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.

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

News Archive

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.