Dear MTUESD Community,
Summer school started off nicely and I appreciate the hard work of lead teachers, Kel-Lee Felix and Tessa Pyle and all of the classified and certificated staff devoting their summertime to our kids. The kids have a lot of fun and learning in store. Weekly classes will include PE, art, and swimming.
I just want to take a moment to make sure your student has up-to-date vaccinations. When I joined the district last year, we were scrambling to get kids vaccinated. Just make those appointments early if your student is due. This is not my rule. This is the state rule and we have to comply. If you have any questions, reach out to me early so that we can solve problems.
The district has made some exciting new hires to fill vacancies that we will be sharing shortly. I think the energy and momentum of change is attracting some stellar individuals, and I am excited to share that news with you.
Both bids for the upper grade Mark Twain playground area and the TK through Kinder playground area at Copperopolis have been received and will be placed. Equipment takes about 6 to 8 weeks to arrive and then we have to get on the install schedule. I anticipate having those refreshed and opened for students by early fall. We will try for summer, but these vendors get impacted and booked up over summer months but will do the best we can. The staff lot at Mark Twain is being resurfaced and the playground area resealed. We have so much deteriorated asphalt that it would cost probably $1 million to go in and do the correct repairs and right now we are just trying to extend the life of them with the reseal. I always put that out there because people say why didn’t you fix the cracks and some of the cracks are so enormous that it would require a complete saw cut and replacement, and we just can’t afford it.
The district office staff is available during the summer, if you have questions. I would like to thank the district office team for an outstanding job with the recent Federal Program Monitoring audit for our federal funds. This is an unbelievably time-consuming process and the district was able to clear all items in this extensive review before the scheduled meeting date. That doesn’t happen very often and it’s because of the hard work of the people in the District Office. Hats off to Catherine Eastburn, Bernadette Costa Moran, Lisa Stewart, Michele Speyer, Sam Austin, Carri Penafiel and Sarah Tuthill for providing all of the required documentation to make this happen. I can go on and on about what a waste of time these requirements are and what a disproportionate burden it is for small school district and a huge waste of state and federal money, but that will be saved for another day in a trade publication. We also completed our draft LCAP and budget and that will be presented tonight and approved on June 26. The state continues to robustly fund after-school programs at the expense of during the day programs and we’re going to need to get politically active in order to create that change. We have a powerful lobbyist coming out in the next couple weeks to tour our sites and learn a little more about what rural schools really look like, and I’m hopeful we can begin that story for the next legislative session.
A huge thank you to Bret Harte staff for their partnership this year on the after-school music program with Mr. Allured, the Sierra K-16 Peer Tutor program, and the Fire Camp. This has been a win-win all around. Copperopolis staff will be using their Proposition 28 Money to have music instruction with Mr. Allured two days a week for students. This is a terrific opportunity for early music education. Mark Twain‘s Proposition 28 money is used to fund Kacy Barnett’s middle school art elective, which is beloved by the students.
I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.
Sincerely yours,
Louise Simson
Superintendent
Cell: 650-996-3290