Principal's Welcome

Dear Ellerhorst Families,

I hope this message finds that you enjoyed a restful and joyful summer! As we prepare to begin the 2025-2026 school year, I am filled with gratitude and excitement to welcome you all back. This will be my second year as principal here at Ellerhorst Elementary, and I want to thank you for the incredible support and partnership you showed last year. Together, we built a strong foundation focused on connection, community, and student success—and I am confident we will continue to grow from here.

This year, we are thrilled to officially open our Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program and welcome our new TK Teacher, Ms. Rebecca Lee, to the Ellerhorst team. We are also excited to have Mrs. Tracy LaFreniere joining us as our new First Grade Teacher. Their passion and dedication to young learners will be a wonderful addition to our staff.

We are continuing to expand our school partnerships to provide our students with enriching, hands-on learning opportunities. Our collaboration with Growing Together will grow even stronger as they continue to support our school garden. Studio510 will also return to bring restorative support and safe play to our outdoor spaces and classrooms.

In academics, we are excited to introduce our new math curriculum, Eureka Math Squared, designed to build deep understanding and confidence in mathematical thinking. We are committed to aligning our instruction to support every student’s success.

We’re also proud to continue offering the arts and enrichment that make Ellerhorst special.
Mr. Scott will return to lead our art classes, and Mr. Berry will once again offer his popular after-school guitar classes. Mr. Gerhardt and team will work with Project Lead the Way to expand our growing FabLab and STEM work.

I’d also like to thank our amazing PTA and Dad’s Club, whose constant support and dedication to our students and staff help make all of this possible. Their contributions, both big and small, are truly felt across our campus.

Let’s continue to grow together as a community and support our students academically, creatively, and emotionally. I look forward to another joyful and productive year ahead.

With appreciation,

John Hillyer
Principal
Ellerhorst Elementary School

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Parent Involvement

At Ellerhorst, one of our strengths is family involvement at our school. Here are some quick and easy tips to support families to get involved. We have also included some ‘fun’ educational acronyms we consistently use in our district. Today's educational environment requires our community to be involved in all aspects of our funding, so we hope this helps and encourages more families to participate in WCCUSD and public education.

PTA - Parent Teacher Association - This group has been established for many decades and helps fundraise to support field trips, teacher requests and supplies, and general parent involvement, which creates a fun and engaging Learning Community.

Dad’s Club - This organization meets once a month to look at how to develop structure and programs for our students. Often they will help put together items, organize games, and of course, our Infamous Haunted Hallway in the fall and our Carnival in the spring.

Campus Beautification (formerly Garden Club) -  This organization meets once a month to develop campus beautification projects around the school.  Specifically, they have work to develop our three Garden spaces and will be looking at adding art and murals for this year.

SSC -  School Site Council -  This group is elected by the community and teachers to review our budgets through both our LCAP (Local Control Accountability Plan)  and Title 1 funding to come together and use our funds responsibly to support the goals of the school. These meetings are always open to the public.

SPSA - School Plan for Student Achievement -  This is a written document that is the DNA of any public school. This shows through data, the goals that we would like to achieve for our school and all aspects from academics to social emotional.

AAPAC - African American Parent Advisory Committee -  This group meets every two months to discuss how we support our African-American students on campus. We look at data, and find ways to support specific targeted populations.

ELAC - English Language Advisory Committee -  This organization is elected by the  Community to support our second language students in the school. The group advises the school on how to use resources to support our students learning English.

 

How do I learn about these groups?

We post all of our dates and times on our school calendar through Google! We can share the calendar with families, find it on our website, or use ParentSquare as well. Our school communicates through email, phone messages, Class Dojo, and ParentSquare (PTA Facebook also), so if you are not hearing from us, let us know! There are always events happening at our school.