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First Week of School Information
Welcome to the 2025-26 School Year Jaguar Families!
We wanted to send out information to you and your family prior to the start of the school year so everyone is ready for the first week of school! Here is a link to our detailed Zanker Parent/Student Handbook. Please review the handbook prior to the first day of school. Below are some things we wanted to highlight to ensure a smooth start for your student.
On August 12th we will be hosting Popsicles with the Principal from 2-2:30pm. Students will get a popsicle, families can participate in a uniform swap and there will be an informational meeting for new families in the multi-use (2:30-3pm). Class lists will be posted and students can bring in old uniforms and either donate them to others or swap them out for different sizes. We will have tables for the PTA, Aeries/Parent Square, and other community partners. TK & Kinder will host their meet the teacher event on the same day. Look out for more information on that.
The first day of school is August 13, 2025. School will start promptly at 8:45am. Please see the bell schedule. The cafeteria will serve breakfast from 8-8:20am. If your student is not having breakfast, they should be dropped off between 8:30-8:45. If your student needs to be dropped between 8-8:30am, they will sit outside at the cafeteria tables. We do not have supervision for students before 8am. Students are considered tardy if they are not in their class line by 8:45. We have a closed campus, so parents will not be permitted on campus past the main gates. On the first day of school parents are allowed to walk students to their class line, but then must leave.
Minimum Day Schedule for August 13th, August 14th, and August 15th
TK 8:45-12:30pm*
Kinder 8:45-12:45pm*
Grades 1-3 8:45-1:10pm
Grades 4-6 8:45-1:20pm
*TK/Kinder will have minimum days from August 13th-August 22nd. Please plan accordingly and make sure someone is available to pick up your student early on those days.
Mixed Grade Level Classes
Zanker along with all MUSD elementary schools will have multiple combination/multi-age classes to accommodate the needs of our enrollment. This is a regular MUSD practice at all elementary schools at 1st/2nd, 2nd/3rd, 4th/5th and 5th/6th. If this sounds new and unusual to you, know that it is a familiar and longstanding practice for MUSD and our schools are designed to meet the needs of your child within a larger learning community within which they reorganize regularly and up to multiple times a day. Your child will receive an excellent education and learn with their grade level peers regardless of being in a same-age or multi-age base. Students who are placed in a mixed grade level course are not placed because of their academic ability, they are placed there as they are considered to be independent workers who are mature. They will still work on the content standards that are assigned to their specific grade level and their learning will be differentiated.
Due to tightened funding, and the need to be fiscally conservative, it is likely that all students will be in a multi-age base class multiple times during their elementary career. We will try our best not to place students two years in a row. All Zanker staff are prepared to support your child with an excellent personalized education and requests out of a combination/multi-age base will not be accommodated. For more information, please see the MUSD handbook, page 19 under Elementary Combination Classes. We will not be accepting requests for students to be moved out of a combo class or requests for specific teacher placement.
School Lunches & Application
School lunch is available every school day. Regardless of household income, all students will be offered breakfast and lunch at no cost. Each morning, teachers will ask the children if they want a school lunch. If your child wants one they must let the teacher know so one can be ordered for them. If your child forgets their lunch at home, they will get a school lunch. You can find Menus on the Student Nutrition website once available.
Income data is still very important to the district. Therefore in lieu of meal application, the District will now collect household income in Aeries. We are asking ALL families to complete the income verification form to ensure our school and students receive the many benefits it has to offer:
Provides essential funding for our schools, classrooms and Student Nutrition Department
Discounted utilities and internet access for families
Fee waivers for college apps and admission tests
Priority enrollment in After School Programs
Effects Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) for the district
Drop Off
Please prepare for increased traffic challenges for the first few days of school. Everyone should do your part to ensure a safe drop off and:
Walk to school if possible and use sidewalks. Do not cut through the parking lot to get onto campus.
Do not block intersections or crosswalks with your car.
Watch for pedestrians.
Keep your children next to you at all times when walking.
Follow rules of drop off and pick up (pull all the way forward, get out of car in designated area only, etc..)
Plan to have your student enter/exit campus through the main gates.
Please keep in mind that our parking area has the highest potential for serious accidents. We also have student valets who volunteer to help things run smoothly by assisting your student in and out of the car. Because of the increased number of students and adults in the parking area, it is extremely important that we all work together to create a safe parking area for everyone. Please consistently follow the rules listed below:
Proceed into and through the parking area slowly (2 mph) and carefully. Do not be distracted by your phone, child, radio or anything else. Keep your child properly restrained until your vehicle has come to a complete stop.
Please follow all instructions with our on-duty staff members and parent volunteers, and work together with them (they will be wearing orange safety vests). Likewise, while in the valet zone, follow the directions of the student valets (yellow safety vests). If they signal you to pull up further or stop, please do so.
Students must exit the vehicle through the passenger side of the car to ensure a safe environment. Parents will remain in the car while student valets will assist your student.
Parents dropping off or picking up their child must either use the valet zone in the main parking lot or park their vehicle. DO NOT drop off or pick up from anywhere else.
If you are using the valet zone, to help things move quickly, please display your child’s name placard so we can make sure your child is ready to load into your car. (We will hand these out to new families the first few weeks of school.)
If you are not using the valet zone for drop-off or pick-up, you must accompany your child to or from the sidewalk. Children are not allowed to walk in the parking area for any reason! Use the sidewalks to walk to the gate area.
Vehicles exiting the valet zone have priority over vehicles bypassing the valet zone. We do this to keep our valet zone traffic flowing smoothly.
Plan ahead! Minimum days and rainy days are our most challenging days for vehicle traffic. On these days parking spots are in short supply and you will probably have to park on the street.
When parking on the street, please do not block driveways. Our secretaries and principal do receive complaints from angry residents when this happens.
Drivers who do not follow these rules will be dealt with by staff or the Milpitas Police Department. Thank you for your continued support in keeping our students, staff and other community members safe!
Pick Up
Make sure your students know:
If you are picking them up by car or by walking and meeting them at the main gates.
Who is picking them up.
The pick up procedures are the same as drop off. Please do not park in unauthorized areas. TK/Kinder families, we do not have the valet set up for pick up. You will need to park your car in a designated parking spot or on the street and go to your student's classroom to pick them up. The valet lane is not a parking area.
Uniforms
All students are expected to be dressed in full uniform starting on the first day of school. Students not in uniform will be sent home with a form explaining which area was not followed. See Uniform Policy on our website and this Uniform Checklist. Items can be purchased at any retail store including but not limited to Target, Walmart, Gap, Kohl’s, and Costco. Students should be wearing athletic shoes to school everyday.
Chromebooks
1st through 6th grade students were issued an MUSD chromebook and were sent home with it for the summer. Please have your student bring their Chromebook and charger to school on the first day of school. Most of the primary teachers will require students to keep the chromebook in class and some of our intermediate teachers will have students bring it back and forth or leave it at home. TK and Kinder students have chromebooks in their classrooms to use, and are not issued individual chromebooks.
Aeries/ParentSquare
Please make sure you have updated all of your information in both systems. We use both to communicate vital and important information. In Aeries, there are forms at the beginning of each year to complete. Please have those completed by August 22nd.
Afterschool Care & Enrichment Programs
The on site after school care program, Think Together is currently only taking families on a waitlist. After the Bell is an off-site option through the city of Milpitas with paid transportations options from Zanker. Please visit their website for more information. We also have partnered with outside organizations for after school enrichment programs. Please check out the school website for registration information.
Meet the Teacher Night
We will be hosting an in person Meet the Teacher night on in August for 1st-6th grade families (date TBD). During this time you will have an opportunity to meet your students’ teacher and see your student’s learning environment. More information will be sent out after school begins via Parent Square.
Preparing Your Student for the Upcoming School Year:
Practice tying shoelaces: There are tons of videos online with tricks to help if your student struggles with making the bunny ears.
Have your student help you in the kitchen so they can practice opening snacks on their own, opening thermoses and lunch containers so they can do this without help during lunch time. Practice peeling oranges and bananas.
[Thursday, Aug 7 at 3:41 PM]
Hello,
All of the district websites were updated this week so the links were not working. They have all been fixed in this message.