Dear MTUESD Community,
Rockstar Drive a car! (Kids love it when I say it and think it is the highest praise, so I'll use it here too!). Great week. Those test scores came out and I got to brag all about your kids and how incredible they are and how amazing the staff was with their dedication to make sure we gave every student an opportunity to show what they know. I also have to thank again about the parents that worked with me and reversed any inkling to opt out to make sure their kid could test and be part of the effort. We look at results to see not just at who is proficient, but we look at the INCREASED PROGRESS of each kid's scores and some of them knocked it out of the park with improvement. They may still have a way to go, but boy, oh boy, did they GROW. We look really good folks. We still have a long way to go, but we look really good.
We have had our math coach out for a first round of observations. What he is noticing is that we have some really great instruction going on, but we’re not having the kids question and participate and discuss their learning while it’s going on. We’ll be working on that engagement and the learning process over the next few months. We have a number of teachers that have stepped up as teacher leaders in this program and I’m super excited to see where this goes… Everyone is working really hard, we just need to work a little differently…
The Mark Twain 4th-8th grade play structure opened this week and I even went down the slide. What fun. Kudos to the Leadership Class and the students that voted on picking this out. It’s really fun.
Next Monday at 4:45 p.m., we will be holding the interviews for the open school board seat. Anyone may attend the open session panel interview for the candidates that submitted their applications before the deadline. We are most appreciative of the four people who filled out the application. That speaks highly of this community's care and love for the district that we would generate that many applications. Speaking of the board, I would like to thank the members for their care and time throughout the year. We’ve had some special meetings lately for interviews, etc. and they always show up, they’re always prepared, and they're thoughtful. Thank you to Christy Miro, Scott McNurlin, Timothy Randall, and Cora Broglio for their efforts–a gift from the heart for the kids of our community.
All three sites are in the middle of teacher observations. I take evaluation very seriously. In my book, “Every day is an evaluation day”. You’ll see me in classrooms all during the week, maybe just for a couple of minutes, but every time I walk through I’m taking a look. I’m very pleased with what I see. Our math coach noticed how great the classroom management skills were with the students. We work very hard in the district to create relationships with kids. Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like. We need to know them as people and also have high expectations, but it all starts with that trust and understanding that everybody may be learning a little differently. You may ask what the evaluation process looks like? It’s complicated. There’s a goal setting. Then we review a lesson plan, then we watch and document a lesson, and then we debrief on the observation and talk about what worked and ideas to consider. This happens for two cycles. Plus, there’s additional walk-in observations. We take this seriously because your kids deserve it. Being a school principal is a busy job and adding in evaluations puts more on top of it. I do some of them for Mark Twain, but not many. Instructional quality directly equates to achievement. I think the staff cares about giving 100% or more every day and are excited to learn and grow. I love evaluations because I get to celebrate all that is right!
Did you see the Copper kids featured in that great photo with the firefighters in the Calaveras Enterprise and the after-school leaders from both sites featured in the article? Good stuff!
Please mark your calendar for the AMA tournament. We will be honoring former Board Member, Jenny Eltringham for her decades of service during one of the game days. Mrs. McDaniel is kindly going to let me know when that day will be, but I sure hope you show out and show some love for Jenny. She is one of the primary reasons your kids have a great gym to play in and it’s important to thank people for all they’ve done. We’ll keep you posted on dates/times.
So, on that note, I’m just going to close and tell you how grateful I am to be with you every day. It is tremendous to see all that is happening that is so good for kids at both sites. Do we always have room to improve? The answer is “yes”. Do I feel like we’ve had a growth spurt? As my mom used to say when my squirt of a brother was eating three boxes of cereal drenched in two gallons of milk a day, “That boy has sprouted”. He grew up to be about 6 '4 and looks like a Hell’s Angel, so if our growth this year is any parallel indication, I’m excited to see how off the chart our achievement will go! MTUESD has more than sprouted.
Because of a strong home/school partnership–it is so, so good.
Sincerely yours,
Louise Simson
Superintendent
650-996-3290