Principal's Message
On behalf of the faculty and staff, welcome to Los Arboles Middle School (LAMS), home of the Falcons. Los Arboles, built in 1968, is located in Marina at the heart of the beautiful Monterey Bay, and is part of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. Teachers and staff are dedicated to providing a quality educational experience for approximately 650 ethnically diverse students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
Our goal is to provide a safe, nurturing environment so students can flourish during their time at Los Arboles. Students, parents and staff hold high expectations for one another, and all students are expected to reach their highest potential in mind, body, and spirit.
We have several special programs at LAMS including instrumental music, drama, art, after school sports, and other opportunities to help our students thrive during their time in middle school. Students are encouraged to become involved and practice responsible habits through their participation.
In addition, we encourage you, our parent community, to get involved and participate in the school and its activities. Building partnerships with our families and the Los Arboles community is one of our top priorities! Please consider participating in our Parent Teacher Association, which through fundraising efforts, provides the school with resources that greatly benefit our school.
We value the opportunity to communicate with you through our many programs, special events, activities, the Falcon Flyer newsletter, and our school website. We hope that you will find the web site a valuable source of information for your student and for your family. Parent Portal is an additional way to stay connected, as it provides news of your student’s current grades, missing assignments, and attendance. Please contact Mrs. Penny Jasso in the LAMS office for more information.
LAMS is a Community of Caring school and takes pride in exhibiting important character traits of trust, respect, responsibility, family and caring. With all of us—students, teachers, parents, support staff—working together, I know we will have a successful school year!
Mrs. Annette Bitter
Principal
Assistant Principal
I strongly believe that every student can learn and succeed in life. For this reason, I prepared myself through a variety of trainings and schooling to provide the best educational and support services to all students in our school.
I attended different universities to accomplish a career in education. For example, I went to CSU Monterey Bay to obtain a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Studies with emphasis in Spanish. I also completed my teaching credential courses in this university, and at the UC Santa Cruz Extension. Finally, I attended Chapman University to obtain a Masters Degree in Education with emphasis in Administration and completed the Tier I Administration program. Thanks to the Pajaro Valley Unifed School District, I was able to clear my administrative credential through a special program.
My career in education started as a Preschool teacher, and then worked as a bilingual teacher in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. I also worked as a Migrant Resource Teacher at the middle school level. In addition, I served as an English Language Resource teacher, ELD coach, Lead Teacher, and Summer School Principal at the elementary and high school levels. In addition, I proudly served in the US Army and became a War Veteran in 2004.
I was born and raised in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. I came in to this country when I was almost 18 yrs old. Since then, I took advantage of every opportunity and worked hard to succeed in this beautiful country. I am bilingual (Spanish/English) and bicultural (USA and Mexico).
Mr. Jose Fausto, Assistant Principal