Dear MTUESD Community,
We are back! It was so great to see kids back in school and happy to see their friends and staff. We are excited to welcome them to the refreshed sites!
Lots going on–We put the bathroom flooring at Copper for the portable toilets out to bid and we will be replacing that. The whole building needs to be replaced but that will be a couple of years out as we get through the permit and funding process, so we need to make it nice for kids today. We will get that done. It will take about a week and be a little bit inconvenient but Miss Tuthill will manage the schedule and make sure kids are comfortable. We will message that in advance but I would guestimate that will happen in September. The Copper baseball field was scraped. If you build it they will come….Let’s play ball!
The Mark Twain cafeteria looks spiffy. This floor has been resealed and the cafeteria repainted to the trim line. It is a clean and pleasant place to eat. My belief is students act bad when schools looks bad. We will be counseling them that it’s their obligation to respect their environment. In tandem, it is our obligation to respect students with kindness and expectation, so they don’t feel they need to destroy their environment. Please make sure you continue to review the handbook policies related to cell phones, dress code, and behavior. I always find with students, when they know what to expect they rise up and do it. We always have those few kids that leave the house in one outfit and show up to school in another, but we do have extra clothes available or we can call home if that’s the case. Help us help your students stay in class by being appropriately dressed. Why is it important? Because we are creating values and work ethic for a job experience. It matters.
I sure appreciated the community’s amazing response to my message about the damaged parking lot. We received numerous leads. I am grateful to you. In one moment, in one hour, you showed me how much you care for our sites, for our kids, for our community. This kind of senseless damage won’t be tolerated.
At the Mark Twain site, I know that the right turn out of the parking lot sure is different. Please go with the flow. It is important that we keep our students safe in that crosswalk. This was an engineering plan at the city and we are grateful for their partnership. Making a left is going to be a problem, as it will block up the whole turn lane. Please be kind and go right. Please, please, please, I am that mamma that had the ritual before drop off with my son. PLEASE do the kisses and hugs and high fives at home and make your drop off a quick exit, so we can keep the line moving. Your consideration for others as they try to drop off and get to work is appreciated. Ben and I had a THING OF RITUALS WE DID, because you know he was on the spectrum, but we did it in the car and on the way so that when we pulled up, he was good to go. We appreciate your kindness to others.
For pick up that is a massive problem that I have to wrap my head around. For now, just remember, please don’t come early and park. You will be asked to keep moving just like at the airport. We are backing traffic down the street all the way to the main drag and that is a problem.
Thank you to the three folks that have already expressed interest in participating in the bond oversight committee. We have some existing bond funds left, not a lot but enough, where we can make some impact, and the bond oversight committee just reviews the expenditures and makes sure we were within line from the parameters of the bond. If you would like to participate, please call me at 650-996-3290. We meet once or twice a year. As we explore ramping up for additional facilities funding, more committee opportunities will present themselves. Kids deserve to go to school in modern learning environments. We have a lot of work to do.
Vaccinations. Oh boy. This was a little rat's nest. I understand the list was generated last Spring about the incredible number of students that we have in this district that are not vaccinated. The state requires students to have their vaccinations in order to attend school. It used to be when my son was little, you could get an exemption. That whole process has been drastically regulated with many doctors being prosecuted for issuing exemptions and they are wary to do so at this time. Your student must be vaccinated in order to attend school. Our school nurse will review the very few official exemptions to make sure they meet the stringent requirements. They are rare and a few. Again, I want to stress this is not my rule or the district’s rule. During our recent audit we had findings related to students not being vaccinated and it had financial impacts related to having funds being given back to the state for those pupil records audited. We can’t do this. Please contact your provider and get your shots up-to-date. It’s not personal, it’s the process. Many thanks to those families that I spoke and texted with last week. I apologize from the district side that the second notice was given late in the game. Sometimes, when you get onto a new site, “You don’t know, what you don’t know”. We were alerted to this issue from our nurse when she returned to work last week. Please work with us, so we can get your student in school. We are on the same team. We both want kids in school. I’ve got to follow the rules.
ELOP—If you have not already done so and you are interested, contact your school office for information about our after school programs. Again, enrollment is based on specific criteria, but additional spots may be available. Talk to your site office for more information.
We had a wonderful new staff training and we are delighted to welcome our new staff members on our site. We look forward to working with them as part of our family.
Please just a reminder as we unfold the school year to talk directly with the teacher if you have any concerns. If you do not receive the attention you feel you deserve, please contact the site principals Carrie Penafiel or Sara Tutthill. I am sure they will be able to resolve your issue. If you still have concerns, then loop me into the conversation after you have visited with them. It is really important that sites have the ability to problem solve directly parent concerns and issues. We look forward to partnering with you. I am here, I LOVE to engage with you, but give our site staff and leaders the chance and respect to work with you directly.
It was more than 55 years ago that I was a little five-year old and after my breakfast of two pieces of bacon, instant cocoa, and Wonder bread toast where I felt like I was going to barf with nervousness, I put on my orange and green home-made by grandma plaid dress and my brown Mary Jane sandals and clutched my mom’s hand and walked the block to my first day of kindergarten. The butterflies in my stomach and excitement in my heart to become part of Miss MIller‘s class is a six-decade old distant memory, but I can still evoke it today. I felt the same butterflies and excitement this week as we welcomed your students. Change is in the air–Looking forward to all that we can become.
Louise Simson, Superintendent