Dear Westwood Families,

Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year!

Much planning, excitement, and hard work has gone into preparing for a successful return to school. My name is Mrs. Adrienne Stephenson and I am the principal serving the students, community, and staff at Westwood Elementary School. I come to you with 18 years of experience in the Alhambra School District.  I have served our district and families as a First-Grade Teacher, Academic Coach, Assistant Principal, and Principal.  I am looking forward to meeting new faces, revisiting with familiar ones, and becoming an integral part of the education of more than 650 students. Ms. Kara Huff  will serve as our Assistant Principal, and  Ms. Angelica Garcia will serve as our Academic Coaches. Together, we are honored to work alongside you to make this an impactful and wonderful experience for all students and families!

The Mission of Westwood Elementary School is to provide a safe environment by fostering lifelong learners, building positive diverse relationships centered around students, guided by teachers, and supported by families and our community. The Vision of Westwood Elementary School is to ignite dedication towards college and career achievement, excellence, and success for all in an ever-evolving world.

Building relationships with our students and their families is key to the success of our school. I assure you our team will work hard to build strong relationships with parents, students, staff, and community partners.  We believe that every student attending Westwood has the genius to achieve at high levels and it is our goal to do all we can to ensure that we provide as much support as possible in order to make their dreams a reality!

This year, we will continue with enVision Mathematics. This program helps us further to improve our math instruction and provide students with engaging lessons.   In addition, we will continue with our Wonders core reading program which connects students to intentional instruction, inspiring content, and innovative technology. We will be continuing with Spalding to helps students with their reading, writing, and spelling. We are also excited to continue our Leader In Me  journey which focuses on teaching students how to become leaders in school and in life.

We are truly partners in your child’s educational journey and are excited and want to work alongside you to ensure that your child has the best school experience possible. Please feel free to call or stop by with any questions you may have. Knowing how crucial the home/school partnership is, we are always looking to increase parent involvement at Westwood, and would love to have as many volunteers on campus as possible. Please call our front office at 602-242-2442 and ask for our Parent Volunteer Coordinator, Elidia Landey. She is excited work with you and get you set up to volunteer. In addition, each month we have our PTO (Parent Teacher Organization)/SCC (School Community Council) meeting where parents and staff meet to go over what is happening for the month at school and share ideas to help engage families and raise funds. We would love to have you attend. Please also keep an eye out for our Westwood Family Nights each month!

Please plan on joining us for Meet the Teacher on Monday, August 1st from 4:00-6:00.  During this time, you will have the opportunity to meet your child’s teacher, your child’s administrators, learn about Westwood, and ask any questions you have for the upcoming year. The first day of school is Tuesday, August 6th.

We will continue to have early release Wednesdays this year. Dismissal will be  at 1:40 every Wednesday.

Enforcing our uniform policy allows for us to keep students focused on learning as well as adding another layer of safety as we can easily see who should and should not be on campus. The proper uniform dress consists of red, navy blue, or white tops and navy or khaki bottoms. Shoes should be closed toe for safety at recess and PE. Crocs, slippers, heels, slides, flip flops, etc. are not safe to wear to school.

Again, I am truly honored to serve as your child’s principal, and I look forward to partnering with you to ensure his/her academic success.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns.  Our theme this year is: T.E.A.M- Together Everyone Achieves More! Working together, we will pave the road to college and prepare students to be world class citizens who are ready to master the challenges of the 21st Century! On behalf of our entire staff, welcome to the Westwood family!

Sincerely,
Adrienne Stephenson, Principal