Many thanks for all of your cooperation in the pickup and drop off areas of school at MT. I know this is really inconvenient, but we are almost finished with this part. The next part will be the demolition of the bathroom and then preparation for the modular to arrive in November. That will not be impactful to drive lanes, so we’re almost through the most difficult part.  THE most important thing you can do to make it easier for everyone is to PLEASE NOT COME EARLY for your pickup.  If you are picking up a third grader and the first graders aren’t out, it blocks the line, and we hate to ask you to have to loop around.  It goes FASTER if everyone comes at the dismissal time and not before.  I laughingly told a few folks at the end that they had it made.  No wait and their kid came right out.  REMINDER, if you have a younger student and an older student, the young one can play at supervised ELOP recess until dismissal, so you don’t have to do two pickups and that helps everyone.  Just let your student’s teacher know.  

School started strong at both sites and the kids looked really happy to be there. In Copperopolis, it’s so fun to see the kids skip down the hill to recess from the upper-level classrooms. There’s a real joy and community with the kids at both sites that is so different from four years ago with the whole Covid vibe.

A little reminder about DOJO.  That app is for general classroom-wide communication (field trips, announcements about special activities/events, etc…).  Any direct communication about your student related to academics, behavior, etc… will be through the Infinite Campus system email or phone calls logged into Infinite Campus, which is the official student record. If you have any questions on how to log into Infinite Campus, please see your site office for support.

Your athletic directors this year are Sam Austin at Copperopolis (saustin@mtwain.k12.ca.us)  and Jordan Gomez at Mark Twain (jgomez@mtwain.k12.ca.us). Please read those packets carefully. Please understand that the rules for driving are in place as part of our insurance coverage and not local-created district rules.  We pay a DISGUSTING AMOUNT, almost $200,000, in all of our insurance coverages.  I don’t have any wiggle room on this. It is, what it is.  Not my choice, but what we have to do to maintain our coverage.

SO HERE WE GO:

If you are driving your own student to a game, please fill out a permission slip in the office for the season in advance that says you will pick up your own student to drive them to the game. You are not permitted to pick up another student unless you have gone through the full volunteer clearance, including DMV check, copy of your auto insurance, and all of the volunteer requirements of fingerprinting, TB test, etc. and their parent has a signed permission slip on file.  You can drive your own student without fulfilling those requirements, with the exception of the permission slip. You cannot transport a student, even if the other parent checks them out, without MEETING those strict requirements.  (Again, we are the Messenger, please be kind to the office staff).

After practices and games, provided that a coach has a signed season permission slip that you have designated a person(s) to do so, you can drive home other students without these requirements. Please be advised, your insurance is primary in this case.

So, you’re probably saying how do we get to this point? The way that things like this evolve is there’s been some huge jury award for a school that made a mistake somewhere in the state and then the rules change for everybody. I know that’s not how it’s always been, and I understand that, but that is the way that it has to be now in today’s litigious environment. The best thing you can do is get those forms into your athletic directors as soon as possible (and designate a number of people for after-practice/game) so that we can make sure we understand your wishes.

Our transportation department is also working on having staff available to support and clearing staff members and volunteers to drive district vans.  If you have any questions about that, please contact me.  We have also installed cameras in all of the vans for student and staff safety.

Am I sad this is where we are at?  Yes, but we are so broke defending a lawsuit that raises our insurance rates, even when we are 100 percent in the clear, isn’t something I want to do because that takes money away from kids in the classroom.

I know this is emotional and upsetting, so please do not hesitate to contact me at lsimson@mtwain.k12.ca.us or 650-996-3290.

I hope you know that your kids ARE AMAZING.  We are looking forward to a tremendous year ahead at both sites as we celebrate THE MTUESD.

Sincerely yours,

Louise Simson

Superintendent