Dear MTUESD Community,
What an amazing first seven days, it has been having your students back in school. We had a great first week and despite the traffic challenges all around the corridor, we welcomed students back to school. The energy at both campuses was tremendous and the enthusiasm of both students and staff to be back in the saddle was contagious.
We are delighted that the new TK and kindergarten time frames are providing additional flexibility for our families that want a more customized program. We’ve had a handful of parents/guardians at each site opt out in the afternoons and sometimes that’s a great way to start to build stamina for a student to sustain through for a full day of school; or for families that have flexibility, enjoyment of one last period of afternoon time with family before a mandatory full school day starts in first grade.
Traffic has been FLOWING. Having kids go up the white stairs at Mark Twain has really helped. My ask of you for those vehicles exiting the lot no matter the time of day, please no LEFTS out of that driveway even if no one is there. It just takes one time to hit a kid, and your life is changed forever, let alone theirs… Let’s build a consistent expectation no matter the time of day or whether someone is standing there motioning right.
Conratulations to Dr. William “Bill” Redford for his article in “The Calaveras Enterprise” about his new endeavor, the Altaville School for Independent Study, which is located on our campus next to the district office. This is an independent study program retooled for grades five through eight. This is a micro school that is attractive to many families that prefer a homeschool alternative. We are looking forward to Bill‘s building our footprint in the community and providing yet another option for families that are seeking an alternate program. The school is available for grades five through eight and is a complete retool of the old LEAP program.
I would like to shout out the members of Vine and Branch for the backpack and school supply donations that they gave for many of our students. It was just a wonderful way to support some of our students as they started their new year.
The ELOP programs are charging right along, and we appreciate the program leaders' efforts in getting those up and going. We are also innovating attendance recovery programs. We appreciate the collaboration of Richard Burkdall at CCOE. This is a new program offered by the state for schools to recover lost funding with students not participating due to illness. What this looks like is a student can make up one hour increments of a lost attendance day working with a credentialed teacher in a group after school. We will have students that are already an ELOP student receiving that extra time and also some students that have absences invited by invitation after school. What that does is for every four hours accrued, the school is reimbursed for the day the student was sick. Essentially, this isn’t much different than what we’re doing at either school with extra academic support, but it provides a way to support our loss of revenue. You may wonder why this is important? In December and January, we had a nasty flu and Strep run through the district. It cost the district thousands upon thousands of dollars because kids needed to stay home (and should stay home). If we’re able to give them a little extra time and bank it, we can recover those funds. Richard had to reach out to our information system company to build the accounting side for this program because we’re one of the first adopters to use it up in this area. We’re excited to see how it turns out. Both sites will be running, in addition to the ELOP program, robust small group after school tutoring. This is one of those supports that is good for the kid and good for the budget, but it has really been a labor of love for Richard to figure out the documentation side.
I want to give a huge shout out to the parents' clubs. We couldn’t do it without you. The Copperopolis PTC’s famous Steak and Shrimp feed is all scheduled for September 27. If you haven’t had a chance to go to that event, even if you are a Mark Twain parent, you should go. The food, which is graciously donated and prepared by Copper’s amazing benefactor in the community IGA Market, is delicious and it’s a good time for all. The dessert auction is a highlight of the evening.
We do have a vacancy on the board as you know with the retirement of Jenny Eltringham. As I stated in my past message, Jenny has been a beloved and valued Board Member throughout the decades. This position will be filled by appointment as it is a partial term. If you are interested in applying, please contact me for application details. The interviews are public with the board. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 650-996-3290.
Thank you so much for all of your collaboration on the endless forms and getting your kids back in the school routine. We are GRATEFUL.
Sincerely yours,
Louise Simson
Superintendent
650-996-3290