Santee Falcons SOAR! Principal's Update
January 12, 2020
Principal Ansley's Weekly Message
Dear Santee Family,

Happy New Year! I am excited to welcome our entire school community back for our second semester on Monday, January 13, 2020.

As we enter into the second semester let’s remember the words of Chimamanda Adichie. We as educators have the power and the responsibility not to buy into or perpetrate a single story but to teach the many stories of places and people and to build relationships with our students so that we get to know them as individuals and empower them to reach for their highest potentials.

I go into this semester focused on our mission and school wide goals and to lead and support our team in reaching our vision of "collaborating to engage all students in inclusive, rigorous, and relevant learning to develop innovative and self-determined leaders."

I am so absolutely grateful to have the pleasure of working with such a dedicated team of educators in such a beautiful community of learners.
Working Together, All Santee Falcons Will Soar !

If anyone has any questions, please do not hesitate to call our main office or email Principal Susana Ansley-Gutierrez at susana.gutierrez@lausd.net.
A) Santee Successes

1) Due to the enormous success our students had with the Harvard Extension College Class. Arizona State University has awarded us 10 full scholarships for an Engineering college course for our students on campus and 10 full scholarships for a Poetry College course for second semester!

2) A news article was written in PR Newswire about the advocacy and work our students did with The National Health Foundation in piloting the Share table which will now be replicated across the state! Way to go Falcons!

3) Thank you to Mr. Manriquez and Ms. Edwards for the holiday performances before the vacation. It was WONDERFUL to see and hear the jazz band, concert band, the Overtones, and DANCE students all on stage together. Thank you Ms. Edwards and Mr. Plata for bringing NEW Arts to Santee (Voice and Dance), and to Mr. Manriquez for nurturing, growing, and supporting the TOES department in addition to your own ensembles.   

4) Data shows a small increase in our attendance for December lets keep the momentum and encourage all students to attend school on time everyday!

5) We filled our Spanish vacancy! Welcome Erika Sente to our Santee family.

6) We had 20 students from our awesome Santee Band participate in the All City Band!

7). Admin Team updated the Santee Falcon Website Calendar with up to date PD dates and events. Please Click Here to see the Up to Date Santee Falcon Calendar

See electronic version of the Mission and Vision Poster. 
B) Santee Hard Truths

  • Our November student attendance dropped over 5% and in December we increased by 2%. It is crucial that we encourage students to attend everyday until the end. We must come together as a community and find solutions to increase our student attendance!

  • Our school was broken into and vandalized 4 times during the Winter Break. Causing 1,000s of dollars in damage.

  • Due to the difference between E-cast and final enrollment numbers we have to return $200,000 to the district.



Santee Band- All City @ The Rose Parade
Santee Staff Professional Development and Planning
Santee Science

Winter Friendsmas 2020
Santee International Mentoring
Santee Updates
A ) Student Schedules: 
Welcome back! Please pick up student schedules in your box first thing Monday morning, January 13th and pass them out to your 1st period class.  We will pass out the student concerns/questions sheet during lunch time. Last day to request changes will be January 16, 2020, and last day to input any changes for Spring semester will be January 21, 2020. No students should be dropping AP courses or Avid, unless going through the proper process. 


B) Classroom Environment: Remember the importance of setting the stage for the full semester . By spending time at the beginning of the semester to develop social contracts, discuss class norms and building relationships you will save time later for instruction becasue students will feel safe, comfortable and will know the classroom procedures and routines.

C) Attention Parents on  Thursday, January 16, 2019, we will be having our  Monthly Family Action Team Meeting  in the Parent Center at 10:30am. All parents are welcomed to attend.

Santee Education Complex will be offering the following Parent Workshops in our Parent Center for the week of January 13th-17th 2020:
  • Nutrition Class: Wednesday January 15th, 2020 
  • TUPE-Advocate for Health Choices: Thursday January 16th, 2020

D) Sports:

Thursday, January 16 :
Boys Soccer and Boys Basketball are away at Manual Arts

Friday, January 17:
Boys Soccer and Girls Basketball are away at Diego Rivera
Boys Basket Ball at home against Diego Rivera.


E) New Staff: 
Welcome Erika Sente to our Santee family. She has been hired as our World Languages teacher. When you see her, please welcome her.  


F) Period by Period: We are having a period by period in the staff cafeteria on Thursday, January 16, 2020. All certificated staff are expected to attend. The topic is ICA data analysis and next steps.

G) Attendance:

Please remember to take accurate attendance this week. We need to start off this semester with accurate attendance in order to increase our attendance rates.  
Taking accurate attendance is a major concern we are having.  Please see Ms. Garrett or Ms. Heredia if you have any concerns with your attendance.


H) Cell Phone Policy:
Our school wide cell phone policy is ready to roll out on January 13, 2019. Please review the information that was given out last semester. If you still have any questions or concerns please see Ms. Garrett.  Poster's have been placed around campus during the break to prepare for the roll out.  We need to continue to let students know what the policy is and that the policy will be in full effect starting the first day of second semester. Reminder that the new policy prohibits cell phone use in the classroom.  

I) SSC will not meet until January 27, 2020.

J) PSW Announcements:

A reminder that NO email referrals should be sent to the PSWs. We can not send confidential information via email. Please complete a referral form and place it in their boxes. They will response in a timely manner.

Our Grief Group began on 11/14 with 8 students and our Weber group began on 11/18 with 7 students.

K) Office Hours:

Office Hours have begun. Please notify your students of the day and hour that you will be available. Tutor X time will be compensated 1 hour a week per teacher. Door sheets are done and will be posted this week. Lastly, if you have chosen lunch time, please still adhere to the objective of office hours which is to support any Falcon with academic support and to answer any questions they may have. All teachers who offer office hours are to turn in their office hours at the end of each month.

L) After-School Tutoring  is available in the Library daily from 3pm-5pm from now until Thanksgiving vacation for students seeking help with college applications, and seeking to raise grades from the 15-week to the 20-week mark. The after-school tutoring program will likely continue after Thanksgiving vacation and until the holiday season, budgets pending.
Santee Staff Information

A) Access Resources from the Santee Falcon Teacher Google Classroom Use your single sign-on to access.

B) All staff information is provided in the staff handbook.

C) TEXT-A-TIP -  Remind your students about the TEXT-A-TIP program at Santee! The TEXT-A-TIP phone number is 213.805.7627 or 213.805.SOAR.

D) Parking:   
Please remember to park in your assigned parking space. If you need a parking pass please see the main office because we will be enforcing parking next week. School Police will be helping with enforcing this.

As a reminder, there is no parking on campus. This includes the blacktop and the LA Gate entrance between the softball and Gym areas. The entrance is a fire lane and in case of an emergency, the ambulance and Fire Truck will be unable to get onto campus. 

There is no parking on campus when the campus is CLOSED . If you park on campus when the campus is closed to attend a field trip or professional development, notify your administrator and plant manager to ensure that your car is not CITED.

E) Air Conditioner

The air conditioners are working overtime. Please make sure that you close your windows and doors so that it remains cool in your room and to ensure that the AC does not stop working. 

F) Facilities

If you lose your keys, please notify Ms. Ruiz as soon as possible. 

If you need furniture in your classroom, please email our plant manager. 

G) Field Trips

Field trips will only be considered for approval if paperwork is submitted at  least 30 days  ahead of time. Field trips not on the pre-approved list nor overnight trips will not be considered for approval if paperwork is not submitted at least  45 days  in advance. As a reminder, field trips occurring during instructional time must be related to the curriculum and standards in your class. 

H) Restorative Justice:

Teachers, please let Ms. Farris know if you would like to have the student RJ ambassadors help facilitate circles in your 8th period and core classes. Contact Ms. Farris for more information.

I) Keys-  You are responsible for keys checked out to you. If you lose your keys, immediately notify Ms. Ruiz. Taking care of your keys is vital for maintaining safety on campus.

During the school year, the academic side of campus closes at 5:00 p.m. All students on the academic side of campus must exit before 5:00 p.m. 

J) Remind Emergency Tree
Falcons, please sign up to our Santee Emergency Communication Emergency Phone Tree. It is a one-way communication method where you will receive updates in case of an emergency.   https://www.remind.com/join/7chkge?utm_medium=android

K) Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) 

All BIC items need to be returned to the Cafeteria by 8:30 a.m. Also, BIC items should not be left in your classroom after BIC.

L) Activities
If you are planning an activity, make sure that you fill out an Activity Sheet found on the Santee Falcons website at least three weeks in advance. Aside from calendar clearance, you must also obtain signatures for the areas you are planning to use. As a reminder, our instructional programs take precedence over extracurricular activities and not all activities will be approved.

M) Visitor Policy

1. Visitors on campus require the approval of an administrator. If a staff member is requesting a visitor, please notify the Principal 48 hours in advance. This includes, but is not limited to, guest speakers.

2. Visitors must sign-in in the main office and visibly wear a “yellow pass” obtained from the office.

3. School volunteers do not require daily approval. However, all must sign in at the parent center before going to classrooms. School volunteers must also have a current TB test on file. 

4. Conferences with parents are not to take place when class is in session.

N) Text-a-Tip is for  emergency purposes . Adults should not be using text-a-tip to report other school related issues or concerns. Please use the appropriate online forms for any maintenance issues, supply requests or other concerns.
Santee Shout Outs
Please email susana.gutierrez@lausd.net a brief positive or inspiring message to a Santee Falcon Staff Member to include in this email.

Shout out to the following Special Education teachers: Ms. Thompson, Ms. Chavez, Ms. Aguinaldo, Ms. Ordonez, Ms. Garcia, Ms. Caseres,Ms. Galinato, Mr. Fernandez, Ms. Johnson, Ms. Monroe, and Mr. Vasquez for attending and participating in the all day Professional Development training on Friday, January 10, 2020 on the topic Culturally Responsive Teaching – (The Danger of a Single Story). 

Shout out to the following World Languages teachers: Ms. Samame, Ms. Powell-Stevenson and Ms. Sente  for attending and participating in the all day Professional Development training on Friday January 10, 2020 on the topic Culturally Responsive Teaching – (The Danger of a Single Story).

Shout out to our campus security Manny and Miguel for coming in this week and helping with securing our campus.

Shout out to The Building and grounds department for working hard this break cleaning our campus for the new semester. .


Shout out to the attendance team for putting on our 1st annual Friendmas event.  


Shout out to Mrs. Green and her students for creating our new Cell Phone policy.

Shout out to Mrs. Rodriguez, Ms. Torres, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Chow, and Mr. Villasenor for coming in during the break and making sure we are ready for Spring semester. 

Shout out to Mr. Bosley, Mrs. Rodriguez, Ms. Torres, Ms. Jovel, and Ms. Miranda for working on 8th period programming and making sure all students have their targeted intervention/enrichment class. 

Shout out to Ms. Glick Neagle, Mr. Garcia, Mr. Muskrath, and Mr. Molina for leading the long form essay and for all the teachers that came in during the break to help grade. This will help our department in making next steps to their instruction for student learning.  

Shout out to Ms. Borrus and Theater Ensemble students for your performance of three short one-act plays before vacation. These student-acted, student-directed premieres were a great culmination of student work during first semester.

Shout out to ALL TEACHERS for planning and delivering lessons after Final Exams that kept students attending and engaged.  Students in classrooms were visibly more attentive and engaged in classrooms than in previous years after Final Exams. 

Shout out to ELA teachers in 10th and 12th grades for your compliance implementing the Student Tobacco Use survey after Final Exams.

Shout out to Ms. Felix for providing snacks and rewards to the 9th grade Falcon Freshmen classes with the highest attendance percentage the last 25 days of first semester. And congratulations to the 8th periods of Ms. K Miller, , Ms. Portillo-Rios, and Mr. DeMar for your 9th graders excellent attendance the last 25 days of first semester.

Shout out to our Custodial Team for going above and beyond to clean our campus during the Winter Break. 

Shout out to Mr. Bosley for his support in our Intervention Program! 

Shout out to all the ILT members for attending our ILT Retreat on Thursday, January 9, 2020!

Shout out to Ms. Gabriel for presenting on the Algebra 2 PD Cycle. 

Shout out to Ms. Miller for organizing our ICA data to better plan our Professional Development. 

Shout out to Donald , our amazing Building and Grounds Worker, for supporting in cleaning up the school during our Winter Break break-ins. 

Shout out to our teachers who attended our Culturally Responsive Pedagogy training on our last day of Winter Break! 

Shout out to Mr. Marshall for sharing his best instructional practices. 

Shout out to Mr. Keys for co-facilitating our Culturally Responsive Pedagogy!

Shout out to Ms. Alex and Noe for coming in all week to support our main office during the break!
Upcoming Events


  • 1/13/2020- 1st day of Spring Semester

  • 1/14/2020- PD Tuesday/ Shortened Day Schedule

  • 1/15/2020- Nutrition Class

  • 1/16/2020- Family Action Team Meeting/ Period by Period/Boys Soccer & Bys Basketball away @ Manuel Arts

  • 1/17/2020- TUPE- Parent Meeting/Boys Soccer & Girls Basketball away/ Boys Basketball @ Home

  • 1/20/2020- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Observed/ No School

  • 1/21/2020- PD Tuesday/ Chat with Principal/ LA NSI Guidance Session
Continue to keep students engaged from bell to bell with technology; work with your peers to improve your instruction and lesson plans based on common assessment data; and always stay professional with all Santee stake holders.  By keeping students focused and engaged with relevant lessons, planned essential questions that promote collaboration-creativity-critical thinking-communication, and using academic language every day in your classroom we will ensure our Falcons SOAR by better preparing them for their future. 

Santee Education Complex
Check out our website: http://www.santeefalcons.org/
Working Together, ALL Santee Falcons Will SOAR! 
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