Santa Rosa County District Schools

🐾A Proud Panther Giving Back! 🐾 We are thrilled to share that Corliss Waitman, Milton High School Class of 2014 and current punter for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has generously donated 250 fully stocked backpacks for Milton High students! 🏈 Each backpack is filled with school essentials including notebooks, pens, pencils, a binder with dividers, sticky notes, and even a 5-piece geometry set—everything students need for a strong start to the year. 🎒 Corliss made this donation in loving memory of his late great-grandfather, Mr. Blue Waitman, who was a true inspiration to him and his family. Thank you, Corliss, for your generosity, kindness, and continued support of your alma mater. We are so proud of you—on and off the field! ✨

Thank you to our generous business partners for helping support our students! Today, Santa Rosa County District Schools received a generous $2,000 donation from Genrec Properties LLC, Benard Waters, and Madelyn Gonzalez to help pay off student meal debt. The donation was presented by Kris Long. 📸 Pictured left to right: Cindy Norton (Coordinator of School Food Services), Kris Long, and Stevie Thomas (Food Service Compliance Officer). We are so grateful for this support of our schools and district! 💙

National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day

August 21st is a coordinated day of response by grassroots fentanyl awareness organizations and families impacted by fentanyl to educate the public about the dangers of illicit fentanyl. To learn more, visit the link below.

🔗https://www.dea.gov/fentanylawareness

FOCUS Parent Portal Notification Options

Log into your FOCUS Parent Portal account via the app or www.santarosa.focusschoolsoftware.com to ensure you have notifications turned ON for communication with our new Rooms app! See photo below - this is under each individual contact's information, not under Preferences.

Be sure all information matches for a contact if you have multiple students. This includes name, capitalization, email, and phone number.

Back to School Photo Contest Winners! 🎉 Our random Wheel of Names helped us pick the 4 lucky winners for this year’s Back to School Photo Contest! Thank you to everyone who submitted... your photos certainly made us smile! 😃 Winners: 🏆 Swag Bag – Alexis Curry 🏆 Swag Bag – Courtney Leahy Jacobs 🏆 Swag Bag – Kari Carter 💳 $50 Gift Card & Swag Bag – Hali White We’ll be sending you a direct message soon to set up delivery! 🚨 Heads up! If you see a comment or DM claiming you’ve won but it’s not from our official SRCDS account, it’s a scam. ✔️ As noted in our original post, winners are being announced Wednesday, August 13. ✔️ If you haven’t heard directly from our verified page, it’s not legit. 🛑 Please don’t click suspicious links or share personal information. Thanks for being part of our Back to School Giveaway! 📸✨

Have Questions About ROOMS for Communication? Rooms can be accessed via our new Santa Rosa County District, FL app. Download it and log in today to begin two way communication with your child's teacher(s). 🚨 Most issues with Rooms happen because the information in FOCUS is incorrect or inconsistent. 🚨 What does this include? ✅One child in the District and can’t log in? ➡️Call your child’s school to make sure there are no typos in your name, email address, or phone number. ➡️Make sure you have notifications turned on for the method you are expecting to use (calls/text or email). ➡️Make sure you have custody - only custodial parents/guardian information is sent! ✅Multiple children in the District? ➡️Check that your contact information matches for all children. Even small differences in spaces or capitalization generate different records. ➡️Example: “Thomas” vs. “Tom” or “DAVID” vs. “David” can cause issues. Having an email on file for one student and not another will cause an issue or different emails. Still having trouble? Email PIO@santarosa.k12.fl.us for assistance. Please note we are receiving a large number of requests so your request may take 24-48 hours to be resolved. Thank you for your patience!

2nd Annual Back to School Photo Contest 📷🤳

Let's see those first day of school pictures! Enter your best and most creative back to school and first day photos in the comment section and you could WIN!

⭐3 Santa Rosa SWAG BAG winners
⭐1 $50 Gift Card winner

Submit your photo(s) in the caption below for a chance to win! Contest ends Tuesday, August 12 at 3:00pm. Winners will be randomly selected by "Wheel of Names" and announced on Wednesday, August 13! 😁

We can't wait to welcome our students BACK on Monday, August 11! Wishing you a wonderful weekend before the back to school busy season begins! 🌞

It's not too late to register! ⏰ Helpful Links are BELOW! ⬇️

Registration: https://santarosa.focusschoolsoftware.com/focus/auth/
Enrollment Information: https://www.santarosaschools.org/o/srcds/page/enrollment
Back to School Information & Resources for 25-26: https://www.santarosaschools.org/page/25-26-back-to-school-page

🎉 Ribbon Cutting Celebration at King Middle School! 🎉 We’re thrilled to share that the ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly renovated Martin Luther King Middle School cafeteria was a huge success! 🏫✂️ Students, staff, and community members came together to celebrate this exciting milestone with: 🍽️ Delicious samples from our brand-new school menu 🎁 Fun prizes and giveaways 👀 A first look at the beautifully redesigned lunchroom Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make this event unforgettable! Here’s to fresh spaces, fresh meals, and a fresh start to the 2025-2026 school year! 💫

🚍 Back to School Means Buses Are Back on the Roads! 🛑

As we kick off a brand new school year, we want to remind everyone to slow down, stay alert, and prioritize safety... especially around school buses and school zones.

🛑 When a school bus stops, so should you! Florida law requires drivers to stop when the bus extends its stop arm and flashes red lights, unless there’s a raised median.

🚸 Watch for children walking or biking to and from school - especially in the early morning or afternoon hours.

🚦 Follow posted speed limits in school zones and avoid distractions like texting while driving.

Let’s work together to keep our students safe as they travel to and from school. A few extra seconds of patience could save a life. Wishing everyone a safe and successful school year! 💛📚

🚌Transportation Update - August 6, 2025🚌

My Ride K-12 will be the new bus tracking app for 2025-2026! 📲

Once you create an account and link your student, routes with stops and times are now updated and available for most families as of August 6.

If you have questions or concerns pertaining to transportation, please enter a Transportation 411 request below. Our transportation staff is monitoring this and will follow up with you.

🔗https://www.santarosaschools.org/o/srcds/page/transportation-411

Rooms Access Update We’ve received a number of emails and inquiries regarding access to Rooms, and we appreciate your patience as we work through them as quickly as possible to ensure everyone is set up correctly. We’ve been in contact with our provider, Apptegy, to better understand why some parents may not have received their text or email invites, or are experiencing login issues. Here are a few helpful reminders: ✅ Once you’ve downloaded the Santa Rosa District Schools app, custodial parents/guardians can log in using the phone number or email address on file in FOCUS, as long as notifications are enabled. 🚫 If you’ve opted out of phone or email notifications in FOCUS, login may not work. Opting out prevents us from sending you essential communications like Rooms invites or verification codes. 📲 Be sure to check your notification permissions and ensure you’re using a method (phone or email) that’s active in your FOCUS account. 🔧 We are also making some updates tonight to ensure that any numbers listed as “home” numbers can also receive Rooms invites. The system currently prioritizes cell phone numbers in the data file, but we are working to expand that to include additional contact points. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Additionally, anyone listed as having a custodial relationship in FOCUS will receive access to Rooms, regardless of the specific “relationship” label listed. 📚 Please also note: Teachers must publish their classes in Rooms before they are visible to you. Many of them just completed training today and will begin publishing classes and sending welcome messages very soon. We’re continuing to respond to your messages and assist as quickly as we can. Thank you again for your patience and understanding as we roll out this new communication tool! Need help? Email us at PIO@santarosa.k12.fl.us.

Rooms Invites Are LIVE! 📲 You can now log into the Rooms feature of our new Santa Rosa District Schools app! ✅ Check your text messages (from 20819) or email (from accounts@thrillshare.com) for your personalized invite. ✅ Follow the link to create your account and enjoy easy, direct communication with your child’s teachers all year long! Didn’t get the invite? Accidentally deleted or blocked the message? No worries — if your phone number is on file in FOCUS, you can still log in using that number. Our teachers are training on Rooms tomorrow, and welcome messages will start rolling out soon once classes are published! Need help? Email us at PIO@santarosa.k12.fl.us

SRCDS Families, Bus App Update 8/1/25 @ 6:30pm ✅At this time, the login feature is now working. Please use your child’s 57#, grade, and school to link to your account after creating one. ✅Routes will be available here on Tuesday, August 5. ✅Download the My Ride K-12 app today to link your students so you can view routes and track buses for the upcoming school year. Thank you for your patience!

The August 2025 edition of LEAPS & Bounds is now available at the link below!

🔗https://bit.ly/LEAPSandBoundsAugust2025

Don't miss important items in this edition:
✅District & School Grade Highlights, page 4
✅Stuff the Bus Success, page 6
✅Back to School Resources, page 19-42
... and more! This is your one-stop shop for preparing for Back to School! 😊

🚌 2025-2026 Bus Information 🚌 Transportation is mailing postcards with this year's bus route information - be on the lookout for that information coming soon! 📫 NEW APP: We are excited to introduce our new bus tracking app, My Ride K-12, a new tool that makes it easier than ever to find your child's bus stop and route information, as well as receive notifications about bus delays and other route changes, right in the palm of your hand. 📲 My Ride K-12 Directions to Create Account 1. Download the app and begin by creating an account 2. Link your student to your account using his/her student ID (57#) 3. Select your child's grade level and school for the 2025-2026 school year 4. Once linked, go to "My Students" and find the student you are looking for 5. Click "Details" 6. Click "Schedule" 7. Route information will be available here on the morning of Tuesday, August 5. If you have questions or concerns regarding any of the route information, please submit a transportation 411 request at the link below. Our transportation staff will be actively monitoring and reviewing these requests and following up with families. https://www.santarosaschools.org/o/srcds/page/transportation-411 Additionally, transportation staff will be on site next week during schedule pick-ups at the school sites to assist with any further questions. Bus drivers will receive their route sheets on Monday, August 4 and will begin making contact with families.

Our upcoming school board meeting will be held on Thursday, August 7 at 9:00am. The school board meeting will be held at 5086 Canal Street in Milton, Florida.

Per School Board Policy 2.22 - Any individual wishing to make a public comment shall fill out a speaker form prior to addressing the School Board and may sign up to speak prior to the start of the meeting.

Can you believe August is just around the corner? As we gear up for back-to-school season, we’ve compiled some important dates to help you prepare!

🚀 Check out our Back to School resources here: https://www.santarosaschools.org/page/25-26-back-to-school-page

📅 Haven't registered yet? Don’t worry, it’s not too late! Head over to our enrollment page: https://www.santarosaschools.org/o/srcds/page/enrollment

💻 Start your registration process online through FOCUS: https://santarosa.focusschoolsoftware.com/focus/auth/

⭐BACK TO SCHOOL⭐

Nadia Colin, Public Information and Family and Community Outreach Officer, sat down with Tanner Stewart at WEAR ABC 3 News, Pensacola to discuss back to school! Read more at the link below.

🔗https://weartv.com/news/local/santa-rosa-county-school-district-offers-resources-to-help-students-ease-back-into-class

It's not too late to register! Visit our enrollment page below and then head into FOCUS to start the registration process.

Enrollment Page 🔗https://www.santarosaschools.org/o/srcds/page/enrollment
FOCUS Registration 🔗https://santarosa.focusschoolsoftware.com/focus/auth/

All of your Back to School 25-26 resources can be found on our Back to School page.
🔗https://www.santarosaschools.org/page/25-26-back-to-school-page

SRCDS Update & Back to School Reminders - 7/28/25

🔔We look forward to welcoming our students back to school on Monday, August 11!
🔔Visit our Communication Page for Families at https://www.santarosaschools.org/page/communication2526.
🔔Be sure to download the Santa Rosa County District app for all communication needs! Log ins are not accessible yet; invites will be sent on Monday, August 4 so there is nothing else for you to do at this time.
🔔Be sure your contact information is current and updated in the FOCUS Parent Portal.
🔔Visit our Back to School 25-26 page for all things related to back to school at: https://www.santarosaschools.org/page/25-26-back-to-school-page
🔔Stay tuned for our August edition of LEAPS & Bounds on Friday, August 1 which will also incorporate all of your back-to-school resources!

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