Dear MTUESD Community,
My walk along the creek on Saturday morning was super fun as Trout season was open and the fish were practically jumping out of the water saying “Catch Me!” It was great to see so many families out there. My beautiful Blue Heron made a return appearance on Friday, and as I was staring at him in my high heels by the road, it was so nice that Officer Miro from California Highway Patrol stopped by to make sure I was OK. The next morning I saw the Heron in the field because he was getting away from the excitement of the fishing in the creek. That Blue Heron is a very lucky omen for MTUESD. He always appears at the right time…
I am so very proud of this student and staff community for their effort in the state testing. Whether you think it’s a fair and appropriate way to measure school performance with a standardized test is a personal belief. I think it is just one measure and not the most effective, but it’s the one I’ve got to work with from the State, and a tsunami of bad things happen related to community impressions and reporting when we don’t do well. I want to thank everyone–kids, staff, and parents for their effort and commitment to turning around the test scores, which are the public face of our school district. Students were really giving a solid effort and the staff was giving them the tools to make sure they felt comfortable and knew what was expected. I also appreciated a couple of parents that redirected their kids to give their best effort because it was important to their teachers. This is what school pride looks like and I’m super grateful. If we want to protest how the State measures performance, we need to do it at the State level with our representatives, but until that game changes, we are going to do our very best to present MTUESD as a district on a positive trajectory. School achievement equates to increased property values, increased business development and retail options, essentially, increased opportunities all around. Let this district be the driver of a thriving community renewal with expectations and results.
In other news, the Big Bike Build is this Saturday and Sunday. If your student was on the list to receive a new bike, please make sure you come at the appointed drop off time on Sunday. Michele Speyer will be reaching out with phone calls. The following weekend, we have the amazing Junior Frog Jump. Don’t miss this fun in the Mark Twain gym. Life in a small town definitely has its perks and leaping frogs in the middle school gym is definitely one of them! Go have some fun with your kids. This is a wonderful partnership with our local business community.
We are getting pricing on the new replacement playgrounds for the small Copper structure and the middle school structure at MT. These come out of those restricted funds and cannot be used for student achievement. I know…don’t get me started on the State. The Copper Gym will be repainted during Frog Jump and the generator for food service at Copper is finished. We are working on a freezer for emergency storage at MT.
Eighth grade parents, make sure you are monitoring those report cards. The last thing I want to have happen is for me to make a call and say your kid can’t walk. I appreciate the staff going out of their way this year to make sure we were in contact early and often so that your student had every opportunity to correct their path. Reach out NOW if you have any questions.
Wishing you a happy week ahead. The crazy fair fun is almost here. Please make sure your kid comes to school on Monday after the fair. I know that Monster Mash or whatever that car mashing derby is called is pretty exciting and a late night, but school really matters. Sometimes, I feel like students feel like school is over after the fair, but in reality we have three more weeks and we have a lot to cover.
If your student is not signed up for summer school, do so now please. We have an amazing program set up and our youngsters are going to get some very personalized instruction in very small class sizes. Don’t miss this chance. You can sign up in the morning or afternoon for sessions A or B or both. Do so now please! This would be a great chance for your student to enter their new grade with a leg up in academics. I thank Tessa Pyle, Kelly Felix, and Emily Mucks Anderson for their work on the program. There is a bus run from Copper in the morning and back again after lunch. There is not a late bus for the afternoon session. Both sessions will have transportation.
I would like to take a moment to thank the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office and Lieutenant Greg Stark for working with our staff on the active threat training. It is absolutely unthinkable to me that that’s where we are in society that we have to worry about that, but it is reality. The good news is the Sheriff's Office trains tactically on these matters continuously and their directive is clear. Their GOAL IS TO MOVE IN AND STOP THE THREAT. My staff’s job is to keep kids safe while they get there. One of the things that came up during the training is the abundance of “What if?” The reality is if there is a shooter event, being the rural district we are in, we are going to have parents show up at the school with weapons. That’s the kind of rural county we live in where we all hunt and shoot. What I want to relate to you is that for law enforcement in the craziness of the moment they won’t know that you’re there to protect your kid. They’re only going to see a person with a gun. Think about that please. I am very confident that between local PD, Sheriff, CHP, Fish and Game, Fire, and all the public agencies that would swarm an event, law enforcement will neutralize the threat.
The presence of a parent with a weapon could result in extreme tragedy for your family because someone showing up on a site with a gun looks like a “bad guy". We also had a discussion about “What if…parents are on the phone telling their kids to leave. I implore you, you are going to have to trust the adult in the room with the kid to decide what’s best with the information they have from the site on whether to leave or flee. Our teachers are trained on responses to these types of events. Advising your kid to exit a room over the phone when you don’t know what’s going on could it result in them getting killed and also allowing a breached door by their exiting to have all of the other students at risk. I don’t mean to bring these things up to scare you. What I’m doing is having these conversations in advance so if the worst and unthinkable ever happens, we have a plan.
I also want to let you know that we’ve ordered additional security clips for the doors and we will be placing stop the bleed training kits into every classroom for wound packing. Not super fun things to think about, but I’d rather have it in there, than not. Is this totally unnerving as a parent? Yes, it is. Are we going to be prepared if the worst happens, you betcha.
Help me, help your kid and your family and don’t show up with a weapon or tell your kid to exit a room and breach the security for all of the other kids in the space.
This is a sobering message for sure, but I would rather say it ahead of an unlikely event. Kids are safe and protected at school. But if there ever WAS an event, having those protocols talked about ahead of time will increase our changes for a successful outcome.
I will end on a very positive note to update you about our adult Vine and Branch tutors. We have seven adults cleared to volunteer to support academics weekly with our students. Their gift of time and care is so appreciated and making a difference for the achievement of our kids.
I love you all and appreciate your amazing partnership this year. It has been an extraordinary year…We got this...
Sincerely yours,
Louise Simson
Superintendent
650-996-3290
Every Student. Every Day. Every Possibility.
Please forgive any auto-dictate errors.