Principal's Message
24 July 2023
Dear Arcade Families,
On behalf of teachers and staff, I am happy to welcome you to Arcade Fundamental Middle School for the 2023-2024 school year! We are already hard at work getting our campus and staff ready to welcome our students to campus in August. Enclosed in this mailer, you will find important information to help you and your child prepare for and navigate the start of the school year, so please take some time to review all of its contents.
I am looking forward to starting my third year as the principal of Arcade. At Arcade, we are committed to working with, supporting, and teaching each student who comes to our campus. We understand that students come to us with different personalities, strengths, and areas for growth, and we want each student to feel valued, safe, and excited about their learning. When hiring new staff, as we did this summer, it is of the utmost importance to me that those who are becoming a part of the Arcade community share this philosophy. With this in mind, it is my pleasure to share that we are welcoming a new PE Department, with Masoud Rahim and Lisa Thesell, and a new 8th-grade English teacher, Payton Norgaard, to our campus this year.
To our new families, I’d like to introduce two programs that help support students’ transition to middle school or to a new school: W.E.B, or “Where Everybody Belongs,” and PBIS, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. Arcade’s W.E.B program partners incoming 6th-grade students with 8th-grade student mentors to ensure a smooth transition to middle school for our new students. Please check out the bright pink flier located in this packet, which has more detailed information about this program, and please plan on sending your 6th grader to W.E.B. Orientation on Monday, August 7th from 8:00 – 12:00 P.M.
Arcade’s PBIS program focuses on having all staff use common language and enforce “Spartan Strong” behaviors with students, the main tenets of which are being safe, kind, and responsible. We know that when our students exhibit these behaviors, they experience more positive interactions with their peers, they achieve more academically, and they build skills that will serve them both at Arcade and throughout their journeys to high school.
Another important aspect of Arcade’s community is our commitment to flex period and intervention. We have named our flex period “GO Period,” which stands for “Growth and Opportunity.” During this period students will return to a rotation of their six content classes for a mix of teacher-created intervention or enrichment or for school-wide lessons that will focus on goal setting, high school preparation, and social emotional wellbeing.
Finally, construction has made great strides this summer. As you may know, Arcade is being completely redesigned over the next year, and we will move into our brand new facilities next summer. While the construction process may pose some challenges, we will communicate any changes to you and your students as often as needed and as quickly as possible. If you would like to view the architects’ design renderings, please visit https://www.sanjuan.edu/arcademod.
We truly have an exciting year ahead of us! I look forward to getting to know you at our campus events throughout the year and to being a collaborative partner with you in your child’s education. We send a weekly newsletter, the Spartan Shield, every Sunday evening to communicate important weekly updates with families. If your email address is up-to-date in Q, you will receive it automatically. If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas to share, please contact me at lindsey.mcmanigal@sanjuan.edu or at 916-971-7300.
Sincerely,
Lindsey McManigal
Principal
