The Jaguar Journal
August/September 2025
Email: jamessales@fpschools.org
Website: jamessales.fpschools.org
Location: 1301 113th St S, Tacoma, WA, USA
Phone: 253-298-4200
FAX: 253-298-4215
August 20 ~ Back to School Night - 5:30-7:00 Food trucks open for purchases 5-7:00
August 26 ~ First Day of School! (1st through 5th grades)
August 29 ~ NO SCHOOL
September 1 ~ NO SCHOOL - LABOR DAY
September 3 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
September 10 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
September 17 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
September 24 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
September 25 ~ School Picture Day
September 30 ~ Last day to order James Sales spirit wear
October 1 ~ EARLY RELEASE - 1:55
October 7-10 ~ Student-led Conferences
Hello James Sales Families,
Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year! We are excited to see you at our Back-to-School Night on August 20th from 5:30 - 7:00 PM. This will give you an opportunity to meet your child's/children's teacher and see their classrooms. If you wish, you can purchase your dinner from 5-7:30 from the food trucks we will have in our parking lot! We can't wait to see our James Sales families again!
Please take the time to review our Student/Parent handbook. You can find it on our James Sales website here!
Basic school supplies will be provided by the school district again this year. You won't need to shop for supplies for your student to bring to school! Please make sure your student has a sturdy backpack though. They will use it daily to bring their work to and from school.
Finally, our office doors will open each morning at 8:40am and close at 3:30pm. Students may enter the building at 8:40am. We strongly encourage students to ride the bus, but if you decide to drop them off and pick them up, please note our procedures. Parents must remain in their car with their students in line until we are ready for drop off/pick-up students to come into the school. To ensure the safety of our students at a busy traffic time, please keep your child/children in your car until staff comes outside to receive your students. A staff member may open your car door to let your child out/in. Thank you for driving slowly and safely in our pick up zone.
In the morning, students will be dropped off along the sidewalk in front of the school. In the afternoon, please pull up to your child’s grade level area. First you will see 5th, then 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st and Kindergarten at the end. Students who walk will meet their parent at the east end of the sidewalk in front of the school. Please do not park on the neighborhood streets surrounding the school to walk up to pick up your child. Our pick-up process moves along very quickly even though the line looks long! Thank you for your help, patience, cooperation and support as we work to ensure that our students are safe.
I truly look forward to partnering with you this year.
Respectfully,
Brandy Nelson
Principal
James Sales Elementary
We have several new staff members at James Sales this year: Melia Benjamin - 2nd Grade, Jennifer Penaloza Soto - Kindergarten, Shana Simms - 5th Grade, Rebecca Rose Vandiver - Resource Room, Teresa Byrd - Head Custodian, James Straub - STRIDES, Vanessa Tugman - 2nd Grade, and Gwen Turla - 4th Grade. Please give a big welcome to our new staff. We are so glad they are here!
We are happy to have Quality School Portraits do our school pictures again this year! Picture day is scheduled for September 25th. Please make sure your student is at school on time for picture day!
Your child will bring home a picture order envelope during the first few days of school. Please look it over carefully and select the picture package you would like to order. You may pay for your order with cash (must have the exact amount - the school and the photographer are not able to make change) or a check enclosed in the envelope, or you may pre-order online with a credit card at JAME25
and follow the instructions there. Use the code JAME. QSP asks that students do not wear green on picture day!
If your child misses picture day, we have a retake day scheduled for the morning of December 4th so your child can be included in the yearbook and you can purchase pictures if you wish.
Now is the time to order James Sales Spirit Wear for your students! Click here to see your options on the Winning Seasons website. Shirt sales are open through September 30th. This will be the only time James Sales Spirit Wear will be available for purchase this school year.
The district is offering optional laptop insurance coverage for $10 per student. This insurance will cover any accidental damages to your student's laptop so you would not be responsible to pay for the damaged laptop. If you want to purchase laptop insurance you may bring $10 cash (we do not have a credit card machine or accept checks) to the office on Back-to-School night or anytime after that.
You may use the E-LINK SITE to find out your child's bus route and pick-up/drop-off times. When you get to the site, type in the following username and password:
Username: guest
Password: guest
Note: Any address listed as AV CT or ST CT should be entered as ONE WORD - AVCT or STCT
It is important that parents also check back a few days prior to school, as route schedules do change as more students are enrolled.
If you have questions, please call Transportation at 253-298-3865.
Franklin Pierce Schools uses ParentSquare for school communication, primarily with email, text and app notifications. ParentSquare automatically generates an account for each parent, using their preferred email address and phone number. We encourage parents to access their accounts so they can download the mobile app and update their preferences on when and how they are notified.
If you haven't already, you can activate your account by going to www.parentsquare.com/signin or look for your activation email.
From the Health Room
Our goal is to keep healthy children learning in the classroom and to get ill children home. Our health-room is staffed daily by an LPN to provide first-aid to students who become ill or injured at school. It is the parent's responsibility to make sure their child does not have symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, and/or vomiting. before sending them to school. If your student has any of the above symptoms, please keep them home. If a student becomes ill at school, the parent or another emergency contact will be called to pick them up.
We will give medications prescribed by state approved medical providers. We must have a new medication order signed by your provider each school year. The state allows for students to be administered only oral medications at school (including inhalers). The two exceptions in this law are for insulin and epi-pen use. The school is unable to give your student ear drops, eye drops, or apply lotions or ointments. All medications, even over-the-counter products such as pain relievers and cough drops, require an order from an approved medical provider.
Please do not send medication to school with your child, as it is illegal for them to carry it on school grounds. Parents must deliver medications to the school.
If you have any questions, please contact our nurse, Jessica Churchill, at 253-298-4208.
Bus Procedures
Please be patient during the first days of school. The buses may be running late. We have a very helpful transportation department, so if you have any questions or issues about something that happened on the bus, at the bus stop, or regarding a late bus, please call the Transportation office directly at 253-298-3865.
Bus Bulletin is a tool for the transportation department utilizes to inform students, parents and caregivers when there are bus delays, substitute drivers, and/or a bus change. Students who ride a bus are automatically enrolled in this system. If your student rides a bus, please save 253-237-8313 as Bus Bulletin's number - That is where texts and phone call notifications will come from. Watch for Bus Bulletin notifications!
If you wish your child to ride a bus other than his or her normal bus or to get off at a different bus stop, you must send a note with the bus numbers and different stop listed. The same holds true if you want your child to walk rather than ride the bus. Sending a note with your request will cut down on the amount of phone calls our busy office receives each day. Without a note or phone call, we will not allow students to walk or change their regular bus or bus stop.
Please be aware that any bus-riding kindergarten student that is not met at the bus stop after school will be returned to James Sales for parent pick-up. It is very important to meet your students at the bus stop on time!
Student Drop-off and Pick-up
Drop off: We want all of our Jaguars to be safe! Beginning at 8:40, when our doors open, we have supervision to welcome students in front of the school. Parents and students are to stay in their car in line until the car reaches a staff member who will help the student out of the vehicle. Parents who walk their children to school will say good-bye to them outside of the school. If you arrive prior to 8:40 please stay with your child until the doors of the school open. Thank you for your help with this! The office will be open to parents in the mornings at 8:40 if assistance is needed.
Pick up: All parent-transported students are picked up in front of the school. Parents stay in their car and, in turn, drive to the appropriate grade level area to find their child(ren). Staff members will help students into their vehicles.
If you need to pick up your child early from school, please come to the office to sign him or her out. One of the office staff will call your child from the classroom. As stated in the student handbook, we will not release students from 2:40 to 3:25 PM, or during the last forty-five minutes of the day on early release days. Please schedule appointments and the corresponding pick-up times so students will not be picked up during the above-mentioned times. For security reasons, you will be asked for identification. Thank you for your help with this.
If you wish to bring treats for your child’s birthday, please notify the classroom teacher. All birthday treats must be store bought and will be served during lunch. Please deliver to the office before lunch. Goodie bags and pizza are not allowed.
Please send an extra set of clothes in your Kindergarten or 1st grade student's backpack. Accidents happen and it is very helpful for students to have the clothes they need here at school so they can change and get back to class. We have a very limited amount of clothing to lend in our health room. If you child does not have a change of clothes with them, we will call you to bring clothing for them.
A Washington State Fair free admission ticket will be sent home with your child! The ticket will be good for any day of the fair. Early dismissals that coincide with the run of the fair will not be excused. Replacements for lost tickets will not be available.
We are pleased that James Sales will once again be participating in the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Program as part of the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program.
In a CEP school, ALL enrolled students receive a nutritious breakfast and lunch at no cost during the school year, regardless of family income.
If your child brings a lunch from home and wishes to have only milk, it will cost $.65. Milk by itself is not free in a CEP school. Student meal accounts are still available in CEP schools if parents wish to put money on accounts to purchase milk.
If you have any questions concerning school meals or CEP please contact the Nutrition Services Department at 253-298-4618.
Office Phone - 253-298-4200
Please read these important reminders from the office!
- If you need to come into the building, please press the intercom button on your right as you look at the front door. This will enable the office to see and hear you and buzz you into the entry if needed.
- Please notify the office of any changes in the way your child will go home at the end of the day. We need this information before 2:45 so we have time to get a note to the teacher.
- Call the office if your child will be absent. If they have an appointment, please ask the doctor, dentist, counselor, etc. for a note for school. Offices that treat children are used to giving notes to students for excuses!
- If you need to take your child out of school early, please make sure to come to the office at least 45 minutes before dismissal time. On a regular school day, please be in the office by 2:45 and on an early dismissal day, be in the office by 1:10. You will want to make sure to come early enough so that we can locate your child quickly and so you won't be trapped in the after-school pick-up line! You will need to sign your child out and wait for them to come from their classroom, so allow plenty of time. Thank you for your help!
- If your phone number, email address, or home address changes, please let us know so we have the most up-to-date contact information for you. If your child becomes ill, or otherwise needs your help, we need a way to contact you! Thank you!
Each trimester our students have the opportunity to earn a special treat reward for meeting the following goals:
- Behavior - One or fewer Write -ups
- Attendance - Three or fewer absences and/or tardies
We hope all of our Jaguars will be able to meet these goals!
We anticipate the need for volunteers for field trips and other occasions. If you are interested in volunteering as a chaperone for field trips or in any other capacity that may come up, please complete the volunteer application as soon as possible. It may take two weeks or more to process an application and we don't want you to be left out of a volunteer opportunity because you are not approved yet! Click here to begin your volunteer application. If you need assistance with your application please come to the office, call 253-298-4200, or email Linda Morrison - limorrison@fpschools.org .
James Sales houses a before and after school care program on-site for our students this year. The care is provided by Right at School. Right at School provides a safe environment to learn, to play, and to grow. Click here for more information and to register.
Franklin Pierce Schools has a resource center for our families. You will find information and help for all sorts of situations and needs - food, diapers, formula, community referrals, and more. Click here to access the Family Resource Center website.
