Ramona Community Montessori School

Student Hours & Bell Schedule

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RCMS Newsletter

October 25, 2026

GREETINGS RCMS Community!

This newsletter comes out every Sunday evening to keep you informed of upcoming events and to celebrate highlights of recent happenings and celebrations. We also have a live link on the RCMS Website. This week features (click on the title to jump to the section):

Click on an event to see more details!

Wednesday Dismissal: Curbside Courtesy

A friendly reminder that RCMS dismissal on Wednesdays begins at 11:47 a.m. Our sister school, MVA, dismisses earlier at 11:30, and we appreciate your courtesy in allowing their families first access to the curbside pickup area.

Please do not enter the pickup line before 11:30 a.m. This helps ensure MVA families can safely and efficiently pick up their students before RCMS families begin lining up. Thank you for your patience, cooperation, and support in making dismissal smooth and safe for everyone!

Parent-Teacher Conference Week - Oct 26 - 30

We are looking forward to connecting with all of you next week, Oct. 26th - 30th, as we host conferences to discuss your student's goals and progress. Please make sure that you arrive on time to your scheduled conference as teachers' schedules are full with back to back conferences.

Remember that everyday this week is a MINIMUM DAY.

Dismissal Monday - Friday will be at 11:47am.

Halloween at RCMS

Throughout the year, our students have multiple opportunities to dress in costume for academic and school culture purposes: Colonial Day, Literature Day, monthly spirit days, Career Day, International Day, Greek and Roman feast days, etc. For Halloween, however, we like to save costumes for any parties or trick-or-treating after school and off campus. During the school day, students may wear seasonal colors or tee shirts, socks, jewelry or hair accessories.

Spirit Day - Dress like a teacher Day Nov 4th

26-27 RCC Spirit Days - Jessica LaTour.pdf

RCC Drive-in Movie Night - Friday, Nov 13th @5pm

Join us on Friday, November 13th, for our Drive-In Movie Night!

At Fall Carnival, students had the opportunity to vote for the movie we would watch at Family Movie Night, and the votes are in… Sing 2!

PTSA is adding a fun twist this year! Build your own cardboard car, decorate it, and bring it along to drive into the fun. Get creative, grab your popcorn, and enjoy a great night with our school community!

RUSD 2026-2027 Parent/Caregiver Survey

If you missed this important email from our Superintendent, please see below and participate in this very important Parent/Caregiver Survey!

Dear Parent/Caregiver,

As part of Ramona Unified's commitment to continuous improvement, we are conducting a survey (2nd year) in partnership with Studer Education to monitor our progress in creating a positive school experience for you and your child(ren). Your feedback is crucial in helping us identify areas for recognition and improvement. This year's survey has been updated to include the important survey questions from our annual LCAP (Local Control Accountability Plan) survey which you've been very helpful in completing and sending back to us each January. After you take this Parent/Caregiver Survey you will have answered important questions for both our continuous improvement efforts and the necessary questions for our LCAP process.
The survey will ask you to select the school your child(ren) attends. Once you complete the survey for 1 school, you will have the option to provide feedback on another school if you have a child at another school in the district. Providing feedback to each school should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. We encourage you to complete it in one sitting, as your responses will be saved once you click submit.
The Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey can be accessed here: https://surveys.studereducation.com/f/41851354/aa1d/
The survey is scheduled for 10/19/2026 - 11/2/2026.
To maintain confidentiality of the Parent/Caregiver Experience Survey, our partners at Studer Education will be administering the survey, managing the data collection, and aggregating the data to provide results reports to leaders.
Thank you for your commitment to our success!

RCC Flag Gathering for Veteran's Day

Wednesday, Nov. 18th

We would like to invite any parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends of our students to join us at our Flag Gathering to be recognized for their current or former service in our Armed Forces.

Wednesday, November 18, we will begin at 7:55, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. (We are hosting this on the Wednesday following Veteran's Day, as Wednesday, November 11th is holiday with no school attendance.)

MVA, our sister school, will join us and the MVA choir will share patriotic songs. We will then invite any veterans or folks currently serving to introduce themselves and share which branch of the service they were involved in.

Our goal is to recognize those who serve, and thank them for their service. Our students will benefit from seeing our active duty personnel and veterans. We hope to see many of you at our Flag Gathering in a few weeks.

RCC Read-a-Thon - Let's get READING!!!

From Oct 26th -Nov 9th, students can log as many reading minutes as they can while raising funds for our school! Families and friends can pledge per minute or give a flat donation through each student's personalized online page.

Check your email where you will find a link to personalize your student's page and start sharing it with family and friends.

Donations are due by Nov 9th.

Proceeds go directly to support our School Library and this event is proudly brought to you by your RCC PTSA.

Let's open books, grow minds, and strengthen our school -- one page at a time!

We also just learned that the In-N-Out Burger Cover to Cover Club reading program is underway through the Ramona Community Library in town. Kids ages 4-12 can receive an award of one free hamburger or cheeseburger for every five books or 300 minutes read, up to three awards.

The program runs through November 14, 2026. Stop by the front desk at the Ramona Library to pick up a reading log or to get any questions answered!

So... students can get "double duty" for their reading.

SCHOOL PICTURES

Lifetouch - School Pictures are ready!

Families who would like to order pictures can visit MyLifetouch and use an existing account or create a new one.

California Coastal Art & Poetry Contest

California students in kindergarten through 12th grade are invited to submit artwork or poetry with a California coastal or marine theme to the 25th annual Coastal Art & Poetry Contest. Entries can be submitted online by 5pm on January 28, 2027. For prize information, rules, contest flyer, entry form (and helpful links for teachers and students), please visit https://www.coastal.ca.gov/art-poetry/.

The California Coastal Commission, part of the State of California's Natural Resources Agency, also offers resources for educators and students throughout the year.

RCMS Yearbook - on Sale Now

Yearbooks are available for purchase online only. Cost is $30

CLICK HERE TO BUY YOUR YEARBOOK

ALL THINGS PTSA

(Parent Teacher Student Association)

BREAKFAST AND LUNCH at School

Food Services continues to provide FREE breakfast and lunches for ALL students. Breakfast is served from 7:25-7:45 am. Breakfast and lunch Menus are published monthly. They will be linked in this newsletter as soon as they become available.

If you plan to have your child eat breakfast, please arrive in time for the student to finish eating before the start of class.

Students are always welcome to bring lunch and snacks from home. We kindly ask families to consider avoiding peanut products when packing food for school. We have a few students with severe peanut allergies, and while we make every effort to prevent cross-contamination and keep these students safe, limiting peanut products on campus helps us create a safer environment for everyone.

October Cafeteria Menus

RCC October 2025 Menus.pdf

PARENT VOLUNTEERS

We are so very happy to welcome volunteers to our campus.

Level One volunteers must go through a clearance process which includes: photo identification, negative tuberculosis test, the clearance process takes a few days. Pick up a volunteer packet in our main office if you are interested.
Level Two volunteers also require a physical and fingerprint clearance.

Not all classrooms use parent volunteers, and our Montessori teachers typically prefer to wait until classroom cultures are normalized before including other adults in the mix.

ATTENDANCE

We cannot emphasize too much how important it is to their success for students to be at school, on time, for the whole day of instruction.

STUDENTS LEAVING EARLY

Due to the traffic congestion and the busyness of the end of each day, students needing to be picked up from school early, need to be checked out from the front office before 1:45pm (at least 30 minutes prior to dismissal). Please plan accordingly when your student needs to leave school early for appointments.

Ramona Community Flyers - Click HERE to view Flyers

ARRIVAL & DISMISSAL - Efficiently & Safely

Please take a moment to review the protocols below to ensure that we keep all students safe and maintain maximum efficiency.

It is no secret that our parking lot can be a challenge during drop off and pick up times. As we share the campus with our sister school, Mountain Valley Academy, we have strategically timed our RCMS and MVA arrival and dismissal times in order to minimize the traffic as much as possible. Please show extra grace and courtesy during the busiest times in the parking lot and follow these protocols:

The middle row in the parking lot is one way (southbound) only. If you pass through the middle parking row, please exit at the south into the inside lane for flowing traffic.
The inside lane is for flowing traffic only - students may not enter or exit cars from the inside lane, only the outside lane (curbside).
If using the pick up lane, you may only pick up at the curb in one of the 4 marked spaces. There is no loading unless your are in one of these 4 spaces.
Handicapped spaces are for vehicles with handicapped placards only. Please do not idle or park in these spaces unless you have a valid handicapped placard on display.
The school-side curb is for IMMEDIATE loading and unloading ONLY.
Please remain inside your vehicle when picking up at the curb. If your child is not yet able to get in the car and/or buckled on their own, you need to park and then walk up to meet your child.
If your student is not in front of the school ready and waiting for pick up, please park in an available parking space to wait for their arrival.
Please abide by all traffic laws. Do not enter the parking lot using the exit lane, and do not turn left when exiting the parking lot.
Pedestrians, please use the blue crosswalk in the parking lot to enter and exit campus. Do not walk in-between cars in the pick up line. This is not only dangerous for you and drivers, this also slows down the flow of traffic.
If a friend or family member is picking up your student, please make sure they are aware of and follow the parking lot protocols.

Please review the complete Ramona Community Campus Parking Lot Protocols HERE

RCMS Bullying Prevention and Reporting

We encourage our students to be up-standers and if they "See Something, Say Something" to reduce bullying on our campus. We investigate all instances of bullying that are reported to our school site. If there are any concerns please email our counselor, Ms. Bishop or Principal, Mrs. Sawada, and/or complete the bullying reporting form: Online Bullying Reporting Form (If you are a parent assisting your child with completing the form, you must be signed in to their student email.)

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