Dear MTUESD Community,

School start is almost upon us. We are looking forward to seeing your students and you on August 13. Please remember to register your student online, EVEN IF, you are returning from last year, to ensure that you have a classroom assignment. You may not see your child’s name on the list if the registration has not been completed. Here is a link. 

https://marktwainca.infinitecampus.org/campus/OLRLogin/mark_twain

Please contact Courtney Stamatis at cstamatis@mtwain.k12.ca.us or 209-736-1855 should you need assistance completing the registration.

We are moving to the on-line process to get rid of that stack of paper that costs our school system about $15,000 a year.  Help us, to get funds back into the classroom for kids not buying reams of paper.

Did you see the film trailer? I have free tickets for October 6 at the Crest Theater. Call me at 650-996-3290.  I am TIRED of our school being left behind:  https://youtu.be/guyB1EYW888?si=_I5XedVbBd267IPQ

W will be doing some construction at the front of the school that will be ending shortly after the first week of school. We had a slight delay with the demolition permit for the old bathroom, which made be crabby. We are working through that. With construction projects, it’s always something, and I always marvel that I still have all my hair, but we want to get that front of schoolwork done. Please note that the drive lanes will be very tight the first two days of school and the pick up process will be a little bit different.  That front  area, except for the front gate, will be fenced off. More details will be forthcoming from the site. That part of the work will be done fairly quickly and then we will wait for the first week of September to begin the restroom demolition. This is all in preparation for the new restroom at Mark Twain for fourth through sixth grade and a new staff restroom.

I hope you enjoy the improvements around the campuses. After years of deferred maintenance, we are really catching up on our classrooms and sites. We try to schedule carpet replacement in seven or eight classrooms a year and to repaint six interiors. The idea is we create a rotation to always keep up on the campuses. Additionally, there’s been other work on-going including asphalt resealing and resealing the gym and Café floors.  We can’t turn back time on 15 years of deferred maintenance, but we are making progress.

I want to talk with you a little bit about transportation policies for our sporting events. There are some insurance requirements that we must meet. These are not my rules. These are the requirements of our insurance carrier. We have to follow them.

Going to games:

A parent/legal guardian with an advanced signed permission slip may sign out their own student and drive them from school to a game. They may not take other students to a game. 

Returning from games:

Parents who wish their student to go home with other parents after a game must sign a permission slip in advance. We recommend that you list multiple people that you would feel comfortable with picking up your student.  We would prefer that parents that are driving other students are cleared volunteers through the school office along with a copy of insurance, copy of license, and a DMV record pull.  This is for your protection, as well as for the students riding with you. 

In both cases, it is important to know that the personal liability insurance of the person who is driving is primary in the event of an accident, not the district insurance. There is liability in taking other students and we want to be very upfront about that.

Once again, please fill out those income verification forms. There is a gigantic community schools grant offered by the state, but we must have 65% free and reduced lunch or we don’t even qualify. This could add almost $250,000 a year to our budget if we were able to apply. We can’t apply unless we meet  that free and reduced  number. I need your help getting those forms back and DON’T INFLATE your income please.

Wishing you a fun and fantastic last week of vacation. We are excited to welcome you back. Don’t miss the Farmers Market this Friday down in Angels Camp!  Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Sincerely yours,

Louise Simson

Superintendent

650-996-3290