Principals Message

Welcome to Las Juntas Elementary!

My name is Patty Crespo and I am so excited to return as Principal of Las Juntas Elementary for the 2026-27 school year. I am eager to continue the learning and growth that our school community has experienced over the past few years around our school’s climate, culture, and academics.

Las Juntas is a place where students feel that they belong because they are deeply cared for as they continue to learn and grow on their journey to adulthood. There are often some stumbles and falls along this path and at Las Juntas, we always help our students get back up. Our theme this year, “Keep Going, Keep Growing,” exemplifies this philosophy. We will work on building resiliency in our students so they can learn to get back up on their own as they grow up. We will also focus on building background knowledge to increase vocabulary and understanding in reading, which helps accelerate student learning. Reading a wide variety of books expands background knowledge by increasing facts in a student’s mind. The more facts a students knows, the easier it is to learn new facts that connect to old facts in their minds, which naturally increases critical thinking. This also leads to greater engagement in the classroom as new concepts become more relevant and meaningful as students can connect them to previously learned facts.

As we increase critical thinking in the classroom, students may initially struggle but as the year goes on, the struggle that comes with learning will be understood as part of the learning cycle. As students continue to practice their critical thinking skills, their problem solving skills will keep growing, leading to greater accountability and self-respect, which can transform a classroom. 

We know that children are capable of learning and achieving when they are provided with the needed resources and supports. These resources and supports start at home at a very young age and develop with practice. As students learn to be accountable critical thinkers, they become more independent because they can be trusted with making great decisions on their own. We all hope that our children take the best of what we have taught them to solve the world around them long after we gone.

If accountability and discipline are difficult for a child in school, then they need to be practiced more at home. Children need to be explicitly taught these skills and provided consistent practice for them to become second nature. Learning done at home carries significant meaning for children, which is why it is essential to instill this learning at home with your children. At school, we continue to develop skills through consistent practice, just like you do at home. Learning does not stop when school is over. The most meaningful and significant learning continues at home explicitly as we teach them, and implicitly, as our children observe if we are putting into action what we just taught them. As a community, it is essential that we also take accountability for explicity teaching our children at home in order to improve academic learning in the classroom, which requires an environment that is free of disruptions. We are a community who needs to support each other through our actions and results.  

The most crucial element in any classroom is respect for learning! Continue to build your child’s curiosity to explore and ask questions. Go out at night to stargaze and discuss what exists across the various galaxies. Count all of the red cars that you see while driving by tens. Take a walk around downtown, read the informational placards, and discuss the time period. Draw the various birds and plants around the marina. Spend a day around the Bay taking every different form of transportation. We continue to encourage families to read a variety of books at home, in English and in their home language, every single day. I also urge families to incorporate math facts to build fluency and speed, like counting, adding, subtracting, and multiplying. Learning something new may be a struggle at the beginning but consistent everyday practice makes it easier. Consistent practice builds a strong foundation in learning. 

I look forward to working together and learning together, even when learning seems hard. “Keep Going, Keep Growing.” That's when you will know that learning is happening. Here's to a wonderful and exciting 2026-27 school year at Las Juntas Elementary.