Robert Down Principal's Update

Dear Robert H. Down School Community,

I hope each of you had a chance to take some extra time to enjoy together during Spring Break! It’s hard to believe we are approaching the last five weeks of school for the 2025-2026 school year.

Celebrating our Administrative Professionals!

On Wednesday, April 22, we celebrated Administrative Professionals’ Day by showing appreciation for our School Office Manager, Ms. Amy Riedel, as well as our Attendance Clerk, Mrs. Annie Deis! Both of these individuals do so much to support our school, welcoming parents, students, guests, managing our school calendar, school attendance, ensure our bills are paid, and go above and beyond to ensure timely communication across our campus. We appreciate you both, Ms. Riedel and Mrs. Deis!

Congratulations, Nikolai Dudukalov!

Last weekend, Robert Down Kindergarten student, Nikolai Dudukalov won 2nd place in two races within his age division at the Sea Otter Classic! We are so proud of you, Nikolai!

🎭 Stars on Stage

Support our RHD students in the local production of Beetlejuice, Jr. (Founders Theater at the Golden Bough Playhouse): Featuring 3rd Grade students Lennox Andrade, Emmi Leyva-Nguyen, Ever Karai, and Tenar Karai. More info here.

Open House

We look forward to showcasing all of your children’s wonderful work this year in our Open House on Thursday, April 30! PTA will have food trucks available and we will have an Art Display, Spanish, and PE highlighted in the Cafeteria! If you are available to organize and hang art on Thursday please sign up here.

• TK-K Session I 4:30-5:00PM

• Optional Screen Sense Parent Workshop 5:00-5:50PM

• Principal’s Address 6:00-6:15PM

• TK-K Session II 6:15-6:45PM

• 1st-5th Session I 6:15-6:45PM

• 1st-5th Session II 6:45-7:15PM

🛑 Safety: Safe Routes to School

PGUSD has partnered with the Transportation Authority of Monterey County (TAMC) and a group of CSUMB students to support our Safe Routes to School programming.

Together, this team designed a parent survey to better understand families’ top safety concerns related to how students arrive at and leave our school sites each day. Your feedback plays an important role in helping us identify areas of need and improve traffic flow, pedestrian access, bicycle safety, and overall student supervision during arrival and dismissal times.

The survey takes no longer than 5 minutes to complete.

Robert H. Down Elementary:

Safe Routes To School Survey

📅 Upcoming Dates

Apri l- Autism Awareness Month

April 28 -National Bus Driver Appreciation Day

April 30 - Open House (see above for schedule)

May -Mental Health Awareness Month

May - Asian American Heritage Month

May 1 - School Food Hero Day

May 1 - National School Principal Day

May 4-8 - Teacher Appreciation Week

May 14 -Instrumental Music Concert 5PM

📣 Important School News

• Is your family leaving before the 2026-2027 school year? If so, please let us know by e-mailing our office at rhdoffice@pgusd.org, so we can plan accordingly. Thank you!

• 2026-2027 Registration: Know an incoming TK or Kindergartner? Pre-registration for next year is now open. See link here.

• Personal Items: To prevent loss or heartbreak, please ensure toys and sentimental items stay safely at home.

🤝 "Culture of We" Opportunities

• If you are available Thursday, April 30 to help organize and hang Art for Open House, please sign here.

• Please take a moment to complete our District LCAP Family Engagement Survey. We will use this information to help us improve our school.

• Robert H. Down Elementary: Safe Routes To School Survey

• Celebrations: We would love your help highlighting Autism Awareness Month in April or Asian American Heritage Month in May. If you would like to create a bulletin board or give a presentation, please email me at ebrownfield@pgusd.org.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

With gratitude,

Emily Tsai Brownfield, Principal

We are now happy to accept Short-Term Independent Study Request Forms digitally (see link below). Please remember, the request needs to be submitted at least 2 weeks prior to the first day of your child's absence.

Justifiable Absence for Short-Term Independent Study Request Form

Please have your child to school on time. Gates open at 8:30 AM. Warning bell rings at 8:40 AM. Final bell rings and instruction begins at 8:45 AM. When a student is tardy it is disruptive to the office and classroom. In addition, students miss important information and announcements from their teacher first thing in the morning.

Did you know that you can report your child's absence with your ParentVUE app? Simply log into your ParentVUE account to send the office a message about why your child is absent.

* Ways to report a student absent *

a) ParentVUE app (click the bell icon next to your child's name)

b) 24 Hour Absence Line (831) 646-6663

If you plan on being a VOLUNTEER on campus or a CHAPERONE for a field trip, please be sure you are fingerprint cleared with our district. To make an appointment at the District Office please contact Bree Nehring by calling 607-8892 or emailing bnehring@pgusd.org

Before coming to campus to volunteer, please check with your child's teacher to schedule a time that works best for them.

Pre-registration for the 2026-2027 school year is OPEN for new to the district TK and Kindergarten age children. If you have a child turning 4 or 5 years old by September 1, 2026, please submit a NEW STUDENT PRE-REGISTRATION FORM

Turn 4 years old on or before 9/1/26 = Transitional Kindergarten (TK)

Turn 5 years old on or before 9/1/26 = Kindergarten

If your child is a current student at Robert Down you do not need to submit a pre-registration form. This form is only for new to the district children.

This notice is to tell you about our voluntary program designed to build the RHD library and foster your child’s love of reading.

Here is how it works: To join the Robert H. Down Birthday Book Club fill out the information below (scroll way down to the bottom of this message to print the Birthday Book forms) and deposit it in the Drop Box at school along with a check for $20.00 (please make the check payable to the P.G.U.S.D. and write R.H.D. Birthday Book on the memo line).

When your child’s birthday month comes around Ms. Scanlon will present a new book in honor of your child’s birthday. Your child will be the first one to check out and read the book that has been donated to the library to celebrate their birthday. A bookplate with your child’s name will be affixed to the inside cover for all future readers to appreciate.

Robert Down is proud of our commitment to social and emotional learning (SEL). Both of the programs we use, Toolbox and Second Step, are aligned with the Center for Social and emotional learning (CASEL). You can learn about CASEL and our SEL programs below.

https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/

Robert Down SEL Programs:

1. TOOLBOX

Toolbox is taught in every classroom at RD and on ‘Toolbox Tuesdays’ during P.E. time with Mrs. Tobin and Mr. Dixon. Robert Down has embraced this program for over ten years.

https://toolboxproject.com/https://toolboxproject.com/

2. SECOND STEP

We are in our second year of piloting the Second Step program. Second Step is a research-based program that focuses on developing human skills. Students (K-5) have two second-step lessons per month and 15 in total throughout the year.

https://www.secondstep.org/digital-k-12-curriculum

Website: https://robertdown.pgusd.org/
Location: 485 Pine Avenue, Pacific Grove, CA, USA
Phone: (831) 646-6540

Email: RHDOffice@pgusd.org