Van Gogh Charter School

 

Peanut Policy

Please support us......Due to severe
peanut allergies, we request that snacks and
lunches are
PEANUT FREE! Thank you
for your support!

We would appreciate your support in
not sending food items containing nuts to school
with your children. These items include peanuts. or any other form of tree nuts, sandwich crackers filled with peanut butter, granola bars, and trail mix. Some healthy and nutritional alternatives include: ham, roast beef, tuna, egg salad, cream cheese, and jelly sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, fruit salad, yogurt and fruit, fruit rollups, apples withe caramel, hummus, celery and carrot sticks, animal crackers, popcorn, pudding or jell-o, and Rice Krispie Treats.

About Van Gogh

Located across the street from Bee Canyon Park, in a quiet Granada Hills neighborhood. Initially opened in 1968, much of the Van Gogh campus was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The school is on a traditional one-track school calendar.

California Distinguished School

Teachers, parents, students, staff, administrators, community members all celebrated the news that Van Gogh Charter School has been approved for Distinguished School Status. State Superintendent of Schools Jack O’ Connell made the official announcement on April 15, 2008. To find out more about what a great accomplishment this is and what it means to our school. Thanks to everyone who contributed their time, shared their personal stories, and proved Van Gogh is truly distinguished!

931 ! Van Gogh Charter School Raises API Scores AGAIN!!

We are overjoyed to announce the unbelievably great news that we went up another 5 points and hit 931!!!!  Congratulations to all, this is a tremendous improvement.

 

Updated Supply Lists for New School Year

Supply lists for next year came home with your child on the last week of school.  You can also follow the LINK where the supply lists are always available.

SCHOOL SUPPLY WISH LIST

There are always ways to help our school, both big & small! Check back regularly to see what are pressing needs. There is a binder with wish lists from individual classrooms & the school, feel free to ask Ms. Nancy for a peek. A few selections for this week:


• Additional outdoor playthings for the Kinder Yard (bean bags, balls, jump ropes, hula hoops, etc.) and a gently used plastic playhouse or fort.


• 8.5 X 11 copy paper


• 18 X 24 black construction paper


Just drop any donations off in the front office,

they are GREATLY appreciated!

 

Welcome to Van Gogh Charter School

About Van Gogh Charter School

Year Opened: 1968

District: LAUSD, 1

Grades: K - 5th

Enrollment: 507

Address: 17260 Van Gogh St., Granada Hills, CA 91344

Phone: 818-360-2141

Fax: 818-831-9081

Contact Info

Principal: Gale Gundersen

Assistant Principal:
Lucy Lee

School Administrative Assistant: Raquel Acosta

Office Technician:
Nancy Zweben

17160 Van Gogh St., Granada Hills, CA 91344  |  School Phone: (818) 360-2141

Important Upcoming Dates

  1. Tuesdays are Shortened Days. School ends at 1:20 PM on these days.

  2. Kindergarten orientation  March 13 at 8:30


  1. Lottery applications to attend Van Gogh will be available from April 2, 2013 - May 24, 2013 at 4:00 pm. The lottery will be on May 31st, 2013 at 10:00 am.

  2. Ongoing thru 12/31/12 - Fresh & Easy "$hop for Schools" Receipt Campaign - See flyer

  3. 12/17-1/6- Winter Recess

  4. 1/7-   Students return from Winter Break

  5. 1/11- Principal’s Chat/Coffee- 8:10

  6. 1/14- Enrichment classes start (2nd session)

  7. 1/15- Governance Council-2:45

  8. 1/15- Kadima Orchestra begins

  9. 1/16- PTO Board Meeting- 6:00/General-7:00

  10. 1/21- No School- Dr. Martin Luther King

  11. 1/25- Student of the Month Celebration

  12. 1/25- Girl Scouts/Goodwill Donations due

  13. 1/30-2/1- Meet the Masters (O’Keeffe)

  14. It is  a full of important school dates, fun PTO activities for you & your family, and a way for you to receive reminders regarding all of our volunteer opportunities, click here

  15. To review the complete LAUSD calendar for the 2012-2013 school year, click here.

News !

We NEED Valet Volunteers

We still need Valet Volunteers in order to man the valet lines. If we do not have enough volunteers, we will not be able to open one of the valet lines. Please give us just 25 minutes of your time once a week before school starts. It is an easy and fun way to meet people and help out. There is a sign-up sheet in the Office.

Also, please be extra careful at
pick-up and drop-off times.

We have had several close calls
in the last week. Find a legal parking
spot (no double parking).
Do not jay-walk. It is very dangerous.
Please help us keep everyone safe.

Free-Reduced Price Meals Applications are now online!

Meal applications were mailed to households over the summer; It is now possible to access the free-reduced price meal applications and submit them online.
To find out more about the new lunch program,
visit:  
http://cafe-la.lausd.net.

Perfect CST Scores !

Congratulations to the following students for achieving perfect scores on the following sections of their 2011-2012 CST tests!Click Here

Spelling Bee Winners  !

Spelling Bee winners and participants.

Click Here

Lottery Applications - April 2 - May 24 2013
(article updated 12/5/12)

Changes in Charter Enrollment Policies

 

     There have recently been some changes
in the enrollment policies for schools such as
Van Gogh, who have become Charter since
2011.  All students who are currently enrolled
(with the exception of anyone who has falsified their address) will be considered permanent members of our school and will no longer be required to file for permits.  However, the District will no longer allow the school to prioritize sibling permits.  Therefore, families who do not live in the residential area of the school, will be required to fill out a lottery application for all new children who they wish to attend the school. This does not apply to children who live within the school's boundaries.

     The lottery applications will be available
beginning April 2, 2013. 
All applications must be received 
before 4:00 pm on May 24, 2013. 

A public lottery drawing will be held
May 31st, 2013 at 10:00 am in the Van Gogh Charter auditorium.


     These changes in policy are beyond the school's control.  We believe that siblings should always be allowed to attend the same school, however, we must follow the directives of the District.  We apologize for the hardship this may cause some of our families.

 

Gale Gundersen, Principal

Free Online Tutoring from L.A. County Library

What is Live Homework Help?

You can get free homework help from a live,
online tutor. All you need is a County of
Los Angeles
library card and an Internet
connection. You can use Live Homework
Help from home, school and even the Library.
Click Here

Common Core Standards

As we get closer to the time of

the year where our students will

be going through CST Testing,

now would be a good time to become

familiar with what is expected of our students, by grade level.  Take a minute to review the "Parent Roadmaps to Common Core Standards" and help prepare your student.  Links provided in the February Newsletter

(see page 3).

Important Information About
School Safety from our
School Superintendent

Please read this letter sent from
our School Superintendent to you
about School Safety
in LAUSD schools. Click
here.

Van Gogh Charter
Leadership Council Meeting

May 7th, 2013 - 2:45 pm

Agenda 5-7-2013 Leadership Council.doc

School Safety at Van Gogh Charter School


On Wednesday, April 10th, Dan Yadon, a Kindergarten father and police officer and his friend, Eric Rosoff, a retired Burbank Police Office specializing in school safety, made a wonderful presentation about school safety at the PTO General meeting.

 

For those of you who could not be at the meeting, you can view the presentation by clicking here: [PDF OF PRESENTATION HERE]

 

Here are a few of the team’s top recommendations for parents:

1.       Be sure you have your most current phone number logged with the school for use in emergencies.  This is the number that will receive a call in the case of a school emergency.  See Nancy in the Office if you want to check or change your emergency phone number.

2.       Sign up for text updates to your phone or email address from NIXLE, the police department’s incident reporting system.  You will get messages about incidents happening in other areas but it will be a good information source if there is ever an emergency on campus.  You can access Nixle here:  http://www.nixle.com/

3.       Talk to your kids about safety in an age-appropriate way and continue to have the conversation regularly and when world events occur.  Here is a link with some helpful advice on talking to your kids about safety:  http://www.childquest.org/Safety%20tips%20for%20KIDS.html

4.       Host home fire drills to help keep your family safe.  Here is a resource about home fire drills: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=406&itemID=17735&cookie_test=1

5.       If you do get a call telling you there has been an emergency at school, please listen closely to what you have been instructed to do.

Click CampusSafetyElem.pdf.