Mark Twain Union Elementary School District

I want to thank our partners WeDeliver Wheels, Angels Murphys Rotary Club, Angels Camp Fire Department and  CalFire for a magnificent community service opportunity. The crew moved in early on Saturday and efficiently built in a fast-paced three hours from box to test ride 75 bikes. We had a student,  Levi Neuschmid  and his mom, Sandra, also volunteered, and Levi was the official test rider of many of the bikes. On Sunday, families poured in to the gym to pick the bikes up and there’s nothing more magical than that. The event was featured in an article in the Calaveras Enterprise, and the documentary film crew was also in the house. A busy, but fun weekend for sure. 

I had a heart tug moment midway on Saturday watching Levi.  When I was a little kid growing up in a blue collar neighborhood, my mom was the  lone voice on the city run Park and Recreation Commission because she was tired of seeing her kids play in a facility that was far below the others in the richer parts of town.  She had no political power, graduated high school at sixteen and was brilliant with no money for college, but she had a voice.  I remember walking with my mom when I was eight or nine to pass out flyers for city council candidates that she thought would care about neighborhoods like ours.  It reminded me of Levi riding those bikes and being in service for others.  That culture we create with all of our little ones thinking of others is how we grow service in adults.  I am an active member of Rotary and Soroptimist, and I hope to have an organized service opportunity for elementary and middle school kids at some point.  Thank you, Levi, for the memory of my mom, and for spending your morning helping others. Good stuff!

The film crew will be back on Wednesday for additional footage. This is a documentary that is profiling a number of rural districts. My hope is that they will tell the story of the disproportionate funding models and also the many beautiful and  incredible community opportunities that we experience living in a small town with deep family connections and traditions.

Congratulations to our Science Fair competitors under the direction of Justin Miller, Kate Callier, and Jordan Gomez.  Aubree Crawford and Ember Martin had a great display with their Hot Cheetos and How They Destroy Your Body project and Aubrey Sperry and Elle Wiebe placed second in their category with a prize of $100 with their Does Color Influence Your Taste project!  (It does!).  At the class level at Copper, the following students were honored with first place by their grade level including Whitlee Hoff and Malaki Langi and Jackson Pilati presented his project at the science competition!  WELL DONE TO ALL OF OUR YOUNG SCIENTISTS!

Spring break is soon upon us and then we really start up the end of the year crazy frenzy!  Please remember that we are off March 28 through and including April 6. We return to school on April 7.    Please get those summer school forms returned please!

The i-Ready scores are coming in, and we are looking really good. These are computerized assessments we do several times a year to really see how our kids are doing. They’re not for the kids to get a grade rather they are for the teachers to say “Oh,  we’ve got to fill in this gap”,  or “They’re totally understanding this concept and that is super cool”.  I have to call out a student in Cailey Gomez‘s class who went up 61 points. Woo hoo, that’s huge! All we want to see is the best effort and GROWTH.  Moving to the right every day.   We will come back from Spring break and then have a week of preparation and then dive into state testing. Your kids are going to rock it and they’re excited about it.  We have some really cool events and incentives for all kids as well.

I want to thank our middle school team as we are discussing configurations, not for next year, but for 2027/2028. As I related, we need to figure out a way to maximize our staff in middle school related to class sizes so that we can make our class sizes in the elementary grades a little smaller. We have had some very difficult conversations, and the team really has been wonderful about talking through options. The most viable one at this point is for all of sixth grade to attend Mark Twain beginning in the 2027/28 school year. I’ll be coming down to Copper for a parent meeting on April 30 to talk with you about it. It would mean that our fifth and sixth grade this coming year would both graduate from Copper and have all of the ceremonies and graduation field trip experiences before matriculating up to Mark Twain for the 27/ 28 school year. Other ideas include reducing staff in the middle school, but you would really lose the stellar program that’s been created as far as the single subjects that the kids are receiving right now.  Lots to talk about for sure!

It’s that crazy time of year where things start going real fast so I want to make sure you have the information:

Copperopolis

Jog-a-thon: 3/24

Spring Break 3/27-4/6 returning 4/7

Nature Bowl – 4/10

Track Meet at Avery Middle School – 4/10

Mark Twain

3/19: TK/K Round Up 2

3/23: 7/8th Grade Ski Make-Up Day

3/25: Tri-County Wildlife

3/25: Spring Picture Day 

3/26: TK-3rd SOM Assembly 

3/27-4/6 Spring Break

I hope you have a safe and happy weekend ahead.

Sincerely yours,

Louise Simson

Superintendent