  – from student mental/behavioral/emotional health to parent workshops to food/clothing resources, referrals, health care, and more. Please reach out! 

Website –  https://linktr.ee/LBUSDFRC

Instagram – @lbusdfrc

LBUSD Special Education Community Advisory Committee

The LBUSD Special Education CAC is open to everyone who wants to help students with exceptional needs obtain an appropriate, high-quality education, including parents, teachers, persons with disabilities, service providers and other concerned community members. A calendar of meetings and topics, including distance learning and sibling support, can be found here.

California State PTA Resources 

"Discussing Difficult Situations With Your Children"

Emotional Health Resources List